All of these replies make me feel a lot better. I was under the impression most of you were up and running! In 2007 (?) my fiancé asked me "Are you serious about wanting a train?". I didn't even realize that I had been talking about something I liked since childhood but never had. So for Christmas I received a Lionel (didn't even know about MTH) RTR Rio Grande set. Put up the customary 4x8 plywood and immediately got bored. Found cheap porcelain buildings, got another 4x8 to make an L shape, bought another RTR set and had two separate loops........bored again! THEN I discovered OGR Magazine and saw what people were doing with realistic scenery and prototypical settings...WOW! I also discovered a great local train shop whose owner was above and beyond the first shop I visited. Dennis Brennan's book also motivated me! I started sketching on graph paper using scale rulers and curve templates (I was experienced with landscape designing as well as Art so this part was fun). Like many others here, I have a layout under development but I am frustrated that it is still a world of pink. I want to invite friends and my granddaughter's friends over but it is so far from completion that I am embarrassed. I want to start with the scenic work but keep holding back; the same with improving the wiring. Part of my problem is that I wanted to represent a certain area but it just is not possible in the space. Also, I would like to try to fit in a second mainline but that is not how it is in real life AND it means cutting away more space from the already too small town. Do I keep revising it until I am happy with it (is that even possible?) or do I just go for it, glue down what I have, wire, paint, scenic, etc.? Like the responses in another recent thread, I have piles of boxes of trains, MTH, Cornerstone & Ameritown buildings and kits (slowly getting rid of most of the porcelain), cars, trucks, people, and so on. I don't understand the mental block that I have with this (I guess that it is the permanency of it). I have designed and installed a similar size one as a temporary layout in town for the holidays and it is a great hit!
Mikki
I am not sure one can revise their plan enough to meet all their requirements in the space they have allocated, I think your next line is true that it is probably not possible. You should not be embarrassed to have people come run trains. If they have a layout they have all been where you are now, if not then they won't know what is going on anyway and you can tell them about your plans for the layout hand what all the stuff is that you already have installed. If they do have layouts they might be able to offer some helpful tips. I am sure they had sticking points while building their layouts too.
I think you are on to something about the 'permanency' of these things. That is one thing that is slowing me down right now too. I hadn't really thought of that until I read your post, but there is a lot of truth in that statement. I planned a larger layout than I could afford to build all at once and I am waiting on the currently depleted 'layout fund' to regain some strength so the project can continue. This was always part of the plan. I wanted to have a larger layout and did not want too wait a few years to be able to run trains. One of the many compromises. Since this is my first permanent layout, getting some trains up and running has helped me decide on some things I like as well as things I don't like.
If you have some track down and can run trains, have your granddaughter and her friends over to play with your layout and trains. Kids have great ideas after playing with something for a while and you might just want to use some of those ideas. They are very creative and have great imaginations. You never know, they might even help you reach your final plan?
One more thing that I think is important. Most of the layouts I have read about in magazines are usually not the first layout the owner has built. They got to that point by building several other layouts prior to the one they are featuring in the magazine and learning all the while as they went. It took some folks a lifetime to get where they are today with their layouts.
