I think I have most of those points on my layout that I started last October - except for #1 - it is not finished and I have a staging yard to add - once my carpenter has time to help me. And I have a major background to put up.
I have a house that I want to purchase and put together and find a place for - but I can not find a place that would work - but I might be able to put it in the staging area.
I too have many of these issues with my layout but I plan to fix many of them. Before you start over ask yourself: can I do better the next time, or are my skills and knowledge still the same?
LION did tear down a layout because it wasnt working/what him wanted or whatever. It was an ok layout, but it just wasnt where I wanted to be. So it came down. New layout much better. And I can run eight trains at once. How cool is that.
Well it keeps me off the streets at night.
It is a focus for spare time, and I enjoy working on it, but sometimes I stop work and just let the trains run.
I did not tear down my layout, but was able to sell it at a calculable loss. The reason I disposed of it read similar to your reasons 10 down to 6, plus I grossly underestimated the space requirement for O scale buildings.
I have just started construction of a new layout - this time much smaller, both in size and scale.
If your not happy with your layout - get rid of it. If you still like the hobby, which I assume you do, start a new one, but take your time.
I know many folks don’t even have space to even build a layout, so I wonder how they feel reading about people who have built a layout, and are unhappy even though they have been blessed with things many don’t have. It seems like a commontary about how prosperous we can be in our country, and yet …
Ultimately we are in hobbies for fun and relaxation. From a common sense view point, it sounds like you have answered your own question. Now you just need to act on the answer you already have.
Ya, everytime my buddy restores a classic car, he has to sell it so he can do it again. It is gut churning for him to say goodbye to something he has laboured on for years sometimes. He has sold a few at a loss, but as he says that is the cost of enjoying his hobby.
Ehh, that’s too philosophical. Every Christmas, you see newspaper ads in which a woman wearing a fur coat moans, “I have nothing to wear” as she contemplates an ucoming holiday party, while a poor homeless person sits on the sidewalk nearby with nothing to wear.
Just because you have a layout doesn’t mean that you have nothing to complain about. It’s just that others may have something more legitimate to complain about. Like Brent. [8D]
I purchased a layout from someone who had passed and it was a walk in layout. 8 x 16 in size or so and I have been always contemplating tearing it down because I kept getting frustrated with some of it, but I have learned that railoads will never be perfect and that is the beauty/frustration of the hobby. The layout was DC I converted to DCC. The layout has a section that if not in place the second loop is not accessible so i had to fix that. There weren’t any passing sidings so I had to add one. I have learned that even in an imperfect layout there are opportunities to improve my railroading skills and try new things. But a lot of times I want to start over as i learn how to do new things
I was at this point with my last layout. It was done and it was quite nice…buuut it had little in the way of operations and other issues. I had changed so much as a modeler in the process of building it that the layout wasn’t meeting my needs. I took a couple of years to get the time and gumption to tear it out and build a room in the garage to house the current double deck monster.
During that two years I stopped working on the layout and started building rolling stock and structures for the new layout. I built lots of pretty cool cars and models that helped me jump start the new layout when I started building.
I was careful on this attempt to design a layout that will hopefully keep my interest for a longer period of time as it gets closer to completion. This is easy as I am into operations and I designed this layout specifically for that purpose.
Rich, as others have said all you need to do is act on the decision that you appear to have already made. Just suggesting you can still model and have fun while easing into the demolition phase. BTW: Demoing can be fun too. Swinging a sledge hammer into plaste
I am sure all the problems can be fixed. I had a section of old layout, a yard, that I incorperated into the new. The wiring was spagetti!!! First thing I did was cut all the wires as long as possible, ran the new buss line and rehooked everything up with Posi-taps. Took less than 4 hours for a 6’ yard.
That’s because neither of you have thought about it long enough. LOL
But, seriously, if you think about it, the first nine reasons, though written tongue in cheek, reflect shortcomings as I built my current layout. So, it’s became a learning process. Now, my choice is to correct those shortcomings or move on and build a new layout, having learned from my mistakes.
Meanwhile, at least in my mind, I have reached the “What do I do next stage?”.
So, Reason #1 is a natural extension of those first nine reasons. At least, it is with me.
