Topic: Model Railroad Layout Design How much layout do you need to do accomplish what’s important to you? I mean, realistically, how much model railroad do you REALLY need to be satisfied? Most newcomers, and many veterans, grossly over estimate their requirements and by doing so create a lot of unnecessary expense and angst for […]
Category: Model Railroad Design
How To Play With Trains
How to Use Your Layout and Use it Often How do we ‘play’ with our layouts? It’s an important question because it ultimately determines how much we enjoy our railroad or whether we enjoy it all. Fewer people than you’d expect can answer the question accurately. The result is layouts that sit idle, never […]
A One Turnout Layout
A layout with only one turnout? One that offers diverse, hour long operating sessions without ‘make work’ complexity? A layout that could be built in two weekends and then morph into something that provides several years worth of craftsman projects? A gimmick? Absolutely not. It’s all a matter of selecting the right theme, understanding prototype […]
The Incredible Expanding Layout
Almost overnight I feel as though my layout has doubled in size, all of this without adding a single turnout or section of track. It’s becoming apparent that I probably have a lot more model railroad than I actually need to keep me entertained. What happened? In the past year I’ve learned an enormous amount […]
Planning vs. Design
A successful model railroad plan (notice I didn’t say design) is one that ultimately puts the hobbyist in a position where they are consistently spending hobby hours engaged in a manner they find satisfying. Researching, building, operating, photographing all qualify. (Sorry, random long term kit accumulation and excessive chat forum participation doesn’t). The person who […]