Where should I start? I could tell you how I'd laid all the track and gotten my trains but that would be a lie. I haven't really done anything on the layout since the beginning of the month and that was about 3 weeks ago. I cold tell you that I've been thinking about the layout and doing some more research, but that would be a lie as well. So, to tell the truth I really haven't done anything except read the messages here and read MRH and other magazines in an effort to get me off my duff and to actually get something done. That hasn't worked either.

Frankly, I've just wanted not to be bothered by anything or dealing with any responsibilities or goals except what I need to get done to finish the course I am teaching at the college. It's a course I last taught back in the early 1980s when I was teaching college in Jersey City, NJ. I was into model railroading back then as well but didn't have the time to devote to building my dream layout of the time. Still with a 3 day and 1 night schedule I did have time to putter around and somehow I had gotten some benchwork in and managed to get a single track on which I could run a Amtrak train consiisting of one Minitrix U30C (I know Amtrak never used them but back then I was happy to have anything in Amtrak markings) and 7 passenger cars (4 Minitrix and 3 Backman). I even had a train station with an extra long platform I had made from balsa wood and spackle. I had even paved a parkinglot using spackle and created a lawn at the front of the train station.

I still have the train station and it is siting on the layout taking up space at the moment. It has lost one of its storeroom doors but it still looks good as  it was my first experiment with creating brickwork that looked realistic. I remember sitting at my workbench (Yes, I had one back then) and putting on the reddish brown Polly "S" paint I had back then and waiting for it to dry. The next day I used a wash of white paint that I applied with a paper towel to get the area between the bricks to take on the greyish color of the mortar that goes between the bricks. I then wipped that off the bricks though not to well and found I had some good looking brick walls to work with.

They layout surface was a 30" x 80" door that I had bought to serve as part of the layout. It sat on a train table I had constructed modeled after the one Linn Westcott had shown in his book on building bench work. I used 2 x 3 legs and 1 x 2 furring strips for the bracing. I had found two pieces of 1 x 6 wood that I made into L girders using some lengths of the 1 x 2 furring strips.

That table was sturdy. I didn't remember how sturdy until I had to take it apart. Isaved the wood, the screws and even the door. All of resides in my garage right now. Will I ever use it again? I really don't know but as a model railroader I have learned to become a pat rat and never throw anything out if I can avoid it. It is out of the way and since we don't keep vehicles other than my 21 year old son's bike in there it isn't a problem.

Yes, I have been thinking about my last layout but not because I miss it. At least not that much. But I do realize that I need to move one with the new one and stop wasting time. I still need to finish putting plaster cloth down on the part that is finished so I can can actually get sme track work down. In truth, I really haven't sat around watching TV or playing on my computer. I have been doodling with track plans. To bad they don't make an Etch-a-sketch layout planning tool. Yeah I know its called CAD software. That's a bit too complicated fro what I have in mind at the moment.

Irv