Large Scale Central

Tank trains versus Inter M trains.

General Discussion
#21

There is another snag in the unit train scenario: they just run through! In essence modeling the facilities at the starting and the end point of those trains blows most people’s space and financial capacities right out of the water.

AND the same happens when two or more of those monster trains need to meet along single track lines … BOOM … not enough space. OTOH if one does double, triple and quad track … BOOM … there goes the space and the finances (for most people).

Naturally none of this matters if … you don’t mind trains going roundy-roundy and/or you have money to burn on both space, materials and everything else.

No, I’m not talking about the proto 140+ car trains. I don’t need to draw a layout plan to see that even a convoluted dog bone will be a BIG problem as far as space goes if train length is kept to 30 cars AND it all plays in the flat, wide open desert.

Which reminds me, what kind of garden space is actually available???

#22

David Maynard said:

I understand having what you want Stacy, but I also know the value of starting small and building on. I once had a massive (to me) N scale empire that never even came close to being finished. It was just way too much for me to keep up with. So my “garden” railroad started small and may expand at a future date. I have a small stockpile of track I have been adding too as deals come along.

I respect and cheer on your grand vision, but don’t become so fixated on that vision that you don’t have fun. If you wait too long to play with your toys, you may become disenchanted and move on to another hobby. Its happened to folks before.

Tom, that is why my first Saw Mill Run Bridge was so tall. I measured how tall my Bachmann Shay is, and added a few inches to it. Then I built my bridge to that height. I didn’t want to repeat the error that so many others had made. When the heavy snows destroyed that bridge several years later, its replacement was built a bit shorter, but still tall enough that everything I have could run through it with room to spare.

If I may, I am not obsessed with this vision of mine. You’re are making some rather odious statements about me. Please don’t. If I want a BNSF railroad outdoors in a garden setting that is large and grand, that is, for all intents and purposes, my business. If I happen to share this with others, I would have expected some to understand my vision and support it by not making comments which I find offensive and quite frankly infuriating. Now perhaps you meant no harm, but understand this, everyone has something they would like very much to accomplish in their lives and beating such a person into the ground simply because they might not be doing it the way YOU might have, doesn’t mean we make negative commentary.

Anyway, What I am planning on is really not at all that terribly expensive and I have the time, money and patience to accomplish it. I usually accomplish what I set out to do.

Funny how I make nice comments about others up in here expressing their dreams, desires etc.

:frowning:

#23

Hans-Joerg Mueller said:

There is another snag in the unit train scenario: they just run through! In essence modeling the facilities at the starting and the end point of those trains blows most people’s space and financial capacities right out of the water.

AND the same happens when two or more of those monster trains need to meet along single track lines … BOOM … not enough space. OTOH if one does double, triple and quad track … BOOM … there goes the space and the finances (for most people).

Naturally none of this matters if … you don’t mind trains going roundy-roundy and/or you have money to burn on both space, materials and everything else.

No, I’m not talking about the proto 140+ car trains. I don’t need to draw a layout plan to see that even a convoluted dog bone will be a BIG problem as far as space goes if train length is kept to 30 cars AND it all plays in the flat, wide open desert.

Which reminds me, what kind of garden space is actually available???

What exactly do you mean, “roundy roundy”???

Hans, everyone has their ideas of what THEIR trains might look like when they start to model them. I happen to like Inter M trains allot. So much so that I am willing to invest as much or as little as I feel necessary to build my little representation of the BNSF double/triple mainlines running through various states out west. Now, I also have a nice European set I have started collecting for and even set it up temporarily on the basement floor to get a feel for what I wanted to make it into. To say it looked nice was an understatement. So far, I have spent a little over 5 grand for the Euro stuff and already I really have enough to make a really first rate display of modern European railroading as seen in Germany and Austria. Money is what this hobby is all about in terms of appropriating everything one needs, but it is ones talent and eye for detail that really makes what we created look so beautiful, functional and awesome.

I don’t know nothing about any roundy roundy, but I do know good train displays when I see them.

Stacy

#24

Stay, whoa.

If I offended you I sincerely apologize. My post was meant in no way as a put down. In fact I said “I respect and cheer on your grand vision”. I was merely relating that I had a grand vision once in N scale. A vision too large for me to achieve. The frustration of not seeing any appreciable progress on my vision, for years, eventually drove me out of the hobby. I tore down my N scale layout back in the late 1980’s, and didn’t get back into model railroading again until 2002. I was totally non trains for over 10 years, because I was so fixated on achieving my personal grand vision, that I forgot to have fun. All I was trying to do was relate that to you, so you do not fall into the same trap.

Again, I apologize to you for offending you.

#25

David Maynard said:

Stay, whoa.

If I offended you I sincerely apologize. My post was meant in no way as a put down. In fact I said “I respect and cheer on your grand vision”. I was merely relating that I had a grand vision once in N scale. A vision too large for me to achieve. The frustration of not seeing any appreciable progress on my vision, for years, eventually drove me out of the hobby. I tore down my N scale layout back in the late 1980’s, and didn’t get back into model railroading again until 2002. I was totally non trains for over 10 years, because I was so fixated on achieving my personal grand vision, that I forgot to have fun. All I was trying to do was relate that to you, so you do not fall into the same trap.

Again, I apologize to you for offending you.

==================================================================

Thank You David.

Perhaps I misunderstood you and was a victim of this PC impersonal world we communicate in. Anyway, I fully understand and appreciate your comments. One of the reasons I chose a desert environment was because it is so beautiful and easy on the wallet. Except for the track and cars, really this will be a fun operation. Oh, I’ll have some switching with sidings and stuff. Perhaps a work shed and some buildings here and there, but I am after something so much more important then the layout itself: Peace!!

Stacy K

#26

Stacy Krausmann said:

…
If I want a BNSF railroad outdoors in a garden setting that is large and grand, that is, for all intents and purposes, my business. If I happen to share this with others, I would have expected some to understand my vision and support it by not making comments which I find offensive and quite frankly infuriating.

Stacy,

I know that you don’t have pictures of your Euro layout, but do you have pictures of your garden that will show what area you can work with? That would be interesting to see to many of us, not least those who like looking at garden possibilities and appreciate large settings. Some of those even design layouts.

#27

Hans-Joerg Mueller said:

Stacy Krausmann said:

…
If I want a BNSF railroad outdoors in a garden setting that is large and grand, that is, for all intents and purposes, my business. If I happen to share this with others, I would have expected some to understand my vision and support it by not making comments which I find offensive and quite frankly infuriating.

Stacy,

I know that you don’t have pictures of your Euro layout, but do you have pictures of your garden that will show what area you can work with? That would be interesting to see to many of us, not least those who like looking at garden possibilities and appreciate large settings. Some of those even design layouts.

Hans I do not have pictures of my current garden. The outdoor railroad will be constructed at a later date and not where I currently reside. I need more space. Sorry.