I’m curious to hear from those with experience. Was there a point in time when you realized that you have made enough mistakes (and learned from them) that you decided it would be best to start a layout from the beginning instead of just repairing mistakes? I think I’m at that point on my current project. I believe I’ve learned many lessons from the work I’ve completed.
How did you decide it was time to start with a fresh layout or project??
I guess that the majority of us has made that experience, but it is difficult to tell, what the actual turning point is or was. The more we learn when building a layout, the more we see those mistakes and glitches we made. There is a point when accepting a compromise is not acceptable any more. it is just like deciding whether to get the old car repaired again, or biting the apple of buying a new one.
To a certain extent, much of what I have done with my layout is the result of starting over- not just once ,but several times over the years. The starting over events have coincided with a desire to have better behaved trackwork, opportunities to add new modeling techniques to the existing blend of technical skills, and occaisionally just a whim to look at the layout differently. Building and operating a layout is never a static activity. A big part of the satisfaction comes from the evolving process of steadily improving the realism of the layout. Whenever I have started a rebuilding project, I intentionally keep favored portions and carefully include what was preferred as part of the ongoing history. This means that parts of the current layout date back to the 1960’s and parts of the layout are new as of sometime this afternoon!
All the mistakes I made weren’t enough to stop me dead in my tracks and start over. However every time I did a new one it was better, as I had remembered all my past mistakes as I proceeded on the new one.
My current project is quite a bit bigger than anything I have done in the past as I moved in to a 5000 SQ. FT. house and finally have some elbow room. Working with spline roadbed and foam are a first for me. I just wanted to try something different. I have learn that you can use any or all methods on one layout. This has made it more interesting as I approach different areas of the layout.
Don’t say you’ve made mistakes, say you have gained experience as you would in any pursuit, and move on.
Brent
If you are considering starting over then I advise you do so. Otherwise you’ll never be fully happy with the layout and will wish you started over. Before doing so get the changes you would have made on paper. Also survey what you can salvage to save cost on the new layout.
Good Luck.
In my case, moving out of my parents’ house forced me to start over. I look back on the layout that had been in their basement, and I look at it as a stepping stone/learning experience. While I still haven’t started on scenery on my current layout yet, the trains are running smoothly, and I haven’t had any problems thanks to what I learned from the previous layout.
Kevin
[:-^]
I’m quite satisfied at this point with my railroad. next to no issues with track even the hidden trackage works well.
The only issue that annoys me is that I placed a lot of my upper mainline too close to the backdrop making it very difficult to transition between the layout and the backdrop. I have duly noted this but it isn’t a big enough issue for me to pull the plug on it. I do not think it will ever be corrected only accommodated to the point I can.
But do be aware of such things.
Johnboy out…only a couple of hours of work left today
I agree 100% with this sentiment. If starting over has gotten so far into your head that you are seriously considering it, the idea will probably eat at you until you actually do it.
Determine the issues that have caused this predicament you are in and make efforts to not repeat them.
Of course, if you redesign the entire layout and theme, the trick will be not to cause new issues with your new layout that you didn’t have with your old layout. Proper planning and probably not going too bold (relative to your experience) with the new layout would be ways to avoid that.
Most people start over at least once. Do it and don’t look back.
Nothing wrong with starting over. I’ve started over from scratch including switching scales a couple of times.
I have done this several times for a variety of reasons, the baby needed the second bedroom, moved, children needed a playroom. Once I started over because my interests had changed from PRR mainline to Ma&Pa shortline.
My current layout was started about a month ago following a move last year after I retired early. It’s smaller than the whole basement, just so I have some trains to run while I get the main part of the basement finished. But hey, it may turn out to be big enough.
This is a hobby, go with what appeals to you. Some spend years building one layout, others build many layouts over the years, some even have several layouts at once. But I agree that once the layout’s over, it’s over, move on to the next.
Enjoy
Paul
For me, the decision came when I realized I wasn’t happy with my track plan. I have too much hidden track for a grainger road and I discovered that there were a couple of spots that the scenery wouldn’t look right with that track arrangement. My layout does not have any scenery yet, so just about everything but the sub roadbed will be salvageable. I am going the more prototypical route now, hoping that it will better support operations. I have spent the last two months researching the line I want to model. That in and of itself has been fun. I haven’t put the new track plan down on paper yet, but I am close. My wife thought I was nuts when I told her what I was going to do. Oh well…
Scott
who doesn’t try to come up with THE master plan but as with many things once we get started, putting nails to boards as it were, that goes out the window.
myself i had a 4x8 to get started but very quickly realised that it wouldnt serve what i wanted to do in HO so i split theboard in half and have 2 2x8 sections for a shelf layout and with half of a half basement to work with that will be plenty of room for a shelf layout (16x16).
when to start over? thats up to you and you will know when it is time, there is no easy answer, its something you will feel is right for all the sense that makes. good luck and pound those nails straight.
