# New Day in Armodilloville



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Running the 4x8 x 4 x4 Armodilloville was becoming more of a chore than a pleasure. Long story short, 
I cut the twice around in half and the *L *extension off, compressing all structures and accessories back into 
the 4x8, or off to eBay, whichever came first. Also, I didn't fancy another trite oval, I wanted train movements
to conflict with each other, forcing the operator out of his chair and make adjustments. Total reliability was
also a prime goal. I run, what a lot of people might rightly call, Old Junk. Some kitbashed stuff, some Tyco, 
some old BB that has been cobbled back together. Stuff you'd find in the dollar bin shoved under the 
dealer's table. 

So there are two separate electrical ovals, one transposed offset to the other, interchanged with two diamonds.
A third diamond allows switching to a spur, and is a real space saver. To reduce probability of derailment, 
particularly in that my fleet is not state-of-the-art, the number of points was reduced to a minimum of two. 

Works nice. Two train operation using Poor Man's DCC and bargain box specials. 🙂


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Gotta stay on your toes with that layout and those crossings Looks like fun.


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## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

You're having fun, doing what you want the way you want! And that's really all that matters! Don't ever let anyone ever tell you otherwise! (With regards to model railroading, that is.)


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

OOOPPS.

Magic


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## RaboIiot (Jun 12, 2021)

Wonderful layout. Love it ! Some photos from the videos:


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Many thanks Roboliot. At the apex, the layout spread out over 12 x4 feet. It was never intended to get so big, but Tyco is cheap, and some folks were giving armloads of the stuff to get it out from their garages. Chopped down to 4 x 8, it took at least an hour to clean and to tidy it up enough for an operating session. Always, have I admired our British Cousins, who do amazing layouts in spaces from 3 x 6 and down, it was endeavored to chop it by 1/2 again and retain the flavor and the interest, but in 4 x 4. Still fun to operate, the one stub siding allows interchange with the main to set up and breakdown loads. It is a _lot _easier to maintain, and is small enough to maybe get out to t model train show now and then. 

This is the inaugural run:


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