Hi, everybody!
My name is Robert and this will be my 4th return to the World’s Greatest Hobby!
A little bit of a background, if you don’t mind (you may skip and get right to the request for help, if you’d like).
I originally modeled in HO scale, but as with most people, space became an issue and I converted to N scale. Sadly, this conversion did not bode too well. I quickly learned N is not as forgiving as HO and much more costly when mistakes were made.
One of the lessons I’ve learned is I’m not ready to work with Atlas track. Despite the helpful articles I’ve read, I couldn’t master the skill necessary to create level roadbed, which lead to track misalignment, electrical problems, and derailments. Of course, this was after learning the fact one doesn’t “tack” down N rails for design purposes. Ugh, the amount of track lost.
So, with that, I’ve decided to stick to KATO’s Unitrack system. In addition, my layout will not be larger than 3’ x 5’. However, this is where my dilemna begins.
I’ve been to KATO’s website and thought I found the perfect beginning layout: Amherst 2005. Small and perfect, so I thought. As I looked and looked, I realized this design won’t suit my needs because it’s… well, boring. For a beginner, I’m sure it’s perfect, but I have to have a little more “beef” to my layout.
That’s when I found this:
http://www.trainplayer.com/Site2/User%20Track%20Plans.html
(scroll down to view Bill Koehn’s 3’x5’ N-Gauge Coffee Table Layout)
PERFECT!!! It’s exactly what I’m looking for! It’s made entirely of UT and it fits my required space limitation! There’s only one problem: I can’t figure out how to get the parts listing.
I downloaded the file (which I thought was a self-extracting zip file) but it turns out to be a module for a CAD program, for which I don’t own.
So, this brings me to my request for assistan