Backwoods NE in Florida

[cuse]

Thanks Bob and Jerry...hopefully more to come soon...once I get some landforms established, the vision will be much clearer.

Bob, hope to see you and the SBGs soon...it's been way too long (for me). Love to have you by soon too.

[Zephyrus52246]

Good to see progress, John.

Jeff

[Mark Dalrymple]

Coming on nicely, John.

Nice to see Thorndike Mills there.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

John somehow I missed your photos. Your work looks great. I can see a butty group road trip in the future!

[ACL1504]

John,

Good to see you back on the layout build. The backdrops look great.

I sent an email to all the SBGs. Hopefully we can get together on Feb. 21.

Tom

[cuse]

so I just took a trip down 70+ pages down memory lane. Wow...all of the twists and turns and layouts built & demolished - along with a few false starts quickly aborted. I was honestly amazed at some of the stuff a knucklehead like me built - seriously. It's a tough act to follow and I'm getting excited to get back to the scenery stage. What struck me the most was the enthusiasm and joy I could feel in the first 20 or 30 pages of regular progress from over 10 years (and 3 homes) ago.

I need to get that back 

Tom and SBG gang, I'll see you on the 21st.

[cuse]

SOOoooooo....there's been a development 

[ReadingBob]

Oh wow!

[cuse]

Oh wow!

I gotta be me 

when it's right, I'll know it.

I'm on track...I know exactly what I want to do and what I want to avoid.

See you Saturday

[cuse]

Here's the latest...layout is completely demolished. As a "tribute" to my recent retirement, I'm starting completely over and I couldn't be more excited.

First, I'm redoing the layout room (also known as my 'office' to civilians as their is a tiny desk hidden in the closet  ). I'm patching all of the wall damage, repainting the room with a very neutral sky grey color and rebuilding the closet with ClosetMaid components from Home Depot and a spot for my little desk/workbench. 

Next, I'm abandoning HOn30 after decades of enjoyment. I've got a load of MiniTrains engines and rolling stock in original boxes as well as some additional stuff, including a Joe Works brass Shay that I'll look to sell or swap. I'm going to build a layout with HOn3 (instead of HOn30) simply because the two Blackstone C-19's and rolling stock I have are such great, reliable pieces. I have a ton of HO scale built and unbuilt kits that are just too good to not use...so, I'll be picking through those and choosing the ones that fit my new layout. It will be roughly 4' x 6'6" built in self-contained shadowbox modules on two sides with the other sides simply as a single track on a shelf to complete the continuous loop. There are lots of European display layouts built this way and I love the 'museum-like" appearance, the controlled viewing angles, and excellent lighting. I've already got a pretty good idea of the scenes but I won't know for sure until I get the modules built, track roughed in and structures placed. Simple track, complex scenery, and beautiful structures is the concept...with a busy waterfront, crowded with craftsman structures, on the large side and a backwoods little yard with railroad support/MOW stuff on the other. I have way too many kits in boxes and beautiful built-ups that simply won't fit, so I'll offer them here first (for sale or swap) before I go on Ebay...Historically, I'll just happily hoard everything, but I'm now looking at it as a way to fund the N scale purchases without a shred of guilt.

Once that layout infrastructure is in place, I'll break ground on the new direction - an N scale Swiss-inspired layout. A lot will be determined by space remaining in the room. I've measured everything and feel like I can build a roughly 4x7' walk-around layout with plenty of access on all 4 sides, but I want to make sure it's comfortable before I break ground. I can shrink it a little or put it in a corner (make it have just two visible sides) if I need to, but I'm hoping for the 4-sides version if it doesn't make the room 'unlivable'. After riding the beautiful trains all over Switzerland last year, I'm excited to model a grander style of scenery with minimal structures and colorful, silent modern trains silently curving up and around the foothills, under lacy catenary, with mountains behind. The engineering behind this one is still TBD because it also needs to be able to move from the room (someday) and I don't want to have to destroy it if we do decide to relocate. I plan to use Kato Unitrack (which I have years ago) for it's absolutely idiot-proof performance and quick construction - but it's not cheap...I've already started to accumulate some, but this is the primary reason I'm interested in selling off some of my excess stuff. 

Reach out to me if you have any interest in the HOn30 stuff. I'll post some HO unbuilt kits as time goes by - this list will definitely include a Sierra West Backwood Log Train and a FSM Branchline Bucket Coaling Station among others TBD. I'm heading to the NNGC in September, so I'll probably reach out to some of the vendors there if there's no "local interest".

I see it all in my head but it's time to make some sawdust fly  .

[ACL1504]

John,

Now you have a plan! It will be exciting to see all your ideas come to life on the new layout.

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

Look forward to it John.

[Jerry]

Can't wait to see your start on this John.

Jerry

[Zephyrus52246]

Sounds like a great plan.  Looking forward to seeing your layouts come to life. 

Jeff