I'm curious.

Those who are in the process, or have gone through the process of designing a layout, what is the most frustrating part of planning a layout for you?

I'm not talking just about creating a track plan, though that can be frustrating, I'm talking about everything that goes into the planning process, from deciding what era, to what railroad, to Givens & Druthers, to figuring out where to put the layout.

What frustrates you, and why? Maybe frustrates is too strong of a word.

So with the mass of railroaders on this site, I feel it would be appropriate to have some sort of a data base available of viewable track plans and maybe a brief description or operations plan. Maybe Joe could answer this; is there a way that plans could be stored and be available to be viewed. The obvious way is for everyone to add them to this or a similar blog, but they would not be searchable that way.

I finally got around to posting a couple progress pictures of my layout. I'm home from college over the summer and decided to finally start on a model railroad.

Basic Info:

N Scale

late 50's PRR

Freelanced

3'x6'

I adapted Rick Van Laar's track plan, found in the Feburary 2011 issue of Model railroader, to N scale. and added a few extra sidings for more switching potential. 

In order to better understand my capabilities, I am creating a 12' modular mini-layout (chainsaw).  I may or may not keep it in the end, so I am building in the ability to expand it from the middle (red line near Oil Dealer) if it turns out well and I end up keeping it.  (This expansion would add an additional industry (Feed Mill) and extend the passing siding and yard tracks.

Scale is HO and train length will be limited to eight feet.