Playing with Your Layout

[Doltic]

I'm at the moment building my layout from Unitrack on the floor - this has multiple reasons - the first being flat size. due to the way my flat is laid out (and due to the fact that I'm not the only one using it, the fiance wants his space too) I cannot build anything large and permanent. Even something small is difficult. I've been drawing up plans for a small TMD, etc, but so far, have been unable to build anything, due to my second problem - I have a sort of nervous tremor from stuff that happened in the past, so detailing on scenery is going to be nigh impossible.

Regardless, I do like running my little trains. I usually put up the layout, leave it for one or two days, and run trains from time to time (when I'm in the mood) usually for around 15~ minutes. I usually put on a nice record (mostly dire straits) and then watch the trains go by, perched on my sofa, where I have full control over the layout. I have my train formations, which I'm not yet fully happy with (I'm an impulsive locomotive buyer and despite plans to go for late BR blue stuff, am now in the posession of a lot of stuff that doesn't quite fit) and I usually have 3 in the small yard I can build atm, and run one or two on the main line. Sometimes all the coaches get stuck on the deltic for a prototypcial, 10-coach express train, but I'm afraid my platforms are significantly too short for that.

I don't usually put it up when friends are over because of the cramped room in the flat, someone's inevitably going to step on railway track and incur himself a 1000 pound fine.

I have been taking the layout, securely packed, to friends of the family and been building and running it with their kids, that was very fun!

[Ollie3440]

Evening all,

Wenlock only ever sees proper use whilst at an exhibition. Most of the time the layout lives in the garage with occasional use to test the layout prior to a show. Space is my main issue, the layout can be set up in full in the kitchen/diner but the room then cannot be used for anything else! I can get the layout up in the garage if needed but again space is at a premium. For running in new purchases I have a loop of KATO track that i clip together on the dining table as and when.

Cheers

Ollie

[Trainfish]

Apologies if this has already been discussed here. I'm quit einterested in how people use/play with/ operate their layouts.

Some of things that I'd love to hear.

1. Are you a binge user - do you leave it for days and then suddenly have an 8 hour marathon of train running? Sometimes yes
2. How often do you change out the trains are sitting on the layout (or maybe you have space for a yard area)? Every time I go in the loft at least 1 rake is replaced or changed
3. Do you have strict train compositions that you are unwilling to change/mix or do you change everything around all the time? Some are strict, others not so
4. Is there a pattern to using your layout - e.g. do you run it for 30 mins at 8am every morning? Hell no!
5. How does it work with friends family - are they barred or do you like showing the layout off and running all the trains when they visit? I'm well known to be a show off
6. Do you ever leave the layout running as a background activity, much like you may listen to radio sometimes? Every time I'm in the loft there are trains running whether I'm working on a part of the layout, carrying out repairs, hiding from the wife, secret drinking etc
7. Do you do anything else while trains are running - whisky or beer drinking ? Absolutely! Haven't you seen my loft beer fridge? It's always well stocked when I first go up there, less so when I wobble back down. There's always music playing too. Anyone who has watched my videos will be able to tell you which band is usually playing. I have Sky Q, DVD player, stereo/CD player up there and couldn't be without ANY of them
8. Have your playing habbits changed at all over the years? Not really although the music changes some times
9. Do you even even run your layout at home, or only at club nights/exhibitions? Only at home as it is not portable

For my part, I would say I'm quite a spontaneous user of my layout. One favoured time to run trains is at dawn with the all the layout lighting on, particularly with my bowl of cereal and listening to some music. I do mix train compostions sometimes, but those that follow my my main thread https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=42824.0 probably know that I have 'main' favoured train compositions.

Let me know your habbits!

[PWayman]

my dilemma is "when to go" and "when to grow" I wrote a letter to the N gauge Soc, mag some years ago on this subject and in my case the same dilemma prevails.
    I enjoy both running and progressing the modelling on the layout. When I build, I am conscious that the railway needs to run and when I run I feel that the layout is not progressing.  I do know that if I carry on with the building too long, when I do run it does need a good cleaning or it does not run well.  I suspect I will never solve this satisfactorily but know that music and a wee dram goes down well during both activities. 
    My running is sporadic.
    Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me ?

[Newportnobby]

It's not just you
As soon as I got trains running (you have to test all electrics and every piece of stock ) all other progress ground to a halt. Now, if I want to proceed (and I do) all will have to be taken up again, proper electrics done rather than the jury-rigged set up I currently have, and everything laid again before I can start terraforming etc and then running will have to stop owing to the mess I make.
It's a conundrum, alright.

[Invicta Alec]

After roughly a year and a half my Saxon Street layout is 90 odd percent complete.

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=43263.0

During its construction I more often than not, was guilty of running trains rather than carrying on with the construction. I've now only got detailing left to do which happily means I can 'play' to my heart's content.

I spent hours and hours trying to plan a layout that gives a lot of operational possibilities. I'm glad to say I got that part right. I knew at the outset that I'd soon be bored with just an out and back setup. Having a so called 'roundy roundy' was very important. Normally I'll have a couple of trains circling the mainline while I mess about shunting trains in and out of my storage lanes or sending them back and forth long the branch line. Having four trains on the move at any one time is about my limit. Three is more usual.

Saxon Street is very much a rule 1 applies layout. That's just as well as I have a mixed bag of liveries and eras in my stock. I can only have seven or eight trains scattered around the layout before it looks too cluttered so I tend to change three or four every few weeks so that I don't feel guilty at having stock laying around unused in boxes.

Alec.

[daversmth]

1. Are you a binge user - do you leave it for days and then suddenly have an 8 hour marathon of train running?
Regular user if other commitments allow.

2. How often do you change out the trains are sitting on the layout (or maybe you have space for a yard area)?
EverythingI own  fits on, just ...

3. Do you have strict train compositions that you are unwilling to change/mix or do you change everything around all the time?
Mostly compositions stay the same.

4. Is there a pattern to using your layout - e.g. do you run it for 30 mins at 8am every morning?
Nope, fit it around everything else.

5. How does it work with friends family - are they barred or do you like showing the layout off and running all the trains when they visit?
Grandkids love it. I don't think anyone else really 'gets it'.

6. Do you ever leave the layout running as a background activity, much like you may listen to radio sometimes?
No, always watch it.

7. Do you do anything else while trains are running - whisky or beer drinking ?
Swear at it when it all goes wrong ....

8. Have your playing habbits changed at all over the years?
Not really.

9. Do you even even run your layout at home, or only at club nights/exhibitions?
Home only.

I also feel I am in a minority in that my layout runs with computer automation.  Very few seem to do that, wheras for me it is a key part.

[gavin_t]

Interesting discussion.

I thought when re-started my model rail hobby last year I would be running trains all the time. However it seems the opposite. The stock I have bought I have checked, run in, chipped and then they have been pretty much boxed up unless testing something on the layout.
The building of the layout which is very much still  work in progress seems to occupy all of the time I can dedicate to the hobby and I am actually really enjoying this aspect of it. Which is the opposite to what I thought it would be 

[Dickydcc]

I guess my answer, on playing trains, would be not as often as I would like! Given that it takes me a couple of hours to clean the track & get some stock out it restricts running to the weekends.

[PGN]

Right now I'm playing with my layout in Great Northern mode.

Four trains in use:

Gresley