Has your layout focus changed?

"Sam I am"   That's just plain awesome 

Really, I have considered going 19th century, and may yet. 

  I built my main table with a plateau module to be swapped out too, but I like it too much. 

  Rather than mix my "short attention span theater" interests, I built 6 or 7 mostly tiny/micro layouts and have more in the works.... 15x12 shelf, 4.5x9, are "hi-rail", inside a TV a micro country hi rail 0-19 circle, micro toy/tin industrial 0-21x30 oval, 0-27 Christmas circle, 0-27 circle in (stalled) progress, 0-31 space theme circle, new thoughts for a Marx.   When the mood strikes, I run what I like that day.

 "Know thyself" is a cost saving learning process if you dip a toe vs leaping.  I'm all for trying new experiences... I'm just not much of a follower I guess... cur rah hee  

    I also dabbled slightly in N, HO, & G to experiment.  I have an ho point to point unfinished shunting idea based on one of the old Euro tin automated shunting toys that will possibly be copied in N also...but its such a pita I'll need some switches to plop into my lap for pennies to bother. Thats the ho hold up as well, electric switches; any money I can spare would be better used in O.  G takes up too much room. (Kinda glad I didn't go with the highly alluring, but also too large, often too pricey, Standard gauge to find out if large scale was my cup o tea.)   

  After N, I knew anything smaller would have just been torturing myself.

STEVEFROMPA....so much postwar  personality in your layout. Really like your photos. Thanks. Reminds me I need to put my plasticville and towers down next.

Yes. I started to buy a whole bunch of PRR models. As of recent I’ve been looking around for a lot NS stuff. My hope is to have scenery that can Kissel fit both eras. I’ll will promise you that i won’t be running a PRR K4 next to a NS SD60e 😂

rrman posted:

StevefromPA posted:

 

Hi Steve

Noticed the Noma station.  Does it operate or just for show?  What announcement record did it have ( I think there were 4-5 different records for these, I have 4 announcement from a website). I had a Noma with the Pennsylvania RR record,  And I can still say that announcement 60 years later!!

@rrman unfortunately it does not operate and is just for show. We(as in my family) have another one somewhere in my Pop’s attic or basement, with the records, that’s in much better condition if my father and I recall correctly. The station on the layout was our ‘play station’(no pun intended) as kids making set-ups with blocks, soldiers, trains etc...on Sundays for dinner at my Pop’s. I’ve never had the pleasure of hearing one play in person but that’s awesome that you’ve kept yours workingAND acquired the records, seems a bit a head of its time. Considering I hail from outside Allentown, the fact that you have a working station with the Pennsy record is really cool!

Leroof posted:

STEVEFROMPA....so much postwar  personality in your layout. Really like your photos. Thanks. Reminds me I need to put my plasticville and towers down next.

 

@Leroof thank you, man, for saying that. I was/am embarrassed posting considering that my layout doesn’t at least have the simple green mat underneath of it.

I’ve always(at least over the past few months) thought of locos and rolling stock in terms of prewar, postwar, mpc, and then the rest up until 2000ish. Have looked at modern accessories, especially the MTH buildings, but have been content with the accessories I have. Thanks again for the compliments and noticing the PW feel. That said, 3 more pictures I didn’t show that I think you’ll appreciate 

Steve, If you search da bay, you can likely find a modern electronic replacement version for your station. A company has almost, if not all of the talking station recordings from various mfg.s and custom messeges as well if you supply a sound file. You can have more than one announcement too. Samples of the recordings are playable as well, so you can hear them all if you choose and if you like say the AmericanFlyer diesel, and NOMA steam, you can mix them.  The recordings "noise" was cleaned up too I guess. The company has moved all sales to da bay if I'm not mistaken, but figuring out the name...Ive forgotten... you might try a web search to see for sure if the old site is still active.

  Did you post after my pics comment?  Just curious, sometimes photos from some posts don't show up for me (android...nearly useless at times)

I'm looking forward to seeing it all. I don't care if it's on a carpet. (most don't care actually. Scenery is a nice bonus, but it's not a diorama site; is it?  

Nevermind, I see them Steve 

My layout focus has pretty much been a blur since day one. 

Pete

“Change layout focus?”, I quess for myself I didn’t have a focus, I just built a layout to run the  locomotive I’ve been looking at for about 2 years on display..  My main focus was the locomotive itself, I just needed a place to run it. So, my 1st layout was a nice table 8’ X 16’ with a oval track with 0-54 curves.   After purchasing my 1st train I  thought, someday I would like to purchase that “ Lionel JLC Norfolk & Westurn Mallet 2200”!  The problem was it needs 0-72 curves. 

Now I rebuilt the table into being a 8’X 24’ layout with 72” dia curves.

After about 2 years my imagination kicked in and I was thinking elevations, bridges, town, railyard\service terminal, classification yard, turn around loop. I thought “holy crap” I have to redo the table a 3rd time! I had added another 4’, now its 12’x24’.

