@AGHRMatt posted:Let's face it, none of us has the space to model a real railroad to a high level of accuracy in our scale, but you can definitely grab and model pieces to incorporate into a layout.
This is what does me in. I start off with the idea that I could selectively compress a portion of a real railroad to make an interesting model railroad. Once I have got it on paper I then try to imagine how I would be operating trains on that design. I rapidly come to the conclusion that if I added a certain industry it would make for more interesting operations. Except that industry wasn't located there or wasn't located on my railroad. So I bend my rules. Then I see some cool building/industry that some manufacturer has come out with. So I bend my rules some more. Then there is that model of some building from a previous layout that I have fond memories of and want to incorporate it into my layout. So I bend the rules some more. At what point do I cross the line from being a selectively compressed portion of a real railroad to being something which vaguely resembles one (or more) real railroads? That is without considering the locomotives I am are running.
Compared to a random collection of scenes that interest you it takes serious discipline to model a real railroad.
