12-28-2010, 12:36 PM
Hello everyone (again)... man, it has been quite awhile since I've been here... long story short, in August while on vacation my back really started to act up on me (I've had lower back issues for quite some time), upon returning and hitting up the chiropractor, he took an x-ray and my L4 disc was at about a 45 degree angle pushing into the nerves (yum)... it took about 3 months of adjustments and patience to get it "fixed", and even today it still bothers me a bit, but I am back to working out, playing hockey, and of course, back to the train room.
One thing I did when I finally walked back into the room was took a good hard look at the layout and asked a simple question: if my back is bothering me, can I still work on this thing? based on the way things were going, the answer was a big fat no... there were a couple spots that required me to crawl under the board to get to... my being stubborn wanting to put "more layout" in "less space" was showing its ugly face... due to the layout of the room (no pun intended) along with my lack of thinking about my back forced me to do some things in two corners that I should have not done...
So... about 3 weeks ago I went downstairs with my screwdriver set to reverse and starting dismantling... I had to be realistic about two things: the size of the room, and the occasional wonkiness of my lower back. The net result is that I built some new benchwork that centers the layout in the room, basically a big old rectangle that I can access all sides without the need to crawl under a table. The centermost part of the layout is reachable with one of those little kitchen step ladders, so I totally eliminated the "crawl under"... we ain't getting any younger, and I'm only 40, but I'd hate like hell to have to abandon the hobby due to some bad design decisions...
OK, to the "new" design: I also took my hiatus away from the room to really think about my goals with the layout, the givens and druthers if you will... what I realized as I thought more and more about it is the following: I don't care about "realistic" operation, I'd rather watch trains go in "circles" (silly?!). I care about detailed scenery. I care about having the ability to watch multiple trains run in circles at the same time. I care about trains not jumping off the tracks, in other words, I'd like bigger radiuses if possible.
The last 3 weeks (mostly weekends) have produced the following... I am just starting to lay track while I finalize some of the spots that will hold the sidings and roads/buildings, etc...
Yes, this is quite the change from the original thoughts, but after 3 weeks I am finding myself the most excited I've ever been about building the layout since getting a "train room" added onto the house... I think I was trying too hard to build the "monster layout" with no regard for the real size of the room or the time I actually have to work on it, and maybe my back going out on me was one of those little messages in life that forces you to "reset" and think a lot of things through...
--Rob.
One thing I did when I finally walked back into the room was took a good hard look at the layout and asked a simple question: if my back is bothering me, can I still work on this thing? based on the way things were going, the answer was a big fat no... there were a couple spots that required me to crawl under the board to get to... my being stubborn wanting to put "more layout" in "less space" was showing its ugly face... due to the layout of the room (no pun intended) along with my lack of thinking about my back forced me to do some things in two corners that I should have not done...
So... about 3 weeks ago I went downstairs with my screwdriver set to reverse and starting dismantling... I had to be realistic about two things: the size of the room, and the occasional wonkiness of my lower back. The net result is that I built some new benchwork that centers the layout in the room, basically a big old rectangle that I can access all sides without the need to crawl under a table. The centermost part of the layout is reachable with one of those little kitchen step ladders, so I totally eliminated the "crawl under"... we ain't getting any younger, and I'm only 40, but I'd hate like hell to have to abandon the hobby due to some bad design decisions...
OK, to the "new" design: I also took my hiatus away from the room to really think about my goals with the layout, the givens and druthers if you will... what I realized as I thought more and more about it is the following: I don't care about "realistic" operation, I'd rather watch trains go in "circles" (silly?!). I care about detailed scenery. I care about having the ability to watch multiple trains run in circles at the same time. I care about trains not jumping off the tracks, in other words, I'd like bigger radiuses if possible.
The last 3 weeks (mostly weekends) have produced the following... I am just starting to lay track while I finalize some of the spots that will hold the sidings and roads/buildings, etc...
Yes, this is quite the change from the original thoughts, but after 3 weeks I am finding myself the most excited I've ever been about building the layout since getting a "train room" added onto the house... I think I was trying too hard to build the "monster layout" with no regard for the real size of the room or the time I actually have to work on it, and maybe my back going out on me was one of those little messages in life that forces you to "reset" and think a lot of things through...
--Rob.