Measure Twice, Cut Once

Over the past year I have been transitioning from HO to N scale. I started with an N-Trak module, a locomotive, and a few freight cars to see if it would work out. I was pleased with the level of detail and function of the models enough to move ahead with the transition. In September I started to build from a hastily conceived track plan - I was eager to move forward and was happy to just have something in the works that was tangible and not just on paper.

After getting the track in place and running a few trains, I decided to make some changes. I knew I would do this, so I had affixed the track in a temporary manner. I had an idea of what I was after and being new to N scale, I needed to get a feel for car lengths and train lengths - I'm a visual learner but no amount of 3D CAD rendering could give me a sense of the space needed to operate the layout.

Once I had ironed out the annoyances in the design I began to make the layout permanent. I am modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad's Panhandle Division in eastern Ohio and until recent did not have up to date track charts for the segment I chose to model. Upon finding the missing resource and reviewing what I had built, I decided I had missed the mark and needed to make some revisions.

In my haste to get something built, I started with an adhoc layout plan I drew up in response to a plan posted on the Layout Design SIG reflector and then shaped it to my need. This would have worked fine if I had simply wanted a model railroad. Since I'm interested in a specific prototype in specific locations, that design quickly proved useless.

I have since modified the track layout to have it resemble the prototype in Coshocton, Ohio in 1967, but it's not an exact reproduction. Since this is still a scale model, I had to make several compromises to enable "operating" the layout in a prototypical manner within the confines of the limited space available.

I have also rethought the reasoning for the layout. It has now become a testbed for a future layout that will depict the 96 miles of right of way from near Mingo Jct to near Frazeysburg, Ohio. Had I started with that goal in mind from the outset, the past few months of revisions to the layout would not have happened since I would not have used a plan based on an industrial switching area in southern California as my starting point.

In the end, it will work out, but had I not have had an eye toward the future and a lengthy background in the hobby, I could very easily had used an off the shelf plan and quickly become frustrated with the outcome; a layout developed from a plan whose purpose was something other than mine.

Instead of cutting, I needed to consider what my ultimate objective was and than develop a layout that would take me in that direction. Instead, I mistook motion for growth without a clear focus. I knew I wanted to model the Panhandle, I just didn't know enough about the line at the time. Luckily my initial design was not too far off and was easily revised to better represent my chosen prototype.

This experience clearly shows that planning takes place on many levels. Simply planning out where one track will be in relation to another on a plywood plane does little to address the future needs or desires of the layout.