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If you take up the challenge, it may be more work than you
thought, and may take longer than expected. But by working at
your workbench, you can turn the module over, for example,
to mount any Tortoises or to run the wires - making otherwise
tedious work into something that's halfway pleasant. You will
tend to do better work at your workbench and be more satis-
fied with the result.
Once you have this module, now add a 1x12 at each end
with some staging tracks and now run trains through your
finished scene!
Next, do a second module. Add this module to the other one, and
move the staging to the end. Now you can run trains a little farther
through finished scenes and things have gotten more interesting.
And notice - you have a finished-looking, operational layout in re-
cord time. Yes, it's small, but it's a complete layout!
So how about building your whole layout in this way, one section at
a time? At any stage you can point to it with pride and have a com-
plete layout. I think using this sectional approach has a lot going for
it, as opposed to the more traditional approach that can take years
before you see any real progress or can get your "running trains"
fix. Or worse, the entire layout project will languish once you real-
ize the massive scope of the project.
Turn the whole dream layout building process inside out and start
tiny instead, with something you might actually be able to finish in
less than a year! And then just do it over and over … and quit at any
point with a "complete" layout.
Anyone up for the "one
module" challenge?
Reverse Running commentary
H
ave you been planning that
dream layout for years? How's
it coming?
Still stuck in analysis paralysis? Or maybe
you've started construction, but can't
seem to finish anything?
We modelers can dream big, but we do
struggle making good on our aspirations.
Time for the "one-module" challenge!
Rather than aim for the stars, let's de-
liberately set the scope small so it's possible to finish in weeks or
months instead of years.
Pick a subject/scene that interests you, but chose something that
fits into a single module of no more than 6 feet in length. Then
build it to completion at your workbench:
All trackwork finished and wired, with turnouts fully functional
All the scenery done, including ground cover, trees and water
All the structures done, including any bridges and track-
side details
Aim for a completely finished module that's operational. Grant-
ed, there may not be a lot of operation on just one module, but
it's finished!
Reverse Running: Stepping outside the box with a contrary view
by Joe Fugate
The “one-module” challenge
MRH-May 2013
