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Thirteen years ago I embarked on a fun, education, wonderful and rewarding journey into model trains.  I collected, planned, built, wired, and operated a Lionel Postwar 027 layout.  But now, we are moving and the layout must come down.  Although I am sad to see it go, I am not discouraged as I look back at all the enjoyment I've experienced in this wonderful hobby.  So, I am looking forward to building a new layout at our new home in the not too distant future.

I have learned so much over the years about layout planning/construction, collecting, wiring and operating and much of that knowledge came from reading every issue of CTT and OGR magazines that I could get my hands on.

Here is a slideshow of the take down:

Here is another slideshow I made in 2013 showing how the layout gradually evolved over several years as I built, collected and gained knowledge.

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David, I have always liked your layout videos and have often made mention of them in postings. Glad to hear you have plans for another new layout.

I recently was forced to move and had to make hard decisions. Many trains had to be sold and the "traditionally" sized trains were the first to be sold. And yet I have been working on a new layout... the smallest I have ever built incorporating many of the ideas I've learned from building other layouts. But as a consequence of even a smaller space, I am now focusing - even more than in the past - on the smaller 027 trains. 

One thing I l always admired about your past layout, was how you took the time to carefully paint the plastic base structure of the 027 switch to match your ballast. And then either leaving the ties brown or painting them brown. That really made the switches look so much better.

The term "hi-rail" has been railroaded in recent years to mean scale proportions rather than simply striving to make your trains and layout appear as realistic as possible. The original meaning of hi-rail was as inclusive to 027 trains as it was to the larger 0 gauge ones, as well to the newer scale proportioned ones. It's simply just making the most of what you have to work with.

As for me, I'd rather have a small layout than no layout at all, because I still get enjoyment out of it.

Thanks for all your videos over the years and may there be new ones forthcoming.

HCSader73 posted:
Train Nut posted:

I hear you! Last August I had to tear down my layout due to a move. We moved to a temporary apartment (so we thought), but still have not found a house to our liking. 20170708_170120 Hence, all my stuff is still in storage!

I'll hope that you have success quicker than we did.

Kind of looks like New Jersey.

Hahaha.  Yes it was stuffed.  A lot of fun though.  Definitely looking to loosen things up with the new layout.

Thanks everyone for the compliments on my layout.  I have had a fun time over the past dozen years, learning, collecting postwar, designing, building, operating, sharing information on the train forums, writing articles for CTT and OGR and posting train videos on YouTube.  I am still inspired by the wonderful world of toy trains and certainly plan on a new and improved layout in the not too distant future.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

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