Here is a you tube link https://youtu.be/-dX1gAg_1NA

Im sure I did it backward as far as planning a layout goes, to much emphasis on the loco’s, no thought to the realism of locomotives surroundings.

STEVEFROMPA, thanks for the next three photos. Seriously, you don't need a green mat! There is so much going on in your layout. My favorite plasticville factory and hospital are going on my layout this week along with others as you have displayed. Your  lubratorium service station is neat, and the marx stuff well mixed in.  When I was a child, I had no permanent layout. No room for a piece of plywood in a small NYC apartment. Having limited trains and plasticville, toy soilders, a couple of figures and trucks, I made a deal with my mother, I would clean, vacuume  the apartment for weekend  living room rug rights. No "green mat" just a large Persian rug that I could make a tunnel with at one end. Then take it all apart. So easy to deconstruct  Plasticville, tracks, and box the trains for next time.

your layout is a time machine...

leroof

GaryDahl posted:

Here is a you tube link https://youtu.be/-dX1gAg_1NA

Im sure I did it backward as far as planning a layout goes, to much emphasis on the loco’s, no thought to the realism of locomotives surroundings.

 

Very nice, Gary, you bench work and track work looks top notch.

I started out with a specific plan and then built the layout according to that plan. As for focus; I believe that the focus of the entire hobby has changed.  While model trains were once an active hobby for mostly young people, say ages 5-12 in the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's, it became a hobby for folks in their 20's and 30's during the 70's and 80's and for middle age and senior folks today.  As did the demographics of those that buy the trains changed, the focus of the hobby changed for most hobbyists. Over the years I believe the focus shift was from collector to operator and the market now a mature one has followed. 

Eyesight issues aside, I don't really think that my layout focus has changed as much as it has matured.  I received my first train set as a ten year old in 1972.  At that time I was thrilled to even have a train set.  Each year at Christmas and for birthdays I would get additional rolling stock of different eras.  When I saved up enough money I would purchase a locomotive.  No particular road name, just something that caught my eye.  Everything was set up on the floor and torn down every night.  I dreamed of having a permanent layout, but had no room to build one.  I did, however, have time to dream and plan.  I wanted a layout with purpose.  There had to be industries that could be switched.  There had to be scenery.  I wanted to keep with one road name for my motive power.

After marriage, I built my first permanent layout in a spare room in the house that we had just purchased.  The room was 10 1/2' x 12' in size.  There was/is no way to make it any larger.  I must state that I like working with limitations.  It makes me refine my plans in many aspects.  My first layout was 8' x 12'.  It had a fairly long main run with several industrial sidings and a small yard.  All curves were O31.  I added scenery and buildings to enhance the overall effect.  I had the beginnings of a Hi-rail layout.  I found a couple of New Haven locomotives and cabooses so decided that that would be the road that I modeled.  I new nothing about the NH, but I could find a fair amount of equipment in that road.  All rolling stock was either postwar or MPC.

When Atlas O announced their SD35 locomotive I fell in love with it and had to have one.  I had always dreamed of modeling the Penn Central, as that is the road that ran near our home.  While the SD35 was not offered in PC, it was available in PRR.  I reasoned that I could run predecessor roads with PC trains.  The SD35 had no problem operating on my original layout.  One day I stopped into a hobby store and found a scale Lionel PS-1 boxcar.  I bought it to go with my SD35.  I could not believe the size difference between my traditional equipment and the scale equipment.  I began to purchase more scale rolling stock from Lionel, MTH and Atlas O.  Eventually, I retired all of my traditional rolling stock and put it into storage. 

When K-Line offered the E8 in PRR, I had to have one.  The only problem was that it would not operate on my existing layout.  A new layout was in order.  I dismantled the original layout and completely remodeled the room.  A closet was removed, the walls and ceiling were taken down to bare studs and joists.  A window was closed in.  The walls and floor were insulated.  All of the wiring was replaced and a new floor with carpet was installed.  I drew up several track plans that I thought might work in the room.    I purchased a set of switch templates from Ross Custom Switches.  I made several copies of the templates to ensure I had enough switches for my initial track plan layout.   I used spray adhesive to affix the templates to 1/8" Masonite and cut them out with a band saw.  I  laid out the track plan on the floor to see if any adjustments were needed.  I made sure that there were adequate sidings for industries, a branch line and a small yard.  Once I had my final dimensions, I built modular tables and installed them in the room.  I installed Gargraves track with Ross switches on Midwest cork roadbed.  I also installed TMCC for train operation.

While the room remodeling and layout construction were going on, several manufactures began to offer scale PC locomotives and rolling stock.  I had also purchased several books on Penn Central and began to understand the big picture of the railroad.  I studied the various locomotives and rolling stock.  I could now begin to see my dream coming into focus.  By focusing on the PC I have limitations to the equipment available.  Rolling stock from the PC era also presents limitations.  I'm okay with that.

