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This page is going to be where I can showcase my home layout, work being done on the home layout, and all the things that go on behind the scenes that most times go undocumented. Background information, pictures, diagrams and that sort of thing will be here as well. Enjoy
My N-scale layout started life as a 3x5 layout with a 1-foot shelf on the western edge. It was a simple loop, without a whole lot of industry, or switching, to keep me busy. It was my first layout, and thus, I was happy with it. Once I got it into my room, and noticed a couple things, I started measuring up to see if I could spare any space to make it bigger. I found that if I moved my bed, I could add a 2.5 foot by 8-foot addition to the layout. Needless to say, I did that. While that addition was in the process of being finished, I realized that if I move my dresser across the room, move the baseboard heater a bit to the right and adjust my stereo, I could fit an additional 3x4 angled addition in, making the overall layout an "L" Shape, with one leg being 2.5 feet wide and 11-feet long, and the other leg 3-feet wide and 10-feet at it's longest point. Quite the jump, considering what I started with! And, with a friend of mine tearing his HO layout down in order to build it again, only better, I happened to come into possession of a Sector Table. It's a rather British idea, which may explain why a lot of people here have never heard of it. But, it's added another 7 staging tracks, all about 4.5 feet long to my layout. Pictures are below.
My rolling stock collection is also much more significant then it used to be (obviously)...as last I counted, I was up past 250 pieces of rolling stock, and 50 locomotives. With new stuff arriving rather frequently, this number isn't going to slow down, stop or decrease any time soon! And while I don't need this much rolling stock on my size of layout, the Eastern Benders usually have nice large layouts, so I can run long trains there...it's not abnormal for me to run 60 Boxcars, 3-dozen coal hoppers, or things of that nature. While my home layout is rather large, it's not large enough to run that large a train. I can run the 3-dozen coal hoppers, but it looks out of place. 15-20 is my average mainline train length, with 10 or 12 being more typical of road switchers, and a half-dozen or so for the small inter-industry runs, or jaunts between the yard and an industry, when there isn't enough of a train to justify a road-switcher turn.
While I don't consider myself a prototype modeler, nor do I count myself as a rivet counter, I do count some rivets on some things. But, I do try to know my rivets, so if someone asks me to, I can count all the rivets. Knowledge doesn't have any weight, so it's easy to carry around with me...I heard that from a good friend of mine, Doug Lawrence. Depending on how I feel like running, I'll either just set a train on and run it, or I can go to the totally other end of the spectrum and try to do everything the way the prototype would do it, if my little 6-foot tall N-scale plastic dudes could actually walk around and throw switches, pull cut levers and stuff like that. It depends on what sort of mood I'm in that day. I also have a running joke with my friends, because my rolling stock is so assorted, that I Proudly Model North American between 1800 and Present.
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The first 3 pictures are my home layout...if you can see it under there, I congratulate you! It's rather messy now, as it has become my workbench for items while working on the Sector Table, among other things. I've been busy with my MFMR diorama, as well as other projects for the MFMR Convention at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on May 5th, 6th and 7th. More information on said convention can be found in the link above, or on our Links page.
All images present are copyright of Siderod Design in their respective years. If you would like to contact me if you have any questions, please use the "contact me" section at the bottom of the page.
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