Ready To Start My First Layout - Guidance?

Layout move: I expect I may move from my current home in about 5 to 7 years. I know I’ll be bolting the support framework to the railroad bed and my layout height should be kept to 30" or less for mountains or structrues. But structures will be removable.

Haven’t '“been away” for 50 years. Just been sitting on the “when I get time to” shielf. I’m kinda in a retirement mode. I’m a filmmaker so I still am working on projects but all on my schulding. I’ve had my dad’s big box of HO trains and kits etc. for about 38 years and have some of his trains on display in mt house.

I’m in my 60’s. Look like I’m in my 40’s. Feel like 50’s. Health? Good, but there are no guarantees in life. And I’m in no big hurry.

BTW, sinced you asked, you’ll be moving my layout when that time comes!

Myself, I wouldn’t put a lot of time ,effort or planning in a ‘‘moveable’’ layout.

Lets say in 6yrs you move. There is a really good chance the layout won’t fit in the new location,by then you could be tired of it, and you will be 6yrs better at what your doing and want a clean slate to start over.

Once you remove the rolling stock,pull up the track, the building,save some of the trees. Whats left? bench work, that can be replaced fast and easy

just thinking

My advice would be to not confine yourself to a 4x8 tabletop approach - especially if you’re thinking you might want to save and move it. Modular construction in an around-the-walls configuration lends itself better to that and (IMHO) provides a better user experience as well. Modules can also be rearranged and incorporated into a new layout with a different footprint after you move.

I would also recommend you use insulation-grade styrofoam as your “tabletop” or scenery base. It’s much lighter than the old plaster-over-plywood approach, and I find it easier to work with as well. You can stack it up, carve down into it, tear it out and redo it, all with ease. And it’s dry. (You’ll want a good shop-vac, though).

As for DCC vs. DC, I’m generally a DCC fan, but your old brass engines are a special consideration. How well do they run in their current DC configuration? If they’re great, DC may be the best option for you. But if they don’t run as well as you’d like them to, you’ll probably have to do a lot of work anyways to get them up to snuff. Might as well convert them to DCC while you’re at it.

Good luck and have fun!

Hmmm…I didn’t know that. The discussions we have had here on a single level layout is somewhere between 42" on the low side and 55" on the high side, unless you are operating from a chair.

Maybe you are looking for huge mountains and buildings, but most people like their track closer to eye level. Of course the higher the layout, the harder it is to reach to the far side. 24" is considered the useful distance one can reach into the layout.

As far as moving, I can relate to that. Several of us are considering that option and building modular layouts, rather than bolt on to the wall layouts. MRH is doing a youtube series on what they call their TOMA modules. Not sure what Toma stands for but the idea is to have sections, which can be maneuvered out of the house and around the stairs and yet be long enough to have a yard, where the turnouts aren’t located at the seams of the modules.

If this is your 1st layout, you will be tempted to put too much track into too little space. Run your ideas by this group first, we have some professional layout designers that will give you an opinion.

I didn’t see that you specifically asked for DC vs DCC opinions. I like the sound features of DCC, but converting old engines is a bit daunting. Not everyone likes sound. As a rule you can’t run both at the same time. At least one of our members uses a center off DPDT throw switch so he can either run one or the other. You never want an engine to cross between DCC and DC. You can’t go wrong with either Digitrax or NCE.

The reality is that if you apply your time to the hobby you’ll learn so much over the course of the next 5 to 7 years that you’ll likely…highly likely…find that what you build now won’t be worth moving.

Starting over with a new layout is common for many folks in the hobby. And its fun to build something that suits your then current level of knowledge and experience.

But modular table top benchwork is not that hard to build. Its more time consuming than difficult, and your space would require just a few modules.

As a guy who is working on my first real layout project, I have a few suggestions:

Read Up: Model Railroader, Model Railroad Craftsman etc. are good places to see what others are doing. I think you’ll eventually find some authors that talk about the hobby from a view point similar to your goals, for example I like to read stuff from Tony Koester and Lance Mindheim since I enjoy reading about applying prototypical practice to the hobby. You might find other authors you like more, who might be bigger fans of focusing on things that catch your interest more.

Visit: Going to visit your local hobby shops and fellow modeler’s layouts in your area offer some good hand on experience which can guide your layout goals.

Just do it: Fear of failure is good if it helps you pursue to learn and hone your skills. However it is exteremly detrimental if it paralyzes you so much you don’t want to do anything. Its better to start building a little bit here and there and make progress honing your skills, than do nothing at all because your worried to mess it up. Better to have a messed up layout, but fun all the way learning to build it; than have no layout and missed out on the experience entirely.

Thanks for the input. I’m only looking at DCC since I’m really starting from nothing. If the old brass engines can’t make the transfer to DCC, they my just be pretty to look at parked somewhere on the layout. My idea is to be able to remove the framework for the actual roadbed for moving purposes, and have the “roadbed” designed where it can come apart in sections.