Nate, I hope to make steady progress on the layout. I always take pictures of the construction and new projects. I plan to update the web page as I go along. I always enjoy looking at other layouts and how people build, design, scenic, etc. The layout is located in the basement, which is approximately 50'-8" x 36'-6" I posted the other night my sketch I used to plan the isle and benchwork, after the walls were put in. We actually moved to this house becuase of the basement. I outgrew the space over the garage at the previous house. The realitor never understood what I wanted the basement for and the contractor (who built the house as spec.) couldn't understand why I wanted him to take out one of the garage doors and brick it up. The sketch is located under the trackplan tab. Its the best I can do right now. I located the towns in certain areas and then build each town by looking at photos, track plans or engineering drawings I collected over the years from the LV, CNJ or CR. I never took the time to learn how to use a CAD program and prefer to design the trackwork, towns and industries as I go. It works for me. I think anybody familar with the LV would recognize the scenes and to everybody else I hope it just looks like a fun model RR to operate and run. Mark
Mark, Keep up the good work on your layout. I agree with you running trains is just plain fun! My theory is if I'm off from the prototype so be it as long as I enjoy the layout and running the trains. My better half doesn't understand why when we talk about getting our first house that the basement has to be such a big issue. Don't know if you subscribe to MR but a year or two ago they had a cartoon in one issue that had a guy looking at the basement and saying, "The house is perfect" or something to that effect. Either way I know what you are saying about a good basement. I'll keep an eye out for your progress and posts about your layout. I think it looks great and will be a blast to operate. Good luck in your building!
