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I had peaked in here from time to time for answers to various questions and always got pretty good information. I am 54 years young and back in the 1980's in high school and college I had an HO scale basement layout. Nothing fancy. One or two switches and no blocking or isolated tracks.

Fast forward just over 30 years. I have been married for 30 years and have an 18 year old son. Every year I have put a Lionel set under the Christmas Tree; because I have always loved O gauge. I am disabled and retired and have been gradually building up a collection of various rolling stock: Lionel,MTH,Atlas & Weaver.

I really love trains and have since I was a little kid. A few months ago, my wfe approached me and told me I should set up my trains year round.I build plastic models and have a one man business; bt trains have always had a special place in my heart, probably because I grew up in a big train area and saw them all of the time.

So I told my wife I'd LOVE to desgn, build and run a new O scale layout, but where? Our cellar is way too damp and not really set up for something like a layout. She said, "How about the bedroom?" We have a huge bedroom and have wanted to downsize. We have two large walk-in closets so we won't be cramped and I will have space for a 5' x 10'-5' x 4' L shaped layout! I have been collecting everything I need little by little and hope to start building before this Christmas.

I plan to record the whole project on YouTube and Bit chute. I'm really excited and I hope to learn a lot here and help assist anyone I can! Thanks.

Smitty

Last edited by Dad72766
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Smitty,

Welcome to the Forum!

You'll love it here as we have a great group of people with similar interests who are willing to help one another out.

We have folks on here that can help you with your layout design.

Just post your design and you'll get all kinds of very helpful suggestions to improve upon it should it need any.

We have experts in every aspect of this hobby - so don't be shy to ask.

Last edited by Allegheny

And I thought I was the luckiest man in the world because my wife was OK being surrounded with trains circling around her while doing laundry in the laundry room. For your wife, Smitty, to suggest that you build the layout in the bedroom, now that, IMO, makes you, not me, the luckiest man in the world!

Welcome to this Forum, where you can make many friends to share your passion for model railroading. Arnold

Smitty

Welcome, and we all look forward to seeing your layout come together. Sounds like you picked a good one for a wife, as many of us lucky ones have, and that sure makes life worth living.

You will find the folks here are very helpful in answering some of the questions you might run into as your layout work begins.

Dean

Welcome to the forum!  I have found this to be such a good resource for the last 13 years while my interests in O scale have grown and changed over the years.  I spent 30 years in HO prior to that and dabbled in N scale for about 10 of those years, but I keep coming back to O.  You have found a great home for the most helpful group of O gauge people in the world for where ever your adventure takes you!

I'll chime in to welcome you to a wonderful forum and jump right in to mention my mistake of limiting myself to the smaller engines and passenger cars by using Gargraved 42" radius curves... The  Gargraves  track and switches are good but I recommend larger radius curves so that you can be eligible to enjoy the larger newer engines that are now available.

I truly enjoy what I have but I have limited myself for the future expansion. As you plan and build Keep in mind what size buildings and houses that you have on hand or will buy for the space you will have.

So enjoy yourself in this great scale O gauge hobby.  Sounds like you have sold your wife on the idea so have a great time.

Smitty, welcome aboard and welcome to the best forum on the planet.  This a great place to come when you want to just sit back and read what others have to say or to learn something, ask questions and get some great answers.  You will find this to be a great place with a great group of guys and gals, all willing to help with questions and great ideas.  Looking forward to seeing how your layout develops and hopefully you'll share some pictures of your transits you've been collecting.  Model railroading is the greatest hobby to be in, there are many others out there but I love trains the most.  Thanks for introducing yourself, again, welcome to the OGR family.

Smitty, you hit the jackpot for a bunch of guys who know how to deal with any model railroad situation; have helped me immensely since I got into the hobby in 2014.  I started out with a Lionel Polar Express set and then moved on quickly to a Lionel VL Big Boy and other legacy engines; learned a lot from the forum including repairs; these guys stick with you till the repair is done!

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