I’ve been lurking in the background for while. I thought I’d share my ideas for a new layout and get some feedback.
I’ve been around trains most of my life. My dad was and still is an avid railfan and photographer. I spent the first twenty years of my life chasing trains around the midwest with him and still do when our schedules both allow it. He and I built several HO scale layouts in the late ‘80s but nothing that ever got to a state of “completion”. To the point of running trains, but not to completion of scenery or detailing. I have taken a 15 year hiatus from model railroading. I have tried to keep up with the times. I frequently purchase magazines and books and have collected a number of models for my favorite prototype, the Wabash, whenever something new becomes available. I guess I have been an armchair modeler.
I have grand dreams of building a basement filling layout that depicts the west side of Detriot on the Wabash. Specifically the area from Oakwood to Romulas, or maybe Milan Michigan. But this seams to big a project to dive into for a first layout in 15 years. So maybe the Wabash branch in central Missouri from Centralia to Columbia would be a better choice. The problem is I can see moving from our current home within the next four or five years. I know I could make the layout “movable” but moving to a new house that has same size and shape space seams unlikely. I think I should start with something simpler.
I’m drawn to Ian Rice’s plan “The Norfolk & Western’s Abingdon Branch”. For some resin I like this plan. I think it has a manageable size and level of complexity. I would make it slightly larger to accommodate a larger minimum radius, and open up the width of the aisle way. The only thing is I’m not sure how to adapt it to a Wabash location and I don’t think I’d be happy with a completely fictional layout.
So as I ponder what to build and how to build it I thought I’d say Hi.
This great site, with lots of great layouts has been an inspiration to get going on a layout of my own. I look forward to contributing to Photo Contests and WPF threads and hopefully someday lending some useful advise to other newbes.
So if anyone has any advice or ideas to share lets have them…
I’ve been around trains most of my life. My dad was and still is an avid railfan and photographer. I spent the first twenty years of my life chasing trains around the midwest with him and still do when our schedules both allow it. He and I built several HO scale layouts in the late ‘80s but nothing that ever got to a state of “completion”. To the point of running trains, but not to completion of scenery or detailing. I have taken a 15 year hiatus from model railroading. I have tried to keep up with the times. I frequently purchase magazines and books and have collected a number of models for my favorite prototype, the Wabash, whenever something new becomes available. I guess I have been an armchair modeler.
I have grand dreams of building a basement filling layout that depicts the west side of Detriot on the Wabash. Specifically the area from Oakwood to Romulas, or maybe Milan Michigan. But this seams to big a project to dive into for a first layout in 15 years. So maybe the Wabash branch in central Missouri from Centralia to Columbia would be a better choice. The problem is I can see moving from our current home within the next four or five years. I know I could make the layout “movable” but moving to a new house that has same size and shape space seams unlikely. I think I should start with something simpler.
I’m drawn to Ian Rice’s plan “The Norfolk & Western’s Abingdon Branch”. For some resin I like this plan. I think it has a manageable size and level of complexity. I would make it slightly larger to accommodate a larger minimum radius, and open up the width of the aisle way. The only thing is I’m not sure how to adapt it to a Wabash location and I don’t think I’d be happy with a completely fictional layout.
So as I ponder what to build and how to build it I thought I’d say Hi.
This great site, with lots of great layouts has been an inspiration to get going on a layout of my own. I look forward to contributing to Photo Contests and WPF threads and hopefully someday lending some useful advise to other newbes.
So if anyone has any advice or ideas to share lets have them…