Does anyone struggling with "the great vision" of their layout?

[OnTheBranchline]

I've got two great visions and the difficulty has long been deciding between them as there is neither the space nor the time available to do both.  So how to decide between them?

 

Follow the advice from Miss P and list what you want, then narrow down that list but as others have said you have to relate it to the space available but also what stock and locos you might already have.  Even favouring a particular type of engine might help your decision process - do you want masses of panniers or lots of different 'Castles' passing by, could the stock available or readily constructed or converted help make your decision for you.  The practicalities area as important a part of your wants lists as yours prototype likes and ideas so do try to take the m into account.

 

Perhaps a list like this -

 

1. It has to be Western - decide period/era

2. I want express trains/short coal trains/long coal trains/ fast freight trains, autotrains, dmus, etc, etc - the decisions here will help decided the sort of area you want to model.

3. I like the scenery/atmosphere of the Welsh Valleys/Cornish branchlines/Thames Valley main line - again a choice but don't forget the practicalities. 

4. I just want to watch trains go by/I want lots of shunting - again a choice of the sort of operation you want.

5. Can I bend reality just a bit while still getting the flavour of the area/scene I want to model?

.......  and so on.

 

Gt all those ideas down first before you even do your first editing list

 

Does "Yes" to all of the above count? 

 

I am starting to realise the folly of buying locos/stock without a plan for the layout (when I was starting to catalogue my model railway inventory). I have 25 locos with liveries from the early 1920s to the early 1950s (the most numerous loco types are Castles and Granges (3 each)). I fear that if I pick a certain time period that some of locos/stock that I bought would be ill-suited. For me, I have a rake of 9 Hawksworths in GWR livery because to me, if it was designed in GWR times, then it is GWR (regardless if it appeared after nationalisation). But I also have a Bachmann City of Bath with some old Clerestory coaches because the City of Bath is a beautiful model. And I also have a Hornby 72xx because it's so unique.

 

Previously, I was thinking of a collage layout which would show GWR trains running from post-grouping to nationalisation (sort of a "Western Legacy" thing). But I also want it to be respectable rather than just a "It's my layout so I want whatever I want". I think it's fair to say that most of the more popular layouts are ones that are specific to a time-period/location rather than "let's play trains on my big roundy roundy". 

 

Another folly is that for my temporary layout was made with HO track. However I discovered the Peco OO Bullhead track, and it's tempting to buy it because I want the layout to look "right". But if I did that, I would be stuck with the HO track and I suspect that secondhand HO track is pretty much worthless. 

 

Especially, with an wedding, honeymoon & upcoming house purchase (in the next year or so), funds will be tight. So when I start working on building the actual layout, any model railway allowance will have to go to the baseboards/track/infrastructure. So right now, my model railway inventory is more of a collection.

[Chimer]

Provided you avoid too "modern" (define as required) infrastructure, surely nothing wrong with running 1920s stock one session and 1960s the next.  City of Bath and the clerestories shooting past a multi-storey car park would be a bit odd, but there's nothing wrong with an HST passing a Victorian town hall ..... (apart from it being an HST of course).

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[tamperman36]

I have several ideas for my layout and have also drawn several plans, however they are all well and good until I look at finding room to build them.