Waking up and 'playing' trains is always a good start to the day! I would concur with what Rick said. Step back, disinfect the thing and see how it goes! No panic!
No I did not sell the ranch, I finally decided that that is where I will retire. After all, that is where my dream layout resides!
Count me as one of the ones who likes your layout too. It's not what *I* would do, but it's not *MY* layout. For your stated goals at the time, I thought it was very interesting, and you did a good job of cramming a lot of staging capability into a relatively small space. My comments about doing something smaller with fewer turnouts or whatever was only intended to address your apparent concern about the cost of starting over... the point was only to argue against letting sunk cost stop you from continuing in the hobby...
Its always been about space. I got tired of putting trains on the track and needed some staging area, but then I had to do something when I saw all that extra wasted space in the center. This layout is light weight and can easily be turned on its side to go through doors and down stairs, plus it fits in almost any bedroom and in the back of my pickup. I designed another staging layout with straight track, but then I had to build a helix so I could put it under the layout which took up a lot of additional room and locked me into one size room. I never did use my helix because it took up a lot of space and made it almost imposable to move around to clean or fix track. I have a little larger bedroom now and I hope I can fit it in this time.
What? Sell the ranch? Isn't that where the layout is? Have I been out of touch? SleeperNO6, I would never bash your's or anyone else's layout. Anymore then I would bash my own. Grin! We build our layouts to please ourselves and to ...well...with anyone who thinks differently. So, let's get it sanitized and back up and running. I want to see pictures. Have fun!
Thanks Rick, I wasn't referring to you Rick. Anyway I need to buy some 2x4s and make a giant easel to put my layout on it side and up high enough that I can stand in front of it. I'm going to use a soft brush and lightly scrub it down with some disinfectant cleaner , rinse it with a hose and spray it down with a 10% chlorine solution followed with a second rinse. I'm then going to set it out in the hot sun and blow dry it with my leaf blower. I believe this should do it and I'm pretty sure if I leave it out in this hot AZ desert sun, nothing can survive. Its 103 in the shade. Its a little different in humid climates where bacteria and mold grow constantly.
Sleeper NO6 I understand you pain. I have been collecting trains for over 50 years. Man what a collection! Was building my final dream layout complete on custom oak cabinets I hand built. Took me three years for the cabinets and the interior of my GREAT NORTHERN Room. It was a wall to wall 824 sq foot train paradise. A place where when I retire in a few years would be my haven. Then they built a walmart down the street...they should have worked out better drainage plan, needless to say the cabinets and complete layout was destroyed by a massive flood along with everything in the house. I was in total dispair and totally depressed. My dream was gone along with 90 percent everything my wife and I owned. My best friend move away and he talked me into moving out of state. Yes it meant starting over with little to start with. I now live in a newer house and have my new trainroom although it is my space. I know the pain of throwing everything away I tossed kato track switches and bridges by the box full. Then take a sawzall and cut everything up by the time the water went down there was mold everywhere. My friend also reminded me what I use to tell him why I liked model railroading. I can spend 5 minutes or 5 hours in my little world. I get the joy of seeing my creations operate. Expand my skills and do new things and to research to make it more lifelike. IT is not about anything other than to please my self ....Plus I get to say Hey THIS Is MY RAILROAD. MY WORLD WELCOME TO IT!!!!DO YOU WANT TO IN TO PLAY!!!! The greatest things about my new house 15 minutes from woodland scenics. 50 minutes from blair line. One hour 10 minutes from micro engineering. MY GOD what a place to be a MODEL Railroader So see every disaster has an upside it just took me two years to see it thanks for letting me put my two cents in Larry
Well Rick you should be used to the cold. I remember going up to visit you and there was snow on the ground. Us flatlanders aren't fond of the stuff. LOL
Hesitated to say this before the pain wore off, but perhaps this is a good time to do it: If you have to put a layout in storage, stand it on its side.