What do you think is the BIGGEST obstacle to starting a 3-Rail O Gauge layout?

Space

Money

Time

Kids

When I first got married we lived in a condo with no basement and no room for a layout.  I did build a few Christmas layouts but that was it.  When we moved into our current home I did start a layout but it was very expensive.  That layout only lasted about 2 years and it came down to make room in the basement for the kids to have a play area.

I started  my new layout in an extra bedroom in the basement just a few months ago.  It is much smaller then the pervious but I am doing it right this time.  I am also on a much tighter budget.  I am making this one way more kid friendly so they can run their trains and I can throw on my Legacy locomotives and scale cars on their once in awhile.   

I have friends in HO Scale and they are rivet counters, two RAIL is not real, three rail is TOY...Well, I had a good friend over last week that has a 35' by 50' HO layout that had never seen my layout. He, runs DCC, has several thousand cars, several hundred Diesels, loves his Scale. What he saw different was, mine is totally Lionel Legacy, I could start up any of 15 or so Engines on the track, or lash ups, or program turnouts or even open blocks, it was EASIER....He was amazed at the Quality that LIONEL has achieved over the years....You could actually see the fine Detailing...It was a Wow for him....

So, to Answer your Question, You do need a good bit of space, a modest amount of money, and to help keep your budget in retrospect, model 1 or 2 railroads, maybe 1950 to 1975....If you choose small Steam, or small Diesels, you could get away with 054 or 063 curve diameter...Remember, Railroads start small and Grow.

In comparison, if you Join a Nice Country Club to Play Golf, (Golf Clubs and balls are Expensive) well, that's also costly. If you buy a nice Boat,(Wow, HUGH investment) and lots of fishing Gear, well, that's also Costly...If you look at Model Railroading like that, it's not that costly. 

Yes, we must consider our wives opinion, (Cheaper to Keep HER), but when we are working on our trains, we are at Home....When I am in the basement, I am under her feet, so to speak......For the record, my wife is not into trains, but she supports my love for trains...Actually, I win a lot of trains????....

Lionel, MTH, ATLAS O, 3Rd RAIL, SUNSET MODELS, really hold a good resale Value.

GOOD LUCK, You will me a lot of great people, You will have a lot of Fun..

Old Chinese proverb - Longest journey begins with first small step.  Do something, ACT.  Clean the room, paint the walls, seal the floor.  Buy the wood, sooner or later you will have a few hours (not necessarily together) to work on the frame work.  Lay some track, run a train.  From there add track, scenery and soon you will have a layout.  BUT if you don't act, sure as God made little green apples you will not have a layout.  It doesn't have to be perfect, few ever are.   You can always take it up and start all over. Make decisions, and if one or two are wrong, so what? If you make a few mistakes, so what?  But DO something.    Ten minutes on the Internet is ten minutes not spent joining wood together for part of the frame.  Thirty minutes on the Internet is thirty minutes not spent laying track or wiring the layout.  An hour on the Internet is sixty minutes not spent working on or testing your railroad.  Everyone has the same amount of time.  Your choice how you use it.   John in Lansing, ILL

Me it's space at the moment. I do have about 5' x 8' area but I also have to make it high enough for some things like the laundry baskets and a shelving unit 3' high to fit under there also, among other things she thinks needs to be in here as she doesn't have room for. I need to do a couple of things then I can start working on my new area. ( my garage ) But then money comes in lol. Most of I can do but will need a electrician as I'am going to need to upgrade my panel box in the house to a bigger amp one I think it's like 80 or 110 at present ( yes I know very little about electric. ) I do know how to run and hook up outlets and lights but getting a bigger panel box and rewiring it, is another thing. What I do do thou I will have him recheck all I have done. I hope in the garage to have 2 outlets per breaker. Will also have to run a line from the house to power the panel box in the garage. Closing the garage off I can do. Cutting a doorway into the garage from storage room connected to it so I have access, from what I see I might as well find some to do that as by time I rent the saw and all I won't be saving that much. Especially once I drive about 60 miles each way to get it and return it. 

for me Space Time and Money all factor in here

Power - both Electric and Physical

Most home electric services are 100 Amp 220 volt , an All-Electric home should be 200 amp 220.

My house was built in 1940 with 30 Amp 110 volt service and only two breakers of 15 amp each.

I want to upgrade but so many other things need to be fix also.

If was younger and had the physical stamina I once had i would be done by now.

I only lived in this house since 1986, (30 + years).

Rattler21, "Old Chinese proverb - Longest journey begins with first small step."  You've been watching too many Charlie Chan movies. LOL

Don

For someone just starting out, it's got to be money. I started with Lionel back in the '50's (when there were such things as after-Christmas clearance sales), went H0 in the '60's (BIG mistake, but at least it was cheaper), back to Lionel in the '70's with MPC (and fortunately had always kept my original childhood trains), and on to Williams and MTH in the '80's & '90's. Today, I couldn't afford to start out with the $1k+ engines being made.

