# Keep it manageable - Tips for more enjoyment from your layout



## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Steve this is an ARTICLE, so please leave it alone this time - unless Shad says to move it, okay?

I've seen many layouts come and go over the years. The answers are different for everyone, but I hope the following might save someone a disappointment or two. 
1. Realistically assess your resources and limitations BEFORE you commit! - This means EVERYTHING: spare time, spare money, your current skill level, your desire, physical limitations (both space-wise and your BODY!), your current lifestyle, stability, even your friends, neighbors, and most importantly your immediate family - including pets. 

2. Prioritize and separate your 'needs' from your 'wants' - Unlike Barbie, you usually CAN'T have everything.... Set a minimum acceptable standard that fits with #1 and start there. You can always add more later. The bigger and more intricate, the more interest (sometimes), and the more work (always). 

3. Don't be afraid to ask questions, then actually listen to the answer - Even if it sounds simple and obvious, make sure you really understood it. The only 'dumb' question is the one you learned the answer to the hard/expensive way because you were too proud to ask. 

4. Don't be afraid to start over - Before you can run a marathon, you have to be able to walk that far. EVERYBODY stumbles. EVERYBODY tries something that doesn't quite work out as planned. EVERY layout has had at least a FEW revisions. Yours might turn out to be the exception, but it probably won't. 

5.Practice patience - Just because it's overused and trite sounding doesn't make it less true; Rome WASN'T built in a day.... or even a week. Some stuff just takes time. Instant gratification is a Madison Avenue myth. Besides, if it WAS fast and easy, you probably wouldn't really appreciate it anyway. 

6, Make a budget and stick to it - The easiest way to get yourself into trouble is to over commit, be it money _or_ time. 

7. Address little problems as they crop up - Stuff rarely improves by itself. It usually just gets worse, and even if it doesn't, something else usually goes wrong, too. Sounds depressing? Depressing is avoiding something that used to be fun because you let those little things get out of control like a snowball rolling downhill. 

8. Ask for help - At some point everyone needs it. Some of us are blessed with a significant other that enjoys getting dirty and sweaty. Others have friends that they can rope into helping. Or, if you're really stuck, hire a pro.... 

9.Measure twice, cut once - Not just physically. Take time to think things all the way through before you decide to do something... 
OTOH 


10. Git 'r Done - Don't spend ALL your time thinking, or you're just daydreaming. Get out the shovel and go lay some track! 


Added to the original and also lost by Steve:

11. Don't set project deadlines - Instead, set how many HOURS that you intend to work that day... Then you won't feel as much like a failure if things don't go quite as planned


12. Plan how you will access every single foot of track. - I can almost guarantee that if it's hard to get to, that's where you'll have the most trouble. 


There is the best help I can offer for layouts and for life, without any mumbo jumbo, or sugar coating. How you use it (or not) is up to you.


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Nice summary Mik. 

After chipping away for the last three years I see a lot of truth in your thinking. Number 11 rang my bell. Head out for the day, thinking gonna finish this or that and end up miles away tootling around on something else. Then wonder what the heck happened and try to rush things and end up all wound up instead of relaxed after a day out playing. 

What happened was I usually had a great time out in the back yard.. 

Cheers 
Neil


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## SteveF (Jan 2, 2008)

I always thought it was measure once and cut twice. 

No matter how many times I cut, the darn thing is still too short. 

Sigh. 

Good thoughts, Mik.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Cut on the other side of the line..............


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Separate needs from wants..........I'm still trying to get that concept through to my teenage daughter!!!


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

Sadly or fortunately I see a LOT of parralells in life in thsoe simple statements. As was said number 11 struck home. I had a boss who did not set deadlines ro priorities and things were good and I enjoyed coming to work. Then I got a different boss, who sets deadlines and priorities based on a weekly (sometimes bi-weely project meeting), not very realistically I might add. He needs reasons and justification for every moment of my day and generally has not realized that by doing all this my actual productivity has plummetted. I fell into that rut at home too. Driving my self crazy with what I did not get accomplished ina 48 hour weekend. I changed my focus to what I GOT done regardless of if it was what I set out to do or not and I'm generally much happier at home. My family appreciates it too! Since I'm in a house full of women. Wife, two girls, and MY mother. keeping daddy happy is a priority these days. I am definetely getting some track outside this year. 

Chas


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

While I would agree that this fits most, I like some, am goal oriented and a deadline (#11) such as a coming open house gets my tail in gear to get it done. Just know your limitations and don't set unrealistic deadlines.


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

The points about building larger layouts for reliability and low maintenance sound right to me. While I've naturally dreamed of building the Trans Yard Railroad, if I ever decide to do it the new portions will almost certainly be elevated on some type of ladder roadbed, perhaps with an assortment of viaducts and bridges. Once I ever break out of the confines of the flower beds, larger curves will be possible. 

