How long has your layout existed?

[boomertom]

Due to recent problems with water heaters and breaker boxes, I have had to demolish a substantial portion of my layout. This. along with an artical I came across in an old MOdel Railroader, got me to wondering how often othersstart over from scratch and what was the motivation ?

Personally, I think I have made substanial changes about  every five  years be seldom a complte tear down and start over.

Tom

[Yampa Bob]

I think too many modelers jump into a large layout just because it looks nice, or has a lot of tracks, or a buddy has one similar, or who knows, without any consideration of an "operating plan".  A real railroad doesn't just arbitrarily throw down a bunch of tracks, then figure out how to operate on it.  The operating plan comes first, and it is usually quite simple. 

Believe it or not, we spent almost 2 years designing our layout.  First we started out with a large design, then started whacking it down to what we had space for. Before we laid a single piece of track, we had the operating plan finalized.  In operating, we found a few bottlenecks, but were easily worked out with a few minor changes.

We ended up with a simple design that has all the features we need. We may expand a bit later, but we don't intend to ever change the basic central layout.

Some people enjoy building layouts, I just want to run my trains and have fun.

[boomertom]

In looking back, I think the most satisfying layout I've had was a 4'x8' with passing sidings, a simple 4 track yard,reversing loop,and two spurs, one to a mine;the other to a dummy interchange.

I spent quite a few enjoyable hours operating this layout using the premiss that all of the switching opportunitiesrequired several laps around the oval to a different imangined town.

Prototypical - not really; fun to operate - yes.

Now due to space limitations I am forced to think linearly-maximun length 16' with a possible
and will probably end up with the terminus of a brach line.

The operfating scheme will be the local switcher assemblys outbound cars.
the arrival of a turn powered by GP40,GP9 lash up delivering a train, cutting off, refuling, coupling up to out bounds and returing to the main line (staging).

After the departure fo the turn, the local switcher spots the cars at local industries and ties up at the engine facilities, calling it a day.

This can be made simple or more complicated by road crossing that can't be blocked for extende periods, restrictions or car spotings and so forth.

My biggest regret is I can't find space for a simple loop for breaking in purposes.

[Yampa Bob]

By utilizing a set of ball bearing rollers, you can break in a locomotive "in place". They are rather expensive but serve a purpose for anyone with a shelf layout.

http://www.micromark.com/HO-and-On30-LOCOMOTIVE-ROLLERS-ASSEMBLED-SET-OF-4,8274.html

[Jim Banner]

My present H0 layout germinated in 1984 and has spead like a weed ever since.  Sort of like the real railroad laying rails to new towns.  The original track plan of the initial 5 x 10 section has all but disappeared over time as the needs of the railway changed over the years.

I don't normally use the layout for breaking in locomotives.  I just set up a temporary figure 8 track.  It sends the locomotive through left turns, right turns and straights.  E-Z track is ideal for this.

DCC locomotives get broken in on DCC.  New dc locomotives get the newness run off them on dc, then finish their breakins on DCC after the decoder is added.  Old dc locomotives get cleaned, lubricated, and a short run in to check performance before adding a decoder and again after adding the decoder.  The rare time that I am asked to repair a dc locomotive, it gets cleaned, lubricated and run, even if all that was wrong was a burned out headlight.       

[Yampa Bob]

I break in DCC locomotives on DC power first to get them limbered up, checking for any binding, sluggishness or noise, and any heat build up in the motor. I finish the break in by pulling 10 to 15 cars for a time to put a load on the motor. Then when I put them on DCC power, they seem to really perform well.

I like the idea of using a figure 8 track for break in. I have a scenic route in mind that has a figure 8, no sidings or yards, just one long loop folded up into an 8 for demonstration purposes. It might also be fun for a youngster who just likes a lot of running with a few buildings or other scenics. It would be easy to add a passing siding, storage spur or fiddle track.

The upper left crossing could be an over-under with the figure 8 elevated above the outer loop for variety. I'm considering it as a separate layout for my wife's ON30 Roaring Ridge. Lots of possibles for mountains, trees, tunnels, whatever. I'm not adept working with foam or scenery, but it's something to dream about. 

[grumpy]

Bob
It looks like a layout with a lot of potential.
Don

[#94]

My dad built one of mine for Christmas on a 4x6.5 plywood and frame with a modified Life-Like over and under set hinged to the wall in 1974.
I added a 4x4. Removed that and added a 4x6.5 to form an L shape. Then moved things to make a 8x 6.5. I then removed the extra 4x6.5 and added a triangle piece big enough for an engine facility with an Atlas turntable.
All the ad ons were constantly changing. The original 4x6.5 is as built with a couple of turnouts added.

[rogertra]

About 15 years.

[Santa Fe buff]

Speaking of Model Railroader they had an article in the February 2009 issue about a poor fellow that moved and painstakinly demolished his completed layout. He finally found a large house and re-did his layout bigger and better than ever. Trust me, it is outstanding. However, I had a small simple 5-year-old Life-Like village on fabric, and was very happy to learn I was getting a foam base and tearing down the terribly unreal structures and old Power-Loc track Life-Like supplied me with in turn for Bachmann E-Z track and Atlas standard track on good ol' cork! Right now, me being a 12-year-old, my messy room will need to be cleaned (along with a messy train board top) in order to get a 4'x8' piece of foam... We're thinking 2-3". Pretty good.

I've had it for about 6-7 years? 5-6 years it spent on top of a '69 Pontiac Grand Prix, while it has only spent 1/2 year in my room. 1 year when we first built it.

Happy Railroading!
Josh

[Yampa Bob]

Don,

I think one either loves figure 8s or hates them. My wife wanted an 8, said it might be more fun than just going around in circles, perhaps she's right.  Might also be interesting if running two DCC locos on it, consider all the collision potentials. 

When I designed the scenic layout three years ago, I was actually considering it for N scale, but when my eyes went bad I had to switch to HO. I have a vision of it as a mountain scene, such as Rollins Pass on the Moffat Road, but don't think it will ever become a reality.