ATTENTION NEWBEES AND REBUILDERS

[Lester Perry]

Just a thought I felt I should share. About 10 years ago I started building my dream layout after 2 years of planning. It works fantastically. N-guager has seen it and can attest to my claim. I feel it was perfect as it had everything I wanted.
there are 2 hidden yards. one east bound one westbound they are good. I just made some minor improvements to them that a friend suggested. The problem I have is the access tracks to the hidden yards are difficult to get to. you have to crawl under the layout to get to them for maintenance or rare derailments. In 07 I had a stroke. I can no longer get on my knees to crawl. there go the problem and wished foresight. No you can't plan for everything. You can plan on hopefully living to be a senior citizen. who cant crawl any more or reach as far as you used to. how about narrow Isle ways and possible walker or wheel chair in the future.
Just some food for thought. Before you say just start over, I can't and you might not be able to either. Or you may have the perfect layout (for you).
Les (Oh yeah I was only 51 when I had a stroke)

[Russ Bellinis]

Lester, do you have any model railroading friends nearby? I have found model railroaders in general to be among the most helpful people around. If there is a suitable redesign that could be done to make your layout "handicap accessible," some friends might be able to do the mods for you.

[Lester Perry]

I fear I have been miss understood here. I have no desire to rebuild existing layout. I am managing to keep it going without to much trouble. I have a MRR friend about a mile down the road who I can call if I have a problem I cant fix myself. I love what I have and all my RR friends agree it would be to much work for no more problem than it is. What I wanted to get across is I wish I had done some things differently. Like isle width, I had to use a walker for a while. It was very difficult to get through some places. I know there are limits to what can be done, but give it some thought when starting. I hope it never becomes an issue for anyone, but lets be realistic about it. It happened to me. You (this is to everyone not just Russ) may be in a car accident tomorrow and need a walker or wheel chair for a while. Just some food for thought while planning.
Les

[shaygetz]

Appreciate the heads up, Lester. I was asked to design a room filling layout for an older couple in their late 60s. I did it with all aisles being no less than 3 feet wide and no duckunders in anticipation of future health needs. I had to refuse further work (and a substantial payoff in locomotives) on it because they wouldn't accept the idea without a duckunder and they felt the wider aisles took up far too much space.

[Russ Bellinis]

Lester, just trying to be helpful. I'm glad to hear that you have a mrr friend just down the street who helps when needed. I think that proves my point about Model Railroaders being among the most helpful people in the world. In my case I don't have to worry about aisle width, duck unders, or any of that other stuff. My wife has allocated me an "L" shaped space 7' x 9' on top of a book shelf in a spare room. Of course that is plenty for me because my passion in mdel railroading is switching industries, rather than mainline running.

[Lester Perry]

My wife has allocated me an "L" shaped space 7' x 9' on top of a book shelf in a spare room. Of course that is plenty for me because my passion in mdel railroading is switching industries, rather than mainline running.

I know you were trying to be helpful and I appreciate that. If you had the space it wouldn't take you long to fall in love with main line running especially when there are customers along the way. Or get to see a 50 car coal drag winding along a mountain side beside a river through a small town across the river and through a tunnel at a scale 10 - 15 MPH
Les

[tomustang]

What I wanted to get across is I wish I had done some things differently.

Ah but this is 'Life", we all wish we had to do something different that we cant change, not to sound mean or anything

[Russ Bellinis]

My wife has allocated me an "L" shaped space 7' x 9' on top of a book shelf in a spare room. Of course that is plenty for me because my passion in mdel railroading is switching industries, rather than mainline running.

I know you were trying to be helpful and I appreciate that. If you had the space it wouldn't take you long to fall in love with main line running especially when there are customers along the way. Or get to see a 50 car coal drag winding along a mountain side beside a river through a small town across the river and through a tunnel at a scale 10 - 15 MPH
Les

Actually I get to do that sort of thing on the modular railroad when we set up at a show, but even there I find that after a couple of laps around, I'mm looking to get off the main and do some switching. Of course some of it is that with the size of some of our set ups, a couple of laps around the layout (we use cordless dcc throttles) following my train has me ready to do some switching in order to rest.

[Tom]

Thanks for the heads up Lester. That is definitely food for thought. I am in the early planning stages for my dream layout right now, and didn't think about that.

I turned 33 last October, but I have several friends that I lost lately at far too young an age due to cancer, and at her young age, Alicia had a heart attack 2 years ago. You just never know, NOBODY is 10 feet tall and bullet proof, no matter how young you are. I greatly appreciate the reminder and will account for that with the new layout planning.

Hope you're feeling much better than you did a year ago!

[sgtcarl1]

Thanks, Lester. That info was a reminder to me to be more conscious of my limited abilities concerning my layout plans. I have a Dr. appointment, Thursday, to see if I qualify for an electric mobility device. If I do, I'll have to take that into considreation, as well. Thanks, again, Lester. I really do appreciate that.
P.S. I know what you are going through. I too had a stroke in 1998.

[MountainMan]

We should all take note of Lester's Lesson, which is a corollary of Murphy's Law: although we hope for the best, we should always plan for the worst.

That being said, we should consider those layouts placed at eye level or even higher - the "mushroom" type - and the effects that becoming wheel-chair bound would have, as a case in point.

[Steamtrains]

Food for thought.....I hope to begin building the center peninsula on my layout this year and had originally planned for 18" aisle widths. I'm no spring chicken... ...so I'll probably re-think those aisle widths....

Thanks for the heads-up....

[Lester Perry]

that is what this is all about Just to get us to think before we build try to avoid possible future problems.
Les

[MountainMan]

Les - do you mind if I ask what your avatar is? I can't make it out at the reduced resolution available.

[Lester Perry]

It is supposed to be C&O for progress. No matter what I try it won't work.