What number layout are you on?

[DarkRedCape]

This time of year is pretty hectic, so I’ve not had much time to get up in the loft and do anymore work. So I’m stuck making layouts on AnyRail, some large, some small, and it’s obvious that I’ll never have room to create all of them, so it got me thinking about how often people change their layouts.

A baseboard with just track on it doesn’t seem like an issue, but layouts with full scenery, buildings, bridges and tunnels, remodelling this seems like a major overhaul.

I know some of you have been at this for a long time, so I’m interested to know if people change their layouts often, or find something that works for them, and stick with it.

[JJ73]

WOW - What a Question D. R. C. !!! Personally me - I've had so many different layout in the past number of years on my Living room floor (too many to remember!!!) - I've had just 1 loop, just 2 loops, just 3 loops & finally just 4 loops ( that is b/c that is the maximum space allow me too!!! - see my videos on my YT Channel - Jimyjames - Model Locos / Bike Rides / Exploring - YouTube then click on Playlist then click on

) Sometimes on them on the Carpet (shouldn't really do that - some say the Locos will collect hair on the wheels apparently!!!), sometimes on the Hornby TrakMat & sometimes on pieces of wood on the floor & then sometimes pieces of wood with the TrakMat on Top!!! But as most of you know - recently in the last few months or so, I turned my Bedroom into my 'Railway Room' & Now my Railway is off the Floor!!! (with only 2 loops - but sometime in the future - it may gain a further 3rd loop!!!) 😉🙂🚂🚂🚂

[Potterton]

@DarkRedCape I know some of you have been at this for a long time, so I’m interested to know if people change their layouts often, or find something that works for them, and stick with it.

I'm actually in the process of building the same layout for the third time. I've started it twice before, but each time a house move has interrupted progress. This time though that isn't going to happen and I've made more progress in the last 18 months with this layout than I did with either of the two previous attempts.

[96RAF]

Not including any test layouts I have build for kit proving, I am on layout number six. None of them ever really got finished, except the L-shaped one. First one was around 2005/6.

http://www.halton96th.org.uk/myrailways.html

As you can see from the link these have largely been driven by house moves.

Number six as pictured has since been altered to sacrifice some of the sidings to incorporate a Turntable.

[Bulleidboy]

I'm on layout number one, and will remain with that. Commenced building in 2013, and now it's just a case of adding the finer details - still some way to go.

[Chrissaf]

I'm on layout number one, and will remain with that............

 

 

Ditto for me too, exactly the same including same start year.

[RB51]

#1 Started 2013. Not happy with result. Too many mistakes.

#2 Started 2017. Better but moved house

#3 Started 2021. Smaller L shaped layout due to less available space.

R-

[Brew Man]

I'm on layout #3.

1. Started in November 2020 - 6' x 4' using Sundaela. Taken down in March 2021 to make way for decorating the room.
2. Started in April/May 2021 - 6'6" x 4' using 12mm Ply. Much better but still too small.
3. Started September 2021 - moved to the loft with a 10' x 6'6" layout using 12mm ply. Much better size allowing for more detail - station, landscape, sidings etc.

[GWR LNER fan 4472]

Great question!

1. My first layout (not including Dad's from the 70s/80s) was your basic track mat layout, two loops and a few sidings. It all came together in the Clan Line Pullman DCC set in 2007. This was set up on my grandparents' dining room table for a while, as it was a venture for the whole family.
2. After a while (I forget how long, perhaps a few months), a more suitable layout is built on the baseboard of my Dad's old layout set in a different part of the house so my grandparents could have their dining table back. This was another two-loop oval, with more sidings. This lasted until my grandparents moved house in 2010.
3. A short while after they moved, we made a purpose-built baseboard with proper frame and everything in the converted attic space. Dad's old baseboard was cut up and used as part of the new one. It was a sort of safety goggles shape, two loops, with a spiral incline in one half for a branch line.
4. Technically an extension to the last one, but changed a lot, only the back straight and back corners of track remain. This incarnation is much larger and has a better station, yard, straight incline and additional branch line loop. This is the current layout and we continue to build and improve it. Started 2014.
5. This layout I have in my own bedroom running above doorframe height around the room. Unlike the others, this is an analogue layout and is based off Thomas the Tank Engine's branch line. I put the first boards up in January 2021.

