08-24-2009, 07:54 PM
It's been 10 days since since I started a little hiatus from working on the layout. It was nice little break from the layout and I took the opportunity to work other non-railroad projects I've been putting off doing.
There's also been some reflection on the layout. During my time-off, I was also able to really think about the layout (mainly at work, heh). I thought about what my goals are for it, what issues it has, how many things were built so they "sorta worked", and what things I would do differently. When I think to myself, "Was it that I really want to get out of my layout?", I usually just want to railfan the layout; Someplace where I can go and just watch trains run. I'm never going to have op sessions with others, and I'm not really into switching (not yet at least) either. I think I really just want a (almost) "roundy-round" with a few industries for future operational switching. Something that I could turn on, and just let run if I wanted.
During all of this (and previously), the wife and I talked about the usage of the house and the space we have, as we'd like to have a 2nd baby and we only have 3 BR's (1 being a guest room we'd like to keep). In short, instead of buying a house, utilizing the office/layout room as the guest bedroom would be the most cost effective measure for us.
So I've been pondering the idea of removing current layout and starting fresh with a new 16x7 layout in one half of the garage (picture a rectangle with a 28" aisle down the middle).
While I know it's certainly a *huge* change after spending nearly 2 years on the current layout, I feel like I could now build a layout more to how I really want. No crazy staging elevators, no cassettes, no helix, no double decks, etc... A more "traditional" kind of layout.
So needless to say, all work on the current layout is now on hold while this new layout is researched.
There's also been some reflection on the layout. During my time-off, I was also able to really think about the layout (mainly at work, heh). I thought about what my goals are for it, what issues it has, how many things were built so they "sorta worked", and what things I would do differently. When I think to myself, "Was it that I really want to get out of my layout?", I usually just want to railfan the layout; Someplace where I can go and just watch trains run. I'm never going to have op sessions with others, and I'm not really into switching (not yet at least) either. I think I really just want a (almost) "roundy-round" with a few industries for future operational switching. Something that I could turn on, and just let run if I wanted.
During all of this (and previously), the wife and I talked about the usage of the house and the space we have, as we'd like to have a 2nd baby and we only have 3 BR's (1 being a guest room we'd like to keep). In short, instead of buying a house, utilizing the office/layout room as the guest bedroom would be the most cost effective measure for us.
So I've been pondering the idea of removing current layout and starting fresh with a new 16x7 layout in one half of the garage (picture a rectangle with a 28" aisle down the middle).
While I know it's certainly a *huge* change after spending nearly 2 years on the current layout, I feel like I could now build a layout more to how I really want. No crazy staging elevators, no cassettes, no helix, no double decks, etc... A more "traditional" kind of layout.
So needless to say, all work on the current layout is now on hold while this new layout is researched.
Shaun
UP Model Railroad Blog
UP Model Railroad Blog