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!
MRH-Apr2014
