Givens and Druthers

[sailormatlac]

Actually I think this subject is bigger than one might think at first glance.....time,space,budget,experience, personel preferences are all things that are influenced by a myriad of factors. From my own personal experience my own personel rule when layout building is..." Less is more". By that I mean....for example, smaller baseboards are better than big baseboards, a smaller overall layout( that can be expanded in the future) is better than trying for a basement empire all at one go. Less trackwork in a given space is very often better than dense trackwork in the same space ( on many levels, from tracklaying,to ballasting to operating to electrical/mechanical faults)....etc. Etc......but thats just me.....I really think though that too often new folks just getting into the hobby get sucked into the build it big mentality and end up getting overwhelmed and leaving the hobby.

Gene, all we hear about is the success story of some large layouts... but you rarely hear about the majority failing. Funny we call them "dream layout" because it's really what they are to most people: dreams. Each time I see some guy wanting advice about a track plan, most people start to fill every empty space with new track, industries and such. Poor guy, he's just starting in the hobby and we make sure he will never grasp anything. As good as dumping someone in stormy sea believing he'll learn to swim! Good luck!

There's no fun in playing a game in which you never win a match. It's fun to have a worthy opponent or a good challenge, but at some point, you get satisfaction from achieving something and moving forward. Trying to build 50 locomotives, 500 cars, 260 square feet of scenery and building an entire town is something out of range for most people. You never finish anything, feel no sense of satisfaction and start to doubt yourself and your skills. A really slippery slope... I restarted to have fun in this hobby when I cast away my improbable dream and focus my energy on a few very things that meant a lot to me. So yes, less is more... and I would say: less is more time and resources to make things right.

Matt