So we're coming into the new year, what plans have you for designing or re-designing your layout in the coming year. I have my track in for my lower level but I haven't designed my upper level which is what I have in store for 2006. So what's in the design goody bag for you - and - oh yes, Happy New Year. Is it still politically correct to say that.... lol!
Mine is to have mine up and running before new yrs....!!! Then to have it sceniced, and DCC'ed by May and for me to have lost 40kgs by yrs end. Yes.. I know Im on drugs, but hey I need to set myself a few goals!
To have all of the GandG portion wired, (DC only), and semi sceniced. Have all of the main line in place and wired for both DC and DCC. First: I find a job.
2006 will bring me a new layout! First, I have to finish the train room (which means I have to carpet the entire house, probably first quarter). Then, I will begin benchwork. Exact track plan is not set, but I will probably start a thread or two on that. First effort will be the yard, and the second effort will be the mainline loop. I'm planning a double main, with reverse loop, DCC, and code 55. Right now I don't have any of those things!
Well, if you stay in the train room, work on that layout, and never come out for a meal.... You can achieve both goals! Boxcab E50
We may be moving to a different house in Sherman (or elsewhere in the Republic) this year- if so, I'll be planning a new layout. The wife wants me to keep working in N scale; if I do, I'll work on a Southern Class III shortline with a fictitious Frisco interchange. Major shippers will include a poultry feed mill, wood-chipping plant, pulpwood yard, and a paper mill (for starters). If not N, a small HO layout depicting a Frisco branchline- the ex-NEO in Miami, OK comes to mind. That's a bridge I'll cross when I get to it. If I do make major changes, I'll be posting here for help, advice, showing off , etc.....
I'm adding a shortline addition to the JJJ&E with a small yard on each end of the shortline. The mainline of the JJJ&E can be accessed at one point on the shortline. It's no major addition, about 30 feet of shortline track. Some of my smaller steam loco's will be run on the shortline track (MP 4-4-0's and MDC 2-8-0's) Stay cool and run steam.....
Here is my list for 2006 1. Install some lights in the dungeon where the layout will be 2. Unpack the small mountain of boxes from the move in July which are now eating up the space where the layout will be. 3. Finish a workable layout plan in early 2006. 4. Continue to purchase more rolling stock. 5. Build the benchwork by summer 2006 6. Have trains operational by JAN 2007.
Now that I feel I lot more comfortable with my skills, I'd like to add a turnaround "blob" and complete my original industrial switching section. Fairly modest goals but I've learned about taking on more than I can accomplish. My new years theroy- Take it slowly and enjoy life, savor the flavor.
Drop kick the current club full of drop kicks & find another club thats half decent............ That or start the moduals again...........maybe even finally finish the Nn3 Ophir Loop modual.
After many years of wanting and waiting, it looks like '06 will be the year I finally begin my new layout. "Phase I" will be constructed around the walls, near the ceiling, of my camera room (I am a photographer and this is the only space available to me for trains) with about 175' of HO mainline consisting of two loops. One loop will run the entire perimeter of the room and the second loop only half of the room, crossing at a beam in the center of the room. The loops have overpasses where they intersect to allow for operation of two trains at one time. Also on the plan is a reversing loop in the adjacent mechanical room and a three track staging yard in the hallway. In the future, when my studio expands, I will have the entire room devoted to trains and the upper level will be connected via helix in. My railroad is set in modern times with a slight twist in history...the major stockholders in SP and MP staged a hostile takeover of UP in 1984. UP still exists, but the Armour Yellow shares the rails with the SP Gray and Jenks Blue. No patched paint on my railroad...LOL. To be honest, I am going to run whatever trains I happen to like...and will "adjust" history to make it sound halfway cool if I tell it really fast and you don't listen too close.
After reading a few of these I don't feel so bad. I had started a new HO layout 3 years ago and blew out a knee and was out of work, so no money for trains or any other hobby. My goal so far is to get some bench work together and find a plan I like. I like the Atlas plan #10028, I also like plan #67, #77 from 101 track plans. I am just worried that 67 and 77 will be to big for just me to build and maintain. I would like to have a larger area for a yard in the Atlas plan. I won't have much of a limit on size, because I am building a 40 foot by 40 foot garage, so I can spare enough room for a train. Dru. P.S. It is nice to be dreaming again.
The Joint Desert Line needs to have desert scenery added. The industrial switching area needs to get buildings and then scenery. After the wiring is properly harness and tucked away, that is Also, the lack of space for a staging area has forced me to use a system of movable storage cassettes. That needs to be overhauled because, while it works well, it doesn't have enough staging footage. That hopefully will be done in a couple of weeks or so, though.
Every year there are a couple of layout parties going on here in this forum, when one of those pops up, why not join in and work on some of your New Years resolutions for the layout. I just opened my train room - a study upstairs thats no longer a study - and groaned, it is stuffed with all kinds of items that have to find a home after Xmas. I guess my first resolution will have to be to clean that room up.
Indeed. here's one we prepared earlier. http://www.trainboard.com/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/33/t/000826.html Running 1 Jan - 14 Feb, but it's not too late to start. Even just a little bit - this place can often be a motivation snowball.
Mine is to get off of my procrastanating(sp?) butt and start on a layout.It will have to be a small switching layout for now,because of space issues.Still trying to decide on HO or N. Only time will tell.
just a mild suggestion here Halfpint. I had a layout I would hang on the wall. you could build with pink foam for lightweight. I used a type of mounting hook by a german company called Ook they are rated all the way up to hundreds of pounds. I also found that hanging my layout kept the dust off of it.
