it seems that there are a lot of new people in the forum as well as we all have different levels of experience. So I thought it might be a good idea to ask the question as to what would you do if you had to start over again or are in the process of changing on your layout. Also post the items you would not change if you were to start over again.
For me it is the following
1, Only use Kadee couplers
2, Only use steel axles/wheels
3, Purchase cars only of good detail, ie Athearn, Walthers, Intermountain, etc.
4, Purchase only good quality locomotives, ie Atlas. Kato, P2K, BLI, Athearn Genesis, etc
5, Read a lot and ask lots of questions in this great forum
6, Put screws or blocks of wood at the end of all of my sidings that lead to the great abyss
7, Not worry so much about the operational or building difficulty of a helix
8, Have more distance between levels on the layout - 12 inch is not enough
No duckunders. Liftouts, mebbe, but nooooo duckunders!
No diagonal bridge across the operating pit so that I could reverse trains. It has to be done on the benchwork.
If you are going to run a folded loop with the levels stacked near each other at various places, the scenery construction, and the final appearance, will be…umm…not great. What I mean is, don’t place tracks closer than about 4" laterally if they are at different levels near each other. The resultant ‘stepped’ look leaves much to be desired, and the construction of the scenery using goop or hardshell can be frustrating and messy. Don’t ask.
If you are making spline roadbed, go easy on the superelevation, and make sure the surface is planed meticulously smooth…no ridges left from a spline leaf not quite flush with the others. I thought I had done a good enough job. I hadn’t.
My transitions are okay from grade to level, but just okay…not great. Make them more gradual. Keep working on them until they are more gradual.
Generally, unless you are a real pro, transitions into/out of grades and turnouts don’t mix. Place turnouts on a consistent grade.
It isn’t strictly bad, but I won’t be mixing codes of rail and turnouts any more. I hated using the transition joiners, or fiddling with the oversized ones to get a flush meet at the railheads.
That should be enough for what I would not do again, or change.
What I would not change:
Use good turnouts. Make some if you can. Fast Tracks are now my staple, but Peco otherwise.
Code 100 rails, particularly guard rails on bridges and trestles, really stand out. They are too large when viewed by a camera at or near track level.&nb
Don’t fall into the trap of " ONLY THOSE WHO PREORDER WILL BE ASSURED OF GETTING THIS CAR/LOCO". The few times I have done this there was always extra’s that were put on sale right after I payed full price on my “special” pre-order. Since then I have never missed out on something I wanted by waiting.
In some aspects, I am starting over, building a replacement HO 11x15 two level layout for the one I had from 1993 to last December. During the building of that layout, and over the years, I kept a list of “what went right, what went wrong, and what could be better done”. It sure was a help to get that stuff on paper, and frankly whatever mistakes I make now - will be NEW ones!
Regarding the layout, my advice is to make sure your benchwork, track, and wiring are “bullet proof” before you move on to structures and scenery. I actually followed this advice and am glad I did.
On the last layout I did get “cute”, and regretted for years that I: put some turnouts in tunnels that were almost inaccessable, put in a raised (beautifully scenicked) reverse loop that took up wayyyy too much space, and the initial paint on the mountains and rockwork was too dark (I knew better), and lastly, I had wayyy too many blocks for a DC layout, which made operations a “relearn” each time I ran trains.
Regarding cars and rolling stock, I advise to get the best you can afford - but no cheap junk. Actually, for the money, the basic Athearn blue box kits and locos can’t be beat. Whatever you get, put KD couplers on as soon as you can, and metal wheels when you can afford it. Also, clean your track/wheels regularly, so it is relatively easy when you do.
I would not, ever again, never, ever, ever use atrack plan based solely on if it would fit and looked good without running it in my head, thinking about it for a while and seeing if it’s really what I want. I had an old double loop on a 4X8 from my youth. When I decided almost 2 yrs ago to get back into this mess, I was given permission by my perfect wife to set up the layout in a spare room in the basement. After a while she allowed me to knock out a wall and expand my empire. I quickly found two layouts in an issue of MRR on layouts you could build using 4X8 sheet of plywood. I quickly figure how to join these in the space I had and off I went. Only to find, not only would the layouts not fit on the benchwork as drawn but after they were put down and modified to work… they still didn’t well in operating trains as I wanted to run them. I’m in the middle of another remodel as we speak. Luckily I wasn’t too far along to bring tears.
Mistakes made (worst):
-Did not do a Givens and Druthers
-Did not think about the track plan at all other than it looked neat at first and fit the area.
-Got in a big hurry to get something to run a train on.
-Ignored a lot of advise I’d overheard from folks on this very forum because I thought I could make it work my way.
Lesson Learned:
PAY ATTENTION and LISTEN TO EXPERIENCE!!! They’ve been there and done that!
I would not have invested in the stock market then I would have a couple of bucks to spend on a hobby, now it’s a matter of scooping up bargains at the train show with my $20.00 budget. Probably spend a bit more time studying the ins and outs of logging railroads and hoping one day to open up that $15.00 box of train bargains and finding 5 or 6 brass logging locos along with 50 logging cars, that should start me off just fine. keep choochin’ .
