In 2005, I got back into railroading after a break of 23 years flying R/C aircraft. The layout was built for exhibitions, and measured 6 x 2 feet. It had two tracks, one simple oval and a figure eight with a helix to change track height in the limited space.
It was a good practice after years out of the hobby, but operations were limited on the small layout, and it was soon sold on Ebay and a replacement built. The replacement was 'Area 51'.
Because of my aviation and military interests, the new railroad had a military theme, and that was a small goods yard at the secret 'Area 51' base at Groom Lake, NV. Military vehicles, troop trains and aircraft would all feature on the layout.
The new layout followed a similar track plan, but the board size was increased to 8ft x 2ft 6in, built in two stackable sections for transport, as this was another exhibition layout. All the buildings were scratch built, and some...