I am on my 3rd or 4th layout depending upon how you count them. I have fantasized about a new layout for a few years now and have even drawn several possible track plans. But, I have yet to act.
To me, the point in time when I realized that I had made too many mistakes was after ballasting my track work which made it more or less permanent. I have been able to eliminate most of my flaws but, nevertheless, starting over would give me an opportunity to perfect the skills that I have acquired over the last 7 years.
My first mistake was building a 2’ x 4’ framework on my basement floor and covering the surface with strips of 1/2’ plywood. I have few regrets about the use of 2’ x 4’s or plywood, but where I went wrong was cutting all of the 2’ x4’ support legs to exactly 36" length. Sure, the entire layout sits at a height of 36" but what I never thought about was that my basement floor was not exactly level. So, the resulting layout is not exactly level. And neither is the surface. So, right off the bat, I had unknowingly created a series of humps and valleys.
My next mistake was laying flex track and connecting it to turnouts without measuring carefully. I built a double main line with a series of crossovers. I connected two turnouts (Atlas Custom Line #6) directly together to form a crossover and that was a mistake because it pulls the track too close together. On
Moves generally drove me to the start over point.
After each move, it generally took at least 6 months for things to settle down enough to even think about trains. Then it was evaluation of new spaces, time available, and possibly new interests, against equipment and layout I had moved.
I’ve made all 4 decisions at one time or another after a move: resurrect the old layout and keep going in the new space; heavily modify the old layout to fit the new space (most common); start a new layout; and do without a layout until the next move (2nd most common). On a couple of moves, I tore down the layout before the move - usually to avoid being over the allowed moving weight limit.
my thoughts and experiences, your choices
Fred W
Generally if you’re thinking you might want to make a change, you probably really do want to make a change !! My biggest change came in 1987 when I got tired of wishing I had $600 to buy an O scale locomotive (or something similar) and switched to HO where I could afford to buy things. (Of course as soon as I left, O scale exploded particularly in the three-rail area, with many scale offerings. O well.)
After about 10 years, I decided that a layout that required two pop-up access hatches wasn’t worth the effort (which increased as I got older) to get under and work on something. Yes I loved having 42"R mainline curves, but rebuilding the layout to use 28" min radius curves and easy access to the whole layout created a much better layout. If I hadn’t moved, I’m sure I’d still be working on it I’m sure.
Now, since starting my new layout, I find myself being drawn towards the New York Central, which wasn’t anywhere near where I live or have modelled in the past. I think part of it is the challenge of something new. Not that I’m an expert on railroads in my area (Minnesota) but I’ve been reading books and doing research on the same roads for almost 40 years now. It’s kinda fun to ‘start from scratch’ and learn about a different railroad. Plus a railroad that painted their freight diesels black like NYC does make modelling them a lot easier than say a CNW, Rock Island, or GN loco !!
Actually, my first layout was designed from the start to be a throwaway. Well, perhaps not right from the start, but certainly before I had constructed any benchwork.
I actually made a 4 x 8 as a testbed to try my hand at new skills and products. I had a lot of fun with it, and it actually lasted about 7 years before I decided I was ready to part with it and start moving om my “real” layout – my current one.
I agree with most of the others: if you think it’s time to start over, then it IS time to start over. Good luck!
Just recently, I have taken up everything on my second hand HO layout, which I will sell in the future, before I start my Sn42 layout. I noticed all the mistakes the previous owner had made, and have decided to restart it. So I have, and I plan on adding much better scenery, and fixing the buildings. It will be much better, but it is too small, and I can’t add on to it, along with the fact that I can’t stand square layouts. It was kinda like, heck with it…[:)]
The first four or five years my N layout changed from just about every variation to what it eventually ended up to be. Earlier this year after having it sit there collecting odds and ends for an extended period of time, I took down probably 40% of it; the equivalent of nearly two 4x8 sheets of plywood. I just went down there one Saturday morning with a fully charged drill and starting taking down the benchwork. Two hours in my wife asked me how much I was going to take down. I told her when my drill runs out of battery.
Now my layout consists of the original 27 foot by 2 foot wall mounted section and two 6 foot by 3 foot loop backs. I miss the original double main line loop and the single loop but I now am seeing much progress. The original layout was way too much. Too much trackage, scenery, and reach. The reach over the 4x8’s was stupid on my part in the first place. The layout is now more manageable and runnable. I’ve changed some of the lighting and cleaned up the work area. It’s turned into a thing of beauty.
-Paul