A small(er) layout would work best for most of us. I sacrificed a lot of complexity for an extended main line, and still have more than I can handle by myself.
The idea is, if I ever get Mt Zion and/or Bonaparte up and running, the rest of the layout will not be immediately visible to the person working at those stations, thus realistically "isolating" that person from activity on the rest of the layout. I have that to a degree now with the two terminals, which are located back to back. I set a train in motion at one terminal, and as it travels over the route, operate in the opposite terminal with clearing the approaching road train "sufficiently to avoid delay". Since the approaching train is not visible until it rounds the final bend on the approach to Terminal District, the sense of anticipation while waiting for it to appear is authentic, to say the least. My toward huge, complex layouts changed when I designed the "Iowa Central", which appeared in Model Railroader in the early 1990's. It was only supposed to be a temporary solution until I had the space and time to commence building the "Big Dream". I took one more stab at the Big Dream with "SHABBONA RR", which also appeared in Model Railroader, in 1994, I believe. Then I began to realize how much prototypical operation was possible on the simple design of IC, itself, especially in a much-abbreviated construction time-frame. If I had continued on my former course towards the Big Dream I once envisioned, none of what I now have would exist. It would have been a sacrificial lamb on the alter of endless planning and the associated frustration of models sitting on shelves or, worse, entombed in cardboard catacombs. Bob Nicholson _________________________________________ --- In [email protected], "Monte" <montehe...@...> wrote: > > > A small layout worked for me. > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