[DarkRedCape]

It seems moving house is the real bane of the model train enthusiasts life.

What about the enthusiasm and the interest each time you make a new layout? Are you as excited and interested as the previous layouts, or does the magic wear off when forced to start over?

[GWR LNER fan 4472]

For me, we knew the house move was coming when we set up layout number 2, so we didn't do landscaping (which is arguably the most permanent part of a layout), so it wasn't a terrible shame when we had to start over. Quite the opposite, my Dad and I thoroughly enjoyed building layout 3 in my grandparents' new house. As I got a bit older, our vision for the layout grew beyond what was already there, hence the extension/rebuild into layout 4, which I was even more involved with, planning and constructing.

Throughout all of this, I was learning about how to design and build proper track plans, incorporating important operational aspects such as runround loops, long enough platforms, engine sheds, etc as well as electrical challenges such as a triangle and return loop. Building a layout it the most exciting part for me and running that first train is so satisfying.

In summer 2018, layout 4 was overhauled. Keeping the same track plan, but getting everything pinned down, town and landscaping done properly, painting the baseboards, backscenes and even the attic ceiling. All of this I did myself with only a little help from Dad.

The 5th layout was completely done by me, having now become more familiar with woodworking and the electrical setup of a layout. As I was salvaging/buying each bit of this layout gradually, it took a while before a complete loop was constructed. Once again, the first train around it was so satisfying after such a long time plannig, saving up and building the layout.

There is the looming question of what will become of the big layout at my grandparents house once they no longer live there, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Fortunately, my current house is a 'forever home', so that layout's safe.

All in all though, I love layout building (especially the track) as much as I enjoy running the trains. That being said, they're two very different forms of enjoyment in my opinion.

I have lots of plans for future layouts including a few portable ones for shows perhaps. It's nice to dream! Even better when those dreams become reality, as has happened to me the last two times!

[Simmo009]

Been back in the hobby for about 4 years now. In that time frame:

1. A running in / test loop with a workstation in the centre.

2. An Inglenook layout approx 1650 x 400mm.

3. A test build, 2200 x 800mm with a 2400 x 400mm 5 lane fiddle yard at 90 degrees. This was to practice track laying, point fitting, wiring, electronics etc.

4. Currently building a folding layout 2400 x 600mm, it will have a scenic depot and a hidden 3 lane fiddle yard. Railfreight era.

5. After that, The Big One. About 4.8m x 3m with lots of interest / play value. #3 boards will be recycled into this build after stripping all of the track etc.

[wairoalbany]

Currently on my first layout as a "grown up." It is 12x10 with a great big hole in the middle. If needing to run trains on a bigger layout I can take them to the club layout. I had an 8X4 layout with tracks on a bear board as a kid made from Peco track plan book.

[JJ73]

@ D. R. C. :- To answer your 2nd question - When I was little (about 8 yrs old) - my late Dad bought me my 1st 3 Train sets (2 Lima sets - 1 x A blue BR Plymouth Switcher with 3 Wagon & a small circuit of tract in each box & a Airfix A1A-A1A Diesel with 3 Wagons with a circuit of track) - we did put it on a wooden board but & had a loop on it but that was a far as it got as me being a child, then when I was 12 my Mum got me Scalextric, then my Train set got put away & forgotten about, then move forward in time about 10 - 15 yrs ago when I moved to Derbyshire - I decided to get out my 3 Train set & start playing with them again - Since then - I haven't looked back - b/c my collect has just grown & grown - I how have about 16 Train Sets & loads of Locos, Rolling Stock, etc etc!!!

With my Layout - what I've done - I do a Layout - then get board with it after a few yrs - take it up & redo another Layout - so the enthusiasm and the interest each time I make a new layout stays and as excited and interested as the previous layouts, & the magic never really wear off when I start over - specially when I turned my Bedroom into my Railway room!!! 😉🙂🚂🚂🚂