01-13-2010, 12:22 PM
Kevin, I went to Model Railroad Hobbyist.com when they first came out with the magazine. They have message board and blogs on the site as well and an interesting discussion on there has been the subject of "chainsaw" layouts. I don't know where the concept started, but a few guys on there are running with it.
Basically the idea is that no matter how much you draw something out on paper, you probably won't get a real feel for operating on the layout until you actually build it and use it. The idea is to build something and see how it works. If it doesn't work, take a chainsaw to it and cut it up and start over. Of course you save what you can from the layout, but as you keep building, cutting up, and rebuilding, each new layout should be better than the last one, until you achieve the layout that works best for you.
I think the term "Chainsaw" is figurative. Most of the guys are able to reuse most of their track, and structures. They can probably reuse whatever supports the bench work. Scenery is probably a loss, unless the contours of the landscape don't change with the new layout. It seems like an excellent idea to me. I expect to build my Los Angeles Junction switching layout without ballast or ground cover to see how it works operationally. I'll make changes to the track work until it works like I want it to operate, and then start adding ballast and scenery to it.
Basically the idea is that no matter how much you draw something out on paper, you probably won't get a real feel for operating on the layout until you actually build it and use it. The idea is to build something and see how it works. If it doesn't work, take a chainsaw to it and cut it up and start over. Of course you save what you can from the layout, but as you keep building, cutting up, and rebuilding, each new layout should be better than the last one, until you achieve the layout that works best for you.
I think the term "Chainsaw" is figurative. Most of the guys are able to reuse most of their track, and structures. They can probably reuse whatever supports the bench work. Scenery is probably a loss, unless the contours of the landscape don't change with the new layout. It seems like an excellent idea to me. I expect to build my Los Angeles Junction switching layout without ballast or ground cover to see how it works operationally. I'll make changes to the track work until it works like I want it to operate, and then start adding ballast and scenery to it.