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Something more, almost new
Layout Number 2
When my wife and I moved ashore from nearly 20 years on the sailboat I began working on my first room-sized layout. I was about a month into it when I received a call from a friend in Oregon. Seems he met a women at a trainshow that was looking for someone to build a Z scale layout in a silverware/cutlery box. Her husband was halfway gone to Alzimers an thought something small and easy to deal with would be a big help to him. My friend was too busy and asked me. I said, 'Yes.' A week latter the box arrived and I was presented a whole new set of challenges.
I think this box was only 12"x16.5". First, I went to Radio Shack and got parts for the electrics. It had to be DC plugged into the wall. Next I found a backdrop and used my new supplies from my LHS.
I used my Marklin loco and made the track fit its minimum radius requirements. In the end I sent my Marklin set along with the layout box so she wouldn't have to buy anything. I told her it was German railroad cars and she didn't think her husband would know better even though he loved trains. (Never a modeler however.) Once I got the track down and the loco and cars all running then scenery.
This was a new challenge for sure. I needed the box to close, hold all the electrics unseen, and look a real as I could make it, but not over doing it because of the man's health. Simple but effective.
As these folks lived in a rural area familiar to me as I was from Oregon, I figured a farm scene would have enough in it.
I made the bridge and the barn and put a small stream in.
So that's the story of the smallest layout I've built. The husband played with it for years before his passing I was told. Jim