Oh and here you go again.... I'm about to do the same thing all new from the bench up!
Gator, I wish I could do what you are doing, start from scratch! I know if I could do that, with the knowledge I have gained from you guys, I would make a lot of changes and make different things the focus.
To be honest, I now look at the room I have and can see ways of doing the track plan differently that would give me a larger radius for curves, albeit not much larger. As it is, I guess I don't have the luxury (if you like) to rip everything up and start again so I have to do what I can with what I have. The annoying thing to me is that if I could "fudge" another 2" or 3" in all directions, I could have a much better track plan with (perhaps) 24" radius curves.
I am looking forward to seeing your rebuild and good luck with it
Please post updates. I'M a 'first timer' and need all the pointers I can get! Thanks!
new guy, if there is anything that you need to know, want to know, just ask ... you will get all the help and advice you will need, regardless of what it is. The worse thing you can do is NOT ask a question, believe me - there are so many facets to this hobby and so many things that can go wrong that it wont take long to end up being up to your neck with problems if you don't ask questions, ANY questions.
I think I can speak for others, such as gator - the reason we pull our layouts apart and redo things, or start over is because there was something that could be improved in the layout, things that may have been able to have been done from the start but weren't for some reason.
Best advice I can give you (from the experience of not doing it) is to be patient, know what you want for the layout (point to point, looped, passenger runs, freight, switching, realistic operations etc etc etc) don't rush anything and plan everything down to the last nut and bolt (so to speak) before doing anything
THEN, get opinions from the experience here, take that experience and advice and then start the physical work of building the layout.
Then, double check everything as you go and continue to ask questions, even if only to get verification of what you are thinking.
Lastly, and to save confusion, when you ask a question - ask a specific question about one thing per post to ensure you get the answer you need and not be, or end up being, possibly confused by multiple answers to multiple questions in one post.
Remember, the
ONLY DUMB QUESTION is the one
NOT ASKED!