What's Up

There's been stuff going on in the basement lately.  I've already posted about the "basement layout" being torn down, but now things have gone farther...

The basement has been cleared.

This was a good exercise for me.  I realized something important:  Be as minimalistic about the layout benchwork and infrastructure as you can, because one day you (or someone you know or pay) will have to haul it all out again.

I wonder a bit if the internet age has made us feel we have to "keep up with the Jonses" so to speak when it comes to the elaborateness of layout infrastructure.  It's one thing to invest time and effort in rolling stock, structures, or even scenery, but I wonder if we over-kill it a bit on the other bits.

Contrast that pile of junk sitting in my side yard to the effort it took to take down my modern era shelf layout:  I pulled the shelves off the wall, pulled the fascia boards off, took the lights off the overhang, then took the overhang down, and finally ripped the backdrop down.  Total time: 20 minutes.  That is what I'm going to try and shoot for in the future.

Always using interior doors however to get that sort of simplicity in the benchwork however is somewhat limiting.  I have an idea for using a french cleat to make shelf benchwork that can vary in height but still be easily set in place and removed.  However, I don't have access to my woodworking tools an basement work shop because...

The basement is being finished!

This photo looks at what will be the train area which will be about 19x11 ft of usable space plus a small hallway/entranceway.  The floorplan minimizes weird layout-interrupting stuff as much as possible.  The only real noteworthing thing is the window.  I think I'd like to build a shelf-style layout in that space, with perhaps a peninsula (we'll see).  Keeping the infrastrucutre/benchwork simple is going to be key though.

Certainly there will be more to come on this.

By the way, what will the layout theme be?  Still thinking about this one.  Sn3 is starting to become appealing to me, but it has it's challenges.  I've always thought the idea of doing a 1950's freight traction layout would be really cool, perhaps something inspired by the Sacramento Northern.  Both Sn3 and the Sacramento Northern have challenges from an availability of rolling stock perspective.  I've got some other ideas as well.  One thing is for sure though, I'll be trying to not repeat as many of these mistakes as possible.