January 6, 2007 9:00 PM

Greetings, and welcome to my web site for my model train hobby. I have a free-lance HO layout in a basement room that is about 12 ' x 20'. Most of my locomotives and rolling stock are Canadian National.

I first began the hobby in the late 1980's but then it went on hold for about a decade. I am now trying to get back into the hobby.

I have attempted to chronicle the day-to-day activities over the last 6 months. I began on May 28, 2006 with a partially completed layout, worked on it for awhile, then totally scrapped it and started over, and now have a layout which is operational, but still open with regard to improvements . The steps I went through may be of interest to others interested in model trains.

The entries attempt to provide a description of the various activities that I engage in, and as such provide a realistic, but far from optimum, sequence of starts, modifications, revisions, frustrations, and joys. They should provide some suggestions on what to avoid while slowly expanding the understanding and plans that one is likely to engage in. My experience, which I sense is fairly general, is that the plans themselves are constantly changing as one engages in the hobby. I view this as a plus. I am sure many ideas that seem clear to me today will look hopelessly naive at some time in the future. This is evidence of learning, and is something to be welcomed rather than avoided.

One feature of the web site is the use of a feather to identify each learning activity after July 15, 2006. I obtained this idea from a magazine I bought while in Australia. The title of the magazine is "Dumbo feather - pass it on". Beautiful! Think about what one can do with a Dumbo feather ...

If one actually tries to follow the steps that I have made you will notice that a major decision was made on September 21, 2006 to totally revise my plans and begin reassembling my bench work all over again. This was the moment when I realized that it was a terrible mistake to design a layout with duck-unders. Lesson learned! There may well be a few more such epiphanies in the future. Hopefully not too many.

The next major step is to convert my layout to DCC.

My present layout is designed to permit realistic operation of small trains moving cars from one location (where they pick up a load) to another location (where they drop the load off). I have mininal scenery and have just recently realized that my approach to nailing the track and foam underbed has turned out to be a blessing as I am still making minor adjustments to the track layout and I can do this relatively easily. I now doubt that I will ever add ballast as that seems to be a firm commitment to a particular layout. I am not sure I ever want to make that commitment. I am sure this is heresy to many modelers.

The next possible major step, if I decide to pursue it, will be to create a second level about 15 inches above the present level. This will consist of a narrow shelf around the outside perimeter of the room where I can run long, modern trains in a continuous loop. My present layout has too tight a radius for such trains with long diesel locos or long passenger cars. I envisage three tracks: two of the tracks would allow a train running in each direction while the third track would be a passing siding or a cross-over.

I am sure that many viewers will have a chuckle or two, or more, and be glad that they avoided some of the pitfalls that I have encountered. I look forward to comments, and helpful suggestions (either for the layout or for this website) where you can anticipate that I will soon experience a problem because I have overlooked, or not been aware, of a basic principle that even a newbie should have thought of.

I am on The Gauge model train forum under the name of nosweat.

Happy tracks to all.