MRH staffnotes - 2
Now take thismodule into the layout roomandadd some“flat-
top staging” toeachend. Flat-top stagingcanbenothingmore
thana1x12witha5-6 track stagingyardon it. Putoneof these
oneachendof yourmoduleandyoucannow run trains through
thismodule. If themodule isa townor industry, youcanalso try
some switching.
Withnot a lotof investmentoftimeandmoney, younowhave
anoperational layout that looksfinished!
If that’s too small for you, thenbuildanothermodule section to
add to thefirst, andagainbuild it toa reasonable level of com-
pletionat theworkbench.Once that’sdone, take it to the layout
roomandadd it in toyour layout-that’s-a-building.
Voila! Instant layoutexpansion, and it too looksfinished.
Using thisapproach, youcanbuild toany sizeor youcan stop
wherever youwant–andall along thewayyouhaveanopera-
tional layout that looks complete.
Weseemanybenefits to thisapproach fordoinga layout, andwe
believe it is
theway
todoamodel railroad in the21stcentury.
We like that thisapproachcanput anend tohuge layouts that
never reachany satisfying level of completion. You’remuch less
likely toovercommit, and it’salsoa route toquickgratification,
which isapopular concept in today’smicrowaveworld.
It alsomakes iteasier to replace theolderoriginal sections
whereyoumadeall yourmistakes.Asyour skills improve, just
buildanew section to replace thatoldoriginal oneyoubuilt.
We think thisapproach tobuildinga layouthas somuchgoing
for it thatwe’d like to see it catchon. There shouldbe fewerply-
woodpacificsasa result!
Volunteers forClevelandandKansasCity
Everyyear,we like to look forwhatwecall “a local yokel” tohelp
uswith the logistics sideof attending thesemajornational con-
ventions.Asabenefit,wepayyour registration to theconven-
tionandyouget tohangwith theMRH staffandbe something
of an insider for theevent.
If you live in theCleveland, Ohio area, thenwe’re looking for
a volunteer tohelpuswith theNMRANational Convention
coming toCleveland this July.
As a volunteer, we’re looking for you tohelpuswith train
showbooth setup, andwe’ll ask you to runerrands for us like
running to the local office supply store for someextra tapeor
whatever.We alsodependon the local yokel tohelpus find
thebest eating establishments and the like.
When talking
tohobby
vendors,
please
remember
tomention
MRH.
MRH-Apr2014