For awhile in the '80's & '90's G gauge was affordable to a lot of people starting out, but today it seems that the prices have gone up beyond most budgets as well (except for the really cheap sets with plastic track). 

But enough weeping and wailing for the past. Used trains of any manufacturer or gauge are available at a fraction of original cost, and a layout can be carefully designed to fit almost any space (just look at some layouts here on the forum: mounted on doors / shelves / modules, etc.). Just take it slow and thoughtful.

Space, unless you want a toy train layout. And by that I mean 1/4"/ft. equipment. All other gauges except O are scale or near to scale.

My opinion, space. You never seem to have enough. You are always saying to yourself, boy if I could just ?

Space and Funds to do everything you want to do.

It's a lot easier to buy stuff for that future layout than it is to actually work on it.

Dennis Rempel posted:

It's a lot easier to buy stuff for that future layout than it is to actually work on it.

Now that is some scary truth!

Hmmm.  Biggest obstacle, maybe spending a month trying to figure out whether to use Lionel's or MTH's proprietary command system.....  They kind of force you to take sides don't they?

My biggest obstacle is ME.  We moved into our house 5 yrs ago and I had great plans for my railroad.  WE own the house with  no mortgage payment.  We have no credit card debt, no car payments, just sold my boat and slip at the marina and am retired with nothing but time on my hands.   I have all the trains I'll ever need and have a nice finished 12' X 17' room in the basement that's heated in the winter and a/c in the summer.  To top it off my wife has been on my back to get started on the layout.  I can't use the excuse of not enough money, nor can I say I don't have the time or space so YES, my biggest obstacle is ME.  How do I get past ME? 

]MONEY.......I don't know of ANY kids (and VERY FEW adults) walking the earth who have an extra $400 or $1400 just laying around to buy a new engine.  Even a used one at $200-$300 is spendy.  $50 for a boxcar??  or $100 for a passenger coach??  Get realistic!  Those prices are driving people AWAY from hobbies like this!!!   The train MFGs targeted marketing pool is quickly draining of the 60+ year olds who want the biggest, best, or ???  to re-live their childhood, but this time with a layout of glory!!!  Their 401K's that have been converted into a layout are BIG $$$ losers!!!   If you have a family, there won't be much $$$ left to buy ANY o gauge stuff no matter where you look.  For me, I've bought lots of "used" that others consider "old" ie Proto 1 or conventional.  I don't care to run mine thru the "smart" phone or with a wireless system.  This is extra $$$ I can put into something else on the layout.  Standing by the transformer is OK with me..... 

I still have my original 4X8 from my childhood and finally had enough extra $$$ earned to buy a fully sceniced (sp?) 4X10 from a person who needed it gone (to get space!).  I know they took a big $$ loss on it, but its ready to run and the kids and I have fun with it. (here's a piccy)

http://i454.photobucket.com/al.../001_zpsteeeqk0o.jpg

Future plans are to sell it and build something else in the 14 X 14 train room.  No rush on that yet.

SPACE.........You can always buy space anytime by moving or removing parts of a house.  I'm amazed at how many people on this forum have houses WITHOUT basements....(a GREAT place to put a layout!!)

TIME.....Finding time is just a matter of prioritizing.......REALLY!!!!....just how long ARE you going to keep storing everything???

Probably the biggest obstacle is developing a realistic plan.  You have to weigh your goals against your limitations.  Space, money and time are limitations that can be overcome if you adjust your goals to fit the limitations.  Once a plan is developed things fall into place by themselves.  A well planned layout is fun to build and a joy to operate.

Tom

Space and Location

I would say it is knowing what you want, and then finding it.

First modern railroads and their huge engines also don't help, since manufactures always make the current engines and cars, and today they are huge! How many have the space for a O-54 minimum curve engine? Or the towering auto racks, that Lionel had to boost the height of some of the bridges for? Finding a good looking SW1, NW2, 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 in the road name you want is a pain if you want to stay in a small space. The shear drought of modern O-27 equipment new does not help, particularly good looking engines. Used is great, but parts of the west coast where HO is the norm getting affordable, not Marx (or Mar if the person selling does not know of Marx), engines is trickier if you don't Ebay or online. The Rio Grande Lionchief 0-4-0 comes to mind, (produce number 6-83080 if you want to find it) it may not be scale or from a prototype, but looks great running; perfect for an O-27 switching layout. Many have no idea the level of detail you can cram into a small layout, just finding engines to make it work is a pain, since the tended to be old school starter set types.

In the end availability, space and time, are the issues. SCARM removes the issue of layout design.

Procrastination.