The scenery is finished (Ha Ha) and I am now running trains.  I do quite a bit of switching.  A typical operating session last about three hours.

Did my layout focus change? No, unlike my eyesight, it became clearer as I matured.  What's next? Maybe kitbashing some cars or redoing some scenery.  But the layout will always be in focus.

Tom

Thanks for the compliments everyone! Much appreciated. I REALLY want to fit an elevated trestle up there-last step before expanding the area. I'm fortunate enough that my parents don't mind the layout in their basement while I teach during the day and do work and/or grad school work at night. My parents bought be a large piece of plywood for my birthday, as requested, I just need to figure out how to incorporate it. I either 1.) put it on top of the pool table portion so that layout is all on the same level(was my initial plan), or 2.) now I'm thinking I 'd like to use it to expand the width of the layout. Maybe I'll just flip a coin ha.

Also, quick question: I'm using 3 transformers to run my trains(my father's type V failed and the repair job also failed otherwise I'd use that). I'm using two 1033s and change out between an old AF 35 watt, 120volt, 60 cycle(which has 3 posts-one for fixed current) and the 70s/80s trainmaster(simple, comes with 2 posts). tHE question is: should I use 16 awg, 18 awg wire, or 28 awg wire to connect to my lock-ons? The 16 and 18 aw wire seems to work well, then I use the 28 awg  to run connections from lock-on to lock-on or transformer to other lock-on to prevent  voltage drops. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Let me add- in general, should I use 16 awg to connect my transformers to their lock-ons? And, doing so, is it OK to use 28awg to carry power fro lock-on to the next? I might just start a thread but am hesitant to do so being a new member. That said, please let me know if i should just start a new thread asking the aforementioned questions. All your help and feed back is greatly appreciated!

I think 16 gauge is OK for the layout you are describing, but for substantially larger layouts, it's better to use thicker wire, such as 14 or 12 gauge wire.

I would not use 28 gauge wire to connect lock-ons in parallel, like you propose.

StevefromPA posted:

Let me add- in general, should I use 16 awg to connect my transformers to their lock-ons? And, doing so, is it OK to use 28awg to carry power fro lock-on to the next? I might just start a thread but am hesitant to do so being a new member. That said, please let me know if i should just start a new thread asking the aforementioned questions. All your help and feed back is greatly appreciated!

 

     28g is too small for safely doing "drops"  Starting a new thread is considered very much more "polite" than an unrelated topic change. For saftey sake I "must" answer, at least in short... too small.

StevefromPA posted:

Let me add- in general, should I use 16 awg to connect my transformers to their lock-ons? And, doing so, is it OK to use 28awg to carry power fro lock-on to the next? I might just start a thread but am hesitant to do so being a new member. That said, please let me know if i should just start a new thread asking the aforementioned questions. All your help and feed back is greatly appreciated!

 

Hi Steve

as other stated 28 is too small.  You can start a thread on the electrical forum and you will get a flood of answers, plus just about anything electrical pertaining to layout wiring, signal control, problem solving when "good layout go bad" (usually right before an open house or neighbor show and tell).

Richard Cuozzo posted:

Focus change?  Yes, every day.  Postwar, Prewar, Modern Tinplate, I just can't make up my mind.

That is a good problem to have.

Yes, my layout is dormant now but earlier my focus changed to the extent that I allowed stinking Diesels on it.

Dewey Trogdon posted:

Yes, my layout is dormant now but earlier my focus changed to the extent that I allowed stinking Diesels on it.

Dewey, you should get smoke fluid that smells like the NJ Turnpike where the oil refineries, and the trains servicing them, are.

@rrman @Arnold D. Cribari @Adriatic Thank you guys so much for your answers, being nice about introducing me to forum etiquette and alerting me of this issue with my 28awg. My LHS repair guy, who is very knowledgable, but getting older, suggested I use a smaller stranded wire after he "fixed" my Type V transformer(still doesn't work ). Regardless, thanks for the heads ups again.

On a more on topic note, here's the backstory first, I called both of my grandmothers tonight to check in and let them know about the Romain Lettuce issue. My one grandmother said she found some "old train stuff" in the garage which I'm itching to go run and check out because her descriptions were understandably vague.My other grandmother asked if I'd want to take my Pop's "Christmas Putz" box(no trains, but many structures, vehicles, figures ranging from the 30s to the 70s), which we'd put up every year in the basement. Thus, my layout is likely going to take a turn towards sleighs, trolleys, and horse drawn carriages, an ice rink, ski slope, etc...So instead of running diesels is going to be the steamers and the 254e(if I'm aiming for a more 1910s-1930s period feel). If I'm going for a late 40s-1950s feel, the change won't be as drastic but that way I can incorporate my Budds. Will keep you updated once the theme has changed!