My ideal layout...

[nachoman]

It seems common these days for people to think about what they want and don't want in their layouts prior to starting construction. That is a useful planning tool that saves a lot of future grief. Of course, that is still relative to a person's available space, money, and skills. But, what would your ideal layout have or not have, if there were no constraints? Here are 10 things I would want, and 10 that I would not want for my "ideal" layout:

My ideal layout would:
1) Be HO scale. While there are advantages and disadvantages to all scales, I would only settle on something smaller than HO because of space constraints. While I like larger scales, I don't think I could consider any of them my "ideal".
2) Have an area of "floor to ceiling" scenery. I like mountains.
3) Have some kind of water/river scene. I am always impressed when water is modeled effectively.
4) Have both urban and rural scenes.
5) would be approximately 20 x 30 feet
6) would have enough staging yard space for all of my rolling stock.
7) would leave enough floor space in the room to entertain many guests at one time.
8) would be in a room that can be closed off from the rest of the house
9) would still look like a "model railroad". The ultra-realistic layouts just aren't for me. I want to see things a little bit exaggerated. I also want things to look "achievable" and not "finicky".
10) would be set up to be both interestingly operable and have a long continuous mainline run that sometimes travels through a scene more than once.

My ideal layout would not:
1) have any duckunders or lift outs.
2) be in an uninviting location that is too hot, cold, damp, stinky, dark, or noisy.
3) be so large that large areas remain plywood scenery for years
4) Not be too restrictive for era or theme. If I feel like running a different era train, I should feel comfortable doing so.
5) lack weathering. I am not one of those people who requires prototype-specific weathering, but a lack of any weathering bugs me.
6) feature any "straight-from-the-box" rolling stock or structures. I feel that everything should be modified or painted in some way that indicates it wasn't just pulled out of a box an plopped on the layout.
7) have curve radii below 24", or turnouts less than #6. I use plenty of 18" and #4 right now, but I know through experience that having at least 24" and #6 both looks and operates much better.
8) lack LPBs. Although I have never built a layout complete enough to place many people, I find unpopulated layouts boring.
9) use code 100 track. With code 83 so readily available now, and relatively inexpensive, I see little reason to use code 100 for a new layout.
10) be my only hobby or interest.

What about you?