For now the little modified dog-bone through two flower beds still manages to elicit smiles from new visitors. On Independence Day a new family and their 3 year old stayed quite some time playing with the train, the animals and the figurines. So while I may see a "little" railroad, others see something fun and unique in the neighborhood. I've only tried my hand at scratch-building structures a couple of times, once for a tiny general store and once for a shed to cover up the plastic box I have the receiver in. So I've ordered some kits, again pretty small stuff to fit my layout. The youngest assistant engineer decreed that a cowboy town is needed, complete with saloon and sheriff's office to lock up the bad guys. 

I like the idea above of focusing on what has been accomplished. I enjoy the gardening aspect of the whole thing somewhat as well, and I've put in a trellis, some rose bushes which are now flowering, and covered a hill in Alysum, among other things. 

On the railroad aspect, I've re-leveled my infernal four foot curves, switched out some problematic joiners to clamps, etc. So there's stuff to do, wouldn't want 800 feet of track with joiners in ballast, so Greg using clamps sure seems smart to me. 

Not sure I ever want to mess with switches, either, although that would probably be needed for the dreamed of Trans Yard, in order to keep the original layout for smaller trains, because small trains want to run on big mainlines, right? Ah well, dreaming of more railroad is kind of fun, huh?


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice list Mik. I'll add it to my train class, thanks!


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## jgallaway81 (Jan 5, 2009)

Missed this before... wish I hadn't.

One thing I'd add... Experts are great references on details, they can help you get any little thing just right. But when it comes to overall design or composition, the only expert is you. 


While I'm just breaking ground (actually, just raising clearances for double-stacks, on a section of line that won't be built for a couple years) I already have a general outline of what I want to do. MY railroad runs double-stacks, unit grain & eventually ethanol, and modern autoracks, all pulled by steam or imaginary power. There will be room for my kids to run their Thomas sets, as well as me to run nice long modern equipment. Amungst it all, I intend to model the mine from Rainbow Brite, the Smurf village, and recently added, a Stonehenge-like relic. 


Does it matter that Rainbow Brite and the Smurfs are cartoons? Does it matter that my line is a small US mainline road and Stonehenge is in England? Does it matter that steam was long out of use on mainline roads by the time that the international shipping container was standardized and rolled two-high in a well car? 


It most certainly does NOT to me. 


It likely will annoy some. But it's my road and I'll operate it by any rules, and for any reason, I like.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mik,

I missed this one too. I'm in the process of re-imagining my railroad. I've done the bare minimum this year to keep things rolling, but it sure is looking bad out there. 

I'm embracing the tear it all down point. My current railroad is the third garden railroad I've built. The next railroad has specific goals that it needs to meet in order to be considered a success. Like Jason, I have small children who are getting in to the trains. I found a website that promotes building a garden railroad with a separate loop just for the kids. That is my plan for the Millersvillanova II. At this point, I am strongly considering making it out of existing brass track and just clamping the tracks all together and using standard power packs. KISS method at work here. It needs 100% access so the rugrats can chase their trains.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I think I've violated every one of those rules somewhere down the line. 
#1 Built too big a layout? yep, dont need to actually park the car inside the garage do I...oh, I do. 
#2 Wanted to run everything? check, I'm sure I can make a Bmann Connie wiggle round my R1s on a 4% grade...oh maybe not. 
#3 Oh yeah, I asked some whopners back in the day
#4 Started over with new layout? 5-6-7 times I lost count. I even reworked the current mini-micro 3 or 4 times, see #10
#5, patience are in hospitals 
#6 what budget? can't have a budget when ya got no cash. 
#7 with the right attitude any small issue can successfully be blown clear out of proportion into a major catastrophe. 
#8 help is for weaklings, or at least thats what I want you to think when I dont want you to know how badly I screwed the pooch. 
#9 wheres the fun in that? takes the sense of mystery away, will it fit? will it fit???? 
#10 yeah better to just do it and dont think about it, the more you think about it while your doing it, the more alternates you see that can be done, the less you actually finish. See #4
#11 I love deadlines...I love the 'whooshing' sound they make as they fly by! Douglas Adams 
#12 guarenteed your train will always derail in a tunnel 1 inch beyond your longest reach. 

Great list Mik, full of alot of experience and wisdom


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

#10 has always been the big one for me. 15 years of over engineering has kept my railroad a dream, just a dream. I finally started last year and even now it will be close to two years before I have the first complete loop.


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## jjwtrainman (Mar 11, 2011)

As I see it, Everything stated by Mik points to one thing for new garden railroaders as well as indoor railroaders, START SMALL! This is the golden rule to any hobby and trains are no exception. If one were to build a 2 acre railroad two weeks after learning about what a garden railroad is, it likely would be a disaster and the end would not be pretty. Planning, starting small, and research are a priority to doing it right the first time. 
--JJWtrainman


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I have lots of room for more RR, but don't want more area to keep weeded/cleaned. I reached my limit and am happy to stay at it.


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