Where to Start?

Once I had my concept in place, and a draft of the track plan I was happy with (I’ve come to believe that a track plan is never complete, it’s just the latest draft, but more on that later), it was time to start building.

I made the decision long ago that I was going to build the layout in stages. That is, building just enough benchwork and laying just enough track to be able to operate, and then trying to do as much to complete that stage—including scenery—before moving on to the next stage.

It’s similar to, but bigger than, “The One Module Approach” (TOMA) currently being touted in Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine, but less than the “I’m going to build all the benchwork, then lay all the track” approach that many layout builders follow.

Having been involved in a couple of layouts where the latter approach was employed, including a 40′ x 50′ club layout with mainline and branchline running, I’ve come to the conclusion that in many ways it’s putting the cart before the horse. That is, you build this behemoth, you then get to the point where you can start operating, and you discover you need changes to the track plan (see “latest draft” above). It’s difficult to make changes because the layout infrastructure is already in place, built to an idea that has now morphed.

The changes may not be hard, but they’re certainly harder (and sometimes they are hard, if you discover that you need to totally reconfigure an area).

In short, you discover just way too many things that you want/need to change during the “shakedown” phase to be locked in like that.

So, I decided to start with the section of my layout that models Penn Mary. (Initial track plan draft above.)

During the Chessie era, a lot was going on there. Penn Mary yard was (and is) there. General Motors had an assembly plant there. The interchange with the Canton RR was (and still is) there. And from there, trains continued down the branch to Bethlehem Steel.

It seems like a good place to start. Once I get it going, I’ll have a yard and a reasonable amount of operation. General Motors will be the focus, but including the other elements provides some variety. I like it.

Join me as I go through the process of building the first stage.