Making the Transition

Making the transition

Going from a basement-size model railroad (seen in above track plan) down to just two walls of a small bedroom can be quite a shock to the modeler’s system. Gone are long mainline runs, substantial sidings and room for structures and scenery. I knew I was going to have to shift my way of thinking.

The move from our house to a small, two-bedroom lake cabin also has been an adjustment for my wife Kim and I, but the downsizing aspect has been liberating. It’s amazing how much “stuff” we all accumulate and tuck away in the nooks and crannies of a big house. It can feel good to purge and free ourselves of all the clutter. I can finally admit, now that the layout has been gone for almost six months, my double level, double scale and two diverse theme model railroading area of the basement was overwhelming.

It wasn’t all happy times and hours of pure bliss doing trains. Many times, I would go down into the train room, only to stand, stare, then shut the lights off and head back upstairs feeling defeated. Why? I was proud of many aspects of the layout, and I had numerous photos from the layout published in national model railroading magazines, including two covers! But other parts of the layout fought me as I tried my best to get things to completion. My time was always stretched thin, with two jobs, a photography business and just trying to have a life. I didn’t always have time or make time to work on the layout. Some of the hand-laid trackwork was unreliable. Engines stalled, cars derailed. There were places which were hard to reach to clean track or switch cars. I look back and think I probably was way over my head with this big of a layout as a lone wolf modeler. 

Once the trauma of dismantling the layout was passed, and dozens of bins packed and stored, and we moved full time into the cabin, I began to focus on drawing new track plans for my new space and new version of the Mosquito Creek Lumber Co. On30 layout.

My wife and I discussed just how much space would be available in our spare bedroom of the cabin. The room would have to play multiple roles rather than just being a train room. I measured and remeasured the designated walls for the new pike. The graph paper came out and sheet upon sheet of early track designs were sketched and set aside. If you have ever tried to design a layout with paper, ruler and pencil, you have eventually discovered that all the track and structures penciled in on paper won’t fit in the space, especially in O-scale. All-of-a-sudden, that 7-foot by 9-foot corner became very small!

And so, began the cycle of multiple revisions to the track plan. I deleted a spur track here and shortened the run-around there. It wasn’t until I was able to clear out the corner space and build some benchwork did I realize that 80 percent of what I had on paper -- track plan ver. 7.0 -- still wasn’t going to fit in the space. It’s a real wake up call.  All those logging camp and Navy base structures I hoped to keep on the new layout aren’t going fit.

That’s when I began to see the new layout as more an operating diorama than actual “layout.” Some stuff will be on the new pike, other stuff will stay in bins or get sold. And I’m OK with that. To be honest, I’m really “OK” with that. The challenge of small space model railroading to enlightening, energizing, and fun.

I’ll describe in my next blog installment why this new version of the MCL Co is going to be my best effort yet.