A double level layout allows fitting a lot of stuff in a limited space, but accessing and working on it might not be so easy.

I looked many times at the topside creeper on Micromark's catalog, but it's quite expensive and shipping 40Kg of steel from the US to Europe would cost as much. By the way I got in touch with the chinese firm that actually makes it, and they offered it at $80.00 each, minimum order of 10.

So I decided to build one myself, using an aluminum ladder and wood. This is the result.

It's been a while since my last update. In the last few months I finished laying the tracks on the top level and I embarked on another big step: rebuilding.

The present iteration of the layout is "my old layout rebuilt using modules", full story here http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/21730.

At the last US Model RR Convention in Rodgau, Germany, I was impressed by a Chop Suey fast food place on one of the modular layouts. I took some photos planning to look up who was making the structure thinking it would look good on my layout.

Turns out it was not a kit but a kitbashing project by Peter Speiser of the Stuttgart Model Railroaders Club, who was very kind in pointing me to the original Faller kit he started with.

Hi all,

I'd like to share with you the start, progress and re-start on my eclectic HO scale layout.

A rr modeller since I was a child, I've been interested in US-themed rr's since the early 1990's. SoCal/Cajon Pass and the Santa Fe /BNSF transition era was to be the theme for my layout, had I not fallen into a great appreciation for the south of France and the French railways.

How to accommodate all of this in a single layout?