Well, I haven’t been up to much since my last post, (http://draconusde.wordpress.com/) and as the Christmas Season is well and truly in us, not alot’s going to get done in the near future either. In fact due to the needs of space for the holidays, The baseboard has been taken down to give us more space to organise furniture and such like for presents and such. Fortunately this time, due to some foresight on how I rebuilt the layout, this means a five minute job and no major dismantling, and to put it back will be a quick job in January too.

However, a casual conversation has lead to a lot of thoughts about the future of my layout, and what limitations I have in place that could frustrate me in the future. You see my current plan and layout will keep me busy for a while to come, but there isn’t much room to expand it when it is eventually done. But….I knew from the start what the purpose of the layout was. It is a test bed, firstly to see if I had the patience and desire to keep on with it (which I do), and secondly to test and try things and techniques. And it is meeting this fully. Already, as it is in it’s second iteration, I have learnt alot of wrongs and rights from the first attempt.

But in it's current form, there is a limit to what I can build it up to without continually scrapping and starting again, which is not something I want to do. So where do I see it going long term (and I mean long..).

Well in my mind I see this first layout being always what it is now, a test bed to try new things and learn techniques. Somewhere that I wont be afraid to get it wrong. It isn’t a complicated layout, so it can easily be transferred from DC to DCC as needed, it has enough interest in it 9or at least it will) to make it worth while to do, and I will be able to look back and see exactly how far I’ve developed.

And what will come after?

I already have a solid idea of what I want to work towards. There are two major drawbacks to model railways that anyone who is thinking about starting needs to take seriously into consideration. Cost and Size.

Railways are expensive. There’s no way to avoid this, and although there are a hundred ways to reduce the costs, without a large disposable income then you need to find a way to bring it into a realistic budget without having months and months of nothing.

And size DOES matter with railways. My current layout, which is basic to say the least, takes up a board size bigger than a pool table just to allow a reasonable running loop. The more you want to develop and increase it, then the increase in size is exponential, and the more likely you would be to throw in the towel looking at large areas of blank space.

So how am I going to deal with these two quite major issues. Especially when in the near future, were going to be moving back to our home town, and I don’t know what space will be available when we find a place.

My plan for my long term layout, is to look at it as though it was being built for an exhibition. Instead of starting with a loop and creating a run round, I will be looking at building an ‘end to end’ layout, in sections 4ft by 2 foot. And the idea I have, which I don’t want to go into details right now till I’m ready to start working on it, will eventually be around 24ft long, not including any fiddle yards. Now I know that sounds like a contradiction and a huge size, but the way I will be working and thinking about it is just 4ft sections. Each one will be stand alone builds and scenes, and will be completed, wired, lighted, sculpted, and everything before I start on the next section. To all intents and purposes, each of the 6 sections in my heads will be worked on totally independently, but should I ever have the room, then it will join together in all it’s glory to enjoy the journey, from start to finish. Maybe one day I’ll be confident enough to take it to a show, or if not, I hope it will come together like it does in my mind, and I can say I did that, and I am proud that it’s a journey I can take.

So what does the future hold for my railway?

Lots of glue, lots of grass, lots and lots of trees, wood, screws, many many pounds of track, lots of time and effort, and, hopefully, a lot of satisfaction.

Maybe one day you’ll get to see the finished product, and hopefully be able to say ‘what a great idea’. Or maybe I’ll be sat alone with my grey hairs watching the wheels spin as I dream of the passengers taking that journey. Either way, as long as I keep moving towards the end of the line, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, because getting there is half the fun.

Merry Christmas and good will to everyone