It's funny reading baby boomer stories here, in CTT, or OGR magazines. They all start with "I got started the same as everyone. My dad brought home a Lionel/American Flyer, etc." That was definitely not the case for me. I'm 47. Until two years ago, I never knew a thing about model trains. I never had them as a kid. My friends didn't have trains either. I never even knew anyone who had a train around the Christmas tree.
And yet I was drawn to them. Before Christmas of 2017, I bought my first O Gauge train. Since that time, I have really gone crazy for it. I've picked up a fair amount of Standard Gauge also. I can't explain it and I don't try to. Maybe that's a good sign for the future of this hobby. Your dad didn't have to bring home trains in the 40's or 50's! There are people like me who are still interested.
I built my first layout last year. It's definitely not the layout I wanted. We'd like to move if we can find the right house. So I didn't want to burn a lot of calories building a permanent layout in this house. I just needed a place to run trains. I chose to do a simple layout of turf carpet and FasTrack. I refer to this as the layout I was forced to build.
The only available space was in our basement storage area. And that space wasn't really available. It was still needed for storage. I had to leave underneath the layout open for household stuff (underneath is filled with Christmas decorations, tubs full of kids clothes, etc.). Also, I needed to cram in a Standard Gauge loop. The layout is 10x15 with a big open space (duck-under) in the middle so we can access the underneath storage. There's a 12 foot L off to one side for a turnaround loop. The layout operates flawlessly but the design limitations are a source of frustration for me and I can't wait to move and tear it down. But for now, it's better than no layout.
Here are some pics and one picture of last year's Christmas layout: