Well, I'd say it depends on

I can really relate to that feeling you portrayed because I was in a state of limbo for a many years and for long time it always seemed like it would be "some day" that I would finally get to build a layout.  Yeah.

But I have always had a passion for trains, so for 14 years after a separation and divorce, I was definitely in a state of flux, so I built some kits and did some research, and worked on refining my collection.

Unfortunately in the little apartments I lived, I didn't have a place to do wood working or things like that so I didn't build a module or anything; and TBH, the separation and divorce was a depressing and dark time so I had the wind knocked out of my motivation for some years too and partly gave up.  But the passion stuck with me and I weathered those times. 

Four years ago, thanks to hard work by my wife (bless her) to find a place with layout space in a high cost of living area and a small budget, we moved into a town home with a 10x18' basement room and built a layout there.  It was not 25 x 60' space by any means and but I had fun building and learning from hands on (it was my 3rd layout).  Yeah, we all dream of having an aircraft hanger but life imposes limitations on some of us.

Now that my daughter is out of college and a financial burden lifted, my wife again hunted for a basement with a house over it and we moved to a larger house but still no 25 x 60 basement; maybe that will never be and at my age, the 15 x 34 feet will allow me to squeeze in a pretty decent layout and leave open a 12x12' area at the far end of the basement I could expand into later, maybe.  In the Washington DC area the cost of living is high, and finding a house with a huge basement is not easy. We looked at a lot of houses as well, and even this one I have a commute of over and hour to work.  Ya do the best you can.

Ultimately it depends on if you have a passion or not; if you don't, why fight it?  If you do, you find ways of enjoying that passion during your circumstances and dream and plan for a better day.

Cold Turkey

i went cold turkey in 1997, I had been on hiatus for a bit before. Life caught up and the hobby felt more and more like work and not pleasure.  No regrets, but I'm back now and rediscovering what attracted me to this hobby.  I love photography, I love history, and I love building.  My only change would be not be giving away my modeling tools.  I have spent a small fortune getting back what I like to work with.  If it becomes drudgery,back away and take some time.  Bill

In and out

I've started and sold a couple of collections of things over the years, and, for me, collecting various objects is fun but has kind of a limited lifespan.

Though I've had a long interest in railroading --a secondary mainline ran four doors away from my grandparents -- it has come and gone over the years. Work relocations, other recreational interests, demanding schedules, and family calls have all put modeling on the back burner for years at a time.

Having too much model stuff on the shelf can really drag on your enjoyment, wondering when you can build "the big one," wondering why you bought all that stuff . . .  my solution has been to sell off everything that doesn't work for my central interest of one railroad in one area over one five-year span.

Set yourself up for success. When the time and interest are available, I start on small, achievable projects that might require a week or so of planning and organization and take another week of hands-on work. I read recently an article by a retired naval officer who said he motivated himself by making his bed first thing when he got up in the morning -- then he had accomplished something and was ready to tackle the rest of his routine. MR&RMC author/lobsterman Dave Frary says he got up an hour early every day to get some model railroading time. It was his hour and he could choose how to fill it.

Look up the posts by Eric Miller and how his railroad has evolved over the years.

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/24522

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/34490

" If it was my only option, I

" If it was my only option, I would be happy with it, but deep down  I continue to hope for that 25’by 60’ space."

I understand that. I'd like to own a Mercedes-Benz, but have had to settle for used Fords and Toyota. And I've been content with my "settle-fors."

DrJolS

Can definitely relate

I have two competing hobbies - trains and music (I'm working on a small home studio and desire a few more instruments), both of which take time and money.  I go back and forth whether I should drop one and focus on the other, but what I end up doing is going back and forth between them.  Each has their own appeal, so I've scaled back my railroad dreams from a 15 by 28 double decker to a single deck along one side with about 32 lineal feet x 18 inches (48 square feet total).  I'm building it mostly using TOMA and it is going OK.

I've sold more than half of my model collection and dropped one of the 3 railroads from my roster.  I feel more focused in the layout room, but my time is still limited and both hobbies still compete for that limited time.  But I'm trying not to worry about it.  Whatever I feel like doing when I have time is what I do.  The last month, I've actually split time almost equally between the two and I think that has actually helped.  

So what's my point?  If you know something isn't going to satisfy you, don't do it.  If you aren't sure, try it and see.  But mostly, just do something, whether it's sell off everything or build something you aren't sure about.  Make a decision and move on.  No matter the decision, it is the right one for the time.  You can always revisit it down the road..  

"Life currently is in a state

  If there's something else you'd enjoy more than modeling I'd certainly do it instead. However if you still want to model but don't know what kind of space you'll have in the future I'd focus on building skills that will be applicable to any future scenario. Learn to hand lay turnouts, or how to build some realistic trees, study railroad history, go railfan modern trains or walk thru old industrial areas and look for signs of the rail  history, visit clubs and layout tours and talk to people about their layouts,etc. Any skills or knowledge gained will pay off in making a future layout better and faster to build. Think of the hobby as a long journey, not a game that must be won or lost every day. I've gone many years between layouts but still found ways to connect to the hobby.( and sitting here wishing I'd spent more time learning how to build those realistic  trees) ....DaveB

Uncertainty about moving can

Uncertainty about moving can be a real inspiration killer.

It sounds like you're trying not to "waste" effort, so you're trying to design a TOMA or something that you can use in your dream layout.  I'd advise you to abandon the idea of building something you can use in your dream layout.  Build something you can have a little fun with now, both in the construction and operation, and plan to throw it away.  Just the notion that you're going to throw it away when the time comes for the dream layout will probably be enough to get you out of analysis paralysis - there are no long term consequences to whatever you build, so you don't have to worry about that.

There is a lot of immediate satisfaction to be had from a very small switching layout that you can go shuffle cars on for half an hour once or twice a week.  Even with no scenery.  Keep it small, keep it simple, and plan to throw it out.  No stress, just fun.

Time for some chainsaw modules

Yep, time for a chainsaw layout. Read the Reverse Running in MRH issue 1.

When you're stuck and can't figure out what to do, when you're stuck in analysis paralysis, time to do some chainsaw modules.

The idea is to enjoy the hobby by doing *something* even if you know going in it's throw-away. That's perfectly okay.

The way we learn best isn't through mental gynmastics (endless analysis) but through actually experiencing the hobby.

So remove the shackles and just admit going in you need to find out some things, so go experiment! Make that first TOMA module or three as chainsaw modules, and experiment with techniques and approaches.

That's what I did. The first two modules of my new Siskiyou Line 2 layout are chainsaw modules. I knew going in I would push the envelope on techniques -- some would fail, some would not. Now that I've got these two modules under my belt, I have a MUCH BETTER idea of what I want to do for round 2.

So do some chainsaw modules. I've got 50 years of experience in the hobby and my first two new layout modules are chainsaw! No regrets -- I had a blast and learned a ton.

Remember Yoda's advice; "Do

Remember Yoda's advice; "Do are do not."  "A person can over think anything.

But the beauty of TOMA ...

... is that you can build a module now that CAN be in the dream layout. Why not build an 18" x 72" N scale module now. That's enough space for a double-track mainline with a couple of sidings. Leave 1" at either end with no track so you can connect it to a bigger layout later. Include a crossover and two sidings and you can do switching with your collected equipment right now. Super-detail it. Scratch build some structures. Add a good backscene or you can take it outside for photography. Consider building it to a modular standard so you could join a modular group if needed. Stub off the wiring at either end using connectors so you can join it to a larger layout. You have huge possibilities in front of you. The key is getting off your computer, ordering Sievers benchwork or going to the lumber yard, and starting to build, now. Like this weekend.

Along previously stated comments....

1)Learning to deal with a newly diagnosed condition where inactivity and constantly starting and stopping projects is common....one of the books said that motivation is not what starts activity.....as noted earlier....just doing something small on a regular basis is what builds motivation.   If you wait to be motivated....you may never get motivated, nor started on ANYTHING.    Forget the long and even medium term future.  Pick a small, manageable project, and schedule a regular time to do just 15 minutes a day.   If you have to, break even a small project down into do-able sub-projects.

2)As Joe said...as a chainsaw type 'layout'....make a single TOMA such as a simple 2 x 4 modular style footprint.   Start simple with a single mainline with a few spurs.    Nothing great in elevation changes.    First build a frame, put a plywood or foam top on it and lay some track.   wire it up with as few wires as needed now to make it run.   put a loco on it and a couple cars.   then, see about adding some buildings on the spur.....can be simple plastic kits.   add some greenery and or trees.    add a street.   Each of these activities can be done in 15 minute segments(you may need to do a couple either consecutive or non-consecutive segments to do some of them).   Doing something, anything will likely give you enough initial satisfaction to continue with more of the segments.    For the first TOMA, it doesn't have to(probably shouldn't be) a specific locale or RR.   But, the more you do the more your interest will hopefully grow.   Then consider building a staging yard off one end, and/or a little loop for the other end to have a simple out and back operation.   then, maybe a second module with a little more interesting stuff on it, either track wise or scenery wise.   Just remember to build up incrementally, instead of taking a huge leap somewhere that could put you back in the analysis paralysis mode.  remember, no plans, like no layout are permanent.

now to take my own advise to get back to work on the layout.....of course, have to finish the electrical work and hole sawing out every door and other projects in the middle kids house to get it sold, finish the new furniture in our living room after having the first floor completely replaced,etc,etc,etc....   we all have the problems at one time or another, the thing to do is not to stoop to doing nothing for too long a period.    I actually got swap tables at two meets during the last month and sold almost $1000 worth of locos/rolling stock/buildings that had been taking up space for decades.   Opened up space in the basement, and helped pay for my new ProtoThrottle, NCE System and Canon camera.

good luck and as Nike says....'just do it'

The idea is to enjoy the

Yes.  I moved into a townhouse in late 2013 and my wife and I knew/planned that we would only be there for 4 years, 5 max.  I could have said, what is the use, I will have to tear down what I build in a few short years anyway.  I bit the bullet and built the layout below, and yes, I had to break it down in summer of 2017, but I had fun doing it, I learn stuff along the way.

Someone at a government agency where I previously worked had a quote by Yoda in her email siggy/tag.  It said, "there is no try, only do!  ~ Yoda"  Hah hah, your tax dollars at work!

I agree with Joe and Jim

Just grab some idea that interests you - maybe a prototype scene or just a basic concept - and build something around it.  Get doing instead of thinking.  Maybe it'll be dumpster-fodder in a year or two. Maybe it'll be all you ever build.  Or maybe it'll be a component in something larger.  Who cares.  You'll have something to do with your hands and a tangible sample of something you've accomplished.  That's important psychologically and may be just what you need.

I hope your choice, whatever it may be, works out for you and makes you happy.

I do have at least some of

I do have at least some of the same experiences as the OP in my own hobby history.  First it was motorcycles, then I joined the army (literally), then I got married and had kids, then I took up astronomy, and now it's trains and photography.  A person with my personality wants to 'ace' something, or master it as a process until passion runs out or until you know you can improve no longer and it's on to something else.  I can be unidimensional about such things, and it has gotten some people cross at me, one bold enough to tell me to not ever talk about the subject with him again.  That rebuke awakened me to my single-mindedness like nothing previously or since. I got it, and have never forgotten.

We do get burned out.  Our dreams get hosed down by realities such as impending moves, boomerang kids, imminent job loss, weak finances, other demands on time, and any number of other obligations....real and imagined.

I have gone months without powering up the rails or mixing a tub of ground goop.  Call it a funk, the doldrums, computeritis, binge TV, gardening season, home repairs, they all chip away at that nice big fat chunk of time we dream about.  In reality, we let several of those go by without seizing them.  We feel guilty, even depressed.

I don't want to go on too long, but my mother gave me some really good advice years ago before she left us; learn to find contentment with what you have.  When you are contented, you're happier, more energized, more productive, more purposeful, and more responsible.  You're nicer to be around.

prioritizes

Git your life out of flux first. Hobbies only enhance our life.  They are not life and can not change the bad in ours but only mask it. Fix your life.

Bob Harris

I do not posses the wisdom

I do not posses the wisdom and experience of others older than me here, so I can only speak from my own point of view and my own story.

As I am still recovering from "analysis paralysis", I say ask yourself only one question - do you like model trains?

If it's something you've outgrown then move on, don't dwell on it as you are only wasting your time. Maybe drones with aerial photography, or RC boats are your cup of tea, or maybe something else altogether (knitting, woodworking, community work, whatever).

Yet, if you like model trains, select the scale not for its value of bang for the buck, or amount of trackage it gives over others, or what some "expert" tells you, all of that is noise. Select it because you truly like it, deep inside.

Long time ago I played with H0, then, when I came back to the hobby several years ago, I thought I'd restart with H0 again by buying some equipment and track.

Then came many other voices that persuaded me that N would be better suited and would give me a railroad empire in the space I have (23'x13'). So, I went ahead and bought N equipment, and I struggled for months to work with it, trying to force myself to like it. My heart just wasn't there...

At that point (this past March) I finally parted ways with N scale. I am now stuck with a lot of track, turnouts and equipment in N scale (that I need to sell) but I went back to H0 because that's where my heart was. Since then, I've been slowly undoing the year of planning and construction I did in N scale (you can see the progression on my website, linked below).

My point is this, the best time to do something is now. Don't wait for retirement (fixed income) or some other special circumstance (lottery win) or space and time (a 40'x60' empty basement). "Negotiate" with your spouse space for your hobby (a model railroad) that will make you happy and content now, and just do it.

Do it now, not in 6 months, because you could have a brain aneurysm two weeks from now and depart this realm without having done, or at least started, what your heart really wanted.

Besides, once your are gone, none of it really matters. Life continues on here regardless, and living remain behind to cope with the loss, while the departed do not care (they shouldn't and ultimately can't be bothered one way or the other).

Oh, and who cares if you are going to move out of the place you are living in, in X years. Ultimately just leave your built layout behind, and let the next owner deal with. People demolish and rebuild their homes all the time. Yes, I am oversimplifying things, but it really is that simple.

Lastly, do NOT let things take their course on their own as they will never transpire the way you want them to. The force governing this galaxy (or this universe) is based on intent. You project your intent out and it comes back to you amplified. The stronger the intent, the stronger the outcome in your favour.

Would you rather say that you started something and perhaps never finished; or never started anything at all because you waited for __________ (fill in any number of reasons, excuses, etc. that we humans like to make up).

A huge thank you

A huge thank you to everybody!

This has been an extremely civil conversation full of a ton of good advice, information, and just personal experience. 

I am not sure yet, still in the venting thinking phase. It is nice to get your troubles out to a group and let some other voices help out with that has you stuck!

Harry Callaghan

"A man's got to know his limitations."

When is it a good time to walk away?

SOMETHING got you interested in this hobby.  Operations it seems, but probably some history (steam, transistion, modern?) and location.  If operations, then probably something like lumber, or potash, or dairy, or passenger, or...whatever.  Step away for sure.  Get involved in a series (binge-watch) on the tube, read all the Tom Clancy or whatever, even get into wood-working or learn the saxaphone.  You get away from the trains they have a way of naturally kinda coming back. Maybe even from a scene in a movie...that's happened to me.  If they don't, well then you'd say "I used to have this train....".  Maybe that, then, would re-spark things.  Could be a year, or two, or a decade.  Let it flow on its own.  Sometimes you have to get in there and DO SOMETHING, sometimes you let it lie and run its course and it'll come.  Kinda like golf...or when I pick up the guitar(s) after 6 months.  It either comes on its own, is a little wisper in my head, or it suddenly SCREAMS at me, usually the day after I see a movie, or documentary or interview or whatever.  

Don't fret over it, I say.

Yeah that's a guitar pun...

I am now stuck with a lot of

One good thing about N scale is if you find it’s not the scale for you, chances are you can fit all the N scale equipment you want to get rid of in a single carload.  When I finally decided I really couldn’t accomplish what I wanted to in O scale, it took several completely crammed car loads.  That stuff is big!

Depending on how much of a drag on your motivation the stuff you want to get rid of is, and what your financial position is you could consider just donating it to a local club.  It’s a quick and relatively easy way to get rid of the physical and motivational baggage and you can feel good about it.  A number of clubs have white elephant sales once a year or so.  The club I donated some of my O scale stuff to used some of it themselves and sold the rest at their next sale.

Thanks to all.

Well everybody I want to again say thank you. 

I think this was just the help I needed. 

A few key things I have read over and over are based around just do something, do not worry about what if, and Joes key phrase of a chainsaw layout. 

A good friend was nice enough to build me two modular bench tops a few years back 22" * 70". Already made, paid for etc. That will give me a nice solid 22" * 10' starter layout. 

I have all the building kits, track, switches, rolling stock, locomotives I could ever need already in N scale so for now I will just continue with that. Build something, complete it and run it. Then I should have a better feeling about scale. 

So maybe now I can put a lot of frustration behind me and get something going. 

This seems like a good place to put this thread to bed. 

Everybody, Thank You!

Do something, anything

At any time you can work on something small or of future use.  If a real layout is too much, don't do a real layout.

But you can build buildings.  Or engines. Or DCC conversions.  Or anything.  It is all modeling.

I am spending most time lately upgrading a garage so I can build a layout.  It keeps me busy and out of trouble.

I hit a funk about 5 years ago and switched scales and era.

I have to have a layout. Even if it’s a small one. I built both the current layout and the one before it with idea that I could take it  with me or set it up in a different room if needed. I built it with the idea that it would be expanded if I had the time and space. 

Walking away for a while is a good thing.

It’s a hobby not a business.  I’ve got scenicing and weathering and, and, and to do and will when the time comes right.  I also enjoy flying, bicycling, electronics, photography, fixing stuff, leaving the home base and visiting other model railroads and railfanning, just plain traveling in the motorhome.  Going to the gym daily is an example of the other side of the coin that I could walk away from easily but then I might loose the ability to walk away from it.  (It does afford me time to think about things too.)

It is always special for me to be able to share any of the above activities with my significant other, friends and acquaintances.  I should probably be in a club but I’m a square peg.

I think about projects a lot when I’m away from the matters at hand.  After I go away for a while it’s fun to come back, many times with a new attitude or idea.

Nick