# Where to start



## lilredwuck (Mar 4, 2014)

Ok, so planning is not a strong suit of mine. I have a ways to go. I am not sure where I am going to put the layout. I have a obsession with structures (buildings) and that is currently all I am building or putting together for right now. I am not sure if I will use all the buildings, but I sure love putting them together. Good news is, I have the basement, a front room, or the grand room to put the layout in. Where would be a good start to look at (please don't give me a google search, I can do that on my own.) I will troll around the site more, but is there a one stop spot or any tips on how I should start my layout?


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## Ray Haddad (Feb 19, 2014)

Start by building your railroad's purpose. Or purposes. Fictional, sure, since you can't have a 300 mile scale route in any of those places. Some folks start a layout by making a circle or oval and working out from there. All of the railroads you see featured in magazines are planned by their purpose.

Freight to and from two towns? Passenger service as well? Three towns? Four? Are you going to run from a seaside town to inland areas? Any industry on the way from here to there?

Start out by writing a short story to yourself. Write about each city as you imagine it and remember to leave room for the mundane. Every city needs a doctor's office, a church, a gas station as well as the loading docks along side the rail. So leave room mentally if you don't want to put them into the short story.

Then figure out what your train will do. Form a small business picking up and delivering freight, mail, fuel and etc. to your fictional towns. Add sidings to deliver these things and allow engines to turn around when needed. You might have room enough for some really scenic loops where you can reverse direction without uncoupling the engine.

You have lots to think about but the first thing is to tell your layout's story in your mind, on paper and later by trackage. Above all, have fun.


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

When you name the rooms that you have available, we have no idea of the characteristics of them. The basement could be a 10' x 10' former wine cellar with dirt walls, no electricity and a 6' ceiling.


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## nearboston (Dec 19, 2013)

I am a little along in my layout design, and after coming up with a pretty grand scheme, decided to scale back to 4 modules and build one at a time. I should put "Bunny Ears" around the term modules as they aren't going to be any official dimensioned ones, just my own version. 
First part is a simple urban trolley line based on a Boston MBTA Green line scene. Later this year that will interface with #2, a simple suburban commuter passenger line. Both of these will be simple track designs, 2 ft wide, with inbound and outbound. I'm mainly focusing on getting the benchwork, wiring and scenery basics down pat. I don't want to start huge, get halfway done, hit a huge snag and then get frustrated. 
After that we will interface with #3, a mountain-y, lumber-y, coal mine-y thing... it's getting a little foggy on that. #4 is a holiday module that I may try to slap together before the end of the year.

As far as how much space I am taking up, I'm starting out with a corner in an average basement. I will push out as much as I can.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Boy, it's nice that you have the freedom to choose major
rooms in your house for a layout. Assuming your basement
is reasonably comfortable the year round, I'd go for that. You
would have more room to expand, something that model
railroaders often do. Also, remember that over time you
are going to be gluing, painting, soldering, cutting plastic
and wood. It can get messy. Not what you want to
do in a nice room.

The thoughts and Ideas of Ray and Ken are excellent.

Since you have a lot of buildings but need ideas, the 
suggestion of Ken, to create an extended dog bone
seems an ideal starting point. With that you have a
large sweeping curve at each end of a narrow
double track that is essentially an oval. It would give you
ample opportunity to see where you want to put spurs for
industries or yards for switching. Just build the bench work
and temparaily lay the track without regard for scenery at first
and see where it goes from there. 

I'd make a pair of 5 X 5 ft modules for each end and
depending on the length, 2 or 3 3 X 4 modules to
connect them. Use screws and bolts to connect them
together. You can then undo and rearrange when you
have better ideas later.

Don


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