Random Tips, 1

As I was putzing around various tasks this weekend (yes - all of the pink insulation is now some shade of dirt brown), I was thinking about what I would do different if I started a new layout.

• I built all 12 module tables - either 2'x4' or 30"x4' - with a mitre box and hand saw because I was too cheap to buy a power mitre saw. A year later I ended up buying one for a home remodeling project.
• Templates help build the modules quickly. Once I cut the two 4' long pieces and 4 cross pieces, I had a template to drill 4 holes for threading wires and then another template to bolt the boards together square - well, my typical 87 degrees square.
• The pink insulation is a great sub road bed  but paint is some earth color before laying the cork roadbed and track.
• Paint the cork road a shade of ballast grey before laying the track.
• "Rust" the rails (paint the viewable sides a rust color) at the workbench before installing.
• More than 2' deep is really deep! East McKeesport is 30" deep and I have to really stretch to get to the West Penn Power / May Stern Furniture siding along the back.  
• Fascia 8" and backdrop 28" works well for me.

There are a couple of things I would not change or at least I am still on the fence.

• Layout height of 50". For a model railroad, this is pretty high. It means the layout is chest high for me so I am never looking down on my trains. 
• East and west staging yard. Like most modelers, I wish they were longer but having yards at either end of the layout is very convenient.
• Domino benchwork. After reading an article by Dave Barrow, I thought this was a very clever idea. I don't build the whole 2'x4' scene at the bench before installing it but it was a convenient way to cut and build the lumber portions in the garage rather than in the basement.

My final tip, if any other model railroader is reading this. Do it. I fretted away too much time worrying about wiring the track, installing DCC, backdrop and fascia lengths, and tackling scenery projects. I could have been operating trains years ago!

Second final tip - a friend or two will help you over that indecisive hurdle.