I have 80 locomotives and 200 cars with 14 feet of HO modules. I would have built a layout first before buying all those locos. I am just thankful of the club layout to run on. Another is buying locos with sound already installed. When I started collecting trains DCC and on board sound was not even a dream. Now that the upper floor of the house has opened up I can start on a layout after moving the laundry room to the first floor from the basement, New deck, re shingle, new roof, and other things.
First thing that started my problems is I converted a HO scale slot car track to a HO train bench sort of by accident! Was looking on E-bay for tress and bought a cheap Life Like Train set. After that I was a train junkie.
1 I would never use 2 X 4 again as frame work! There is no such thing as a straight 2 X 4! Slot cars don’t care about humps in the bench.
2 Bench is against the wall and is 4 foot wide. Fishing off a single slot car is way different than a derailed train.
3 Don’t cover the bench with green out door carpet. Again it was laid for the slot car track not the trains.
4 Don’t think your floor is flat! My bench is 38 inches all the way around from the floor to the top. But there is a grade of around 1.5%. It is in the garage, grade is so water will drain out. Again the slot cars could care less.
5 Just because the engine cost a lot, don’t think you will not have problems with it. I have opened up more $250.00 plus engines than $55.00 engines.
Things people would think I did wrong but glad I did.
1 Buying used engines of E-bay. Now I am not talking about cheap pancake motor engines. But worn out Athearn and Protos. Lot of people told me I was wasting money and my time fixing the junk. Yes I had to fix them and spend some money, but I learned how to fix them. Because of the $10.00 engines off E-Bay I knew how to fix the New $250.00 plus engines that wore out. Better to fix a $600.00 Big Boy than wait 3 months to get it back.
2 Cheap Bachmann and Tyco rolling stock off E-Bay. Again I was told I was wasting my time. Again I learned how to make them free rollers, add Kadee Couplers and add the needed weight to make them track well.
I’m starting over in Sept. on a new “L” shaped shelf type switching layout. ( My second one of this type ) and FOR SURE I am NOT going to try to cram too much trackwork/industry into too little space. I’m always tempted to try to fit “just one more turnout or industry” into the space I have and it ALWAYS ends up screwing-up my plan.
1: Plan out your staging yard WHILE you’re planning out the rest of your railroad (my major DUHHH!).
2: Plan out your feeder leads BEFORE you’ve installed the scenery. Those rail connectors might LOOK solid for the first six months or so, but they’re going to loosen up eventually!
3: Don’t get your aisle between your engine facility and that grade across the aisle so narrow that you suddenly realize that the turntable WON’T fit in. Unless, of course, you want to ‘hinge’ it.
4: Make sure that the loco facilities for your helper districts are at the BOTTOM of the grade. (not on my present one, but on my last one. At least I learned THAT much! [:I] )
5: Don’t be afraid to adjust the scenery if that beautiful rock outcropping is so close to the curve that your articulateds are hanging up on it. It’s only plaster, LOL!
I wouldn’t have “gone with the flow” and thought I would ever model the local Class 1 railroad, and would have started stockpiling narrow gauge equipment a long time ago.
The main thing I would NOT do [again] is rush to start a layout without having the proper infrastructure already in place.
When my wife and I decided to buy the house we’re living in, I figured that the built-in two-car garage was ready to go. As for heating and AC, nada problem, I’d just run some extra ductwork thru the wall…
WRONG! I discovered our central heating/AC plant had exactly the capacity to cool the rooms of the house it was already connected to, the previous owner sized it that way to save money [he wasn’t a mrr, go figure]. So I had to cough up money for a new heat pump and some insulation for the ceiling and walls. That garage was intolerable in the winter and summer, so my trackless benchwork just sat there for 4 years until my wife got another job and we finally could afford to buy the heat pump and insulation.
As for other ‘never-agains’, my layout has duckunders - but I was forced to use them if I wanted to be able to do continuous running. One of those ‘compromise’ things. If I can ever get rid of the built-in wall shelves I’ll be able to build an around-the-walls layout, maybe even without duckunders.
Would not use spline subroadbed rather birch plywood.
MORE ROOM, would definetly have found some place to put all the junk accumulated in the basement to make room for trains.
Less is More, Better quality locomotives rather then having a large roster of Ok quality stuff.
would have gone to DCC right off the bat instead of starting back with what I knew and was comfortable with. “I’ll never have a layout big enough to warrant DCC so why spend the money”
Plan plan and plan some more before starting anything.
Narrower bench work no scene deeper then 30" for my taste
Prepared the layout area much better, especially lighting.
Better quality of rolling stock, metal wheels and all KaDee metal couplers.
Trust my instincts (“gut”) rather than the exhortations of others. (In hindsight, “gut” was right 98%, others’ exhortations 2%. Never did follow my “gut” enough.) Oh, wait a second, that’s about life. Model railroading? I say have fun learning and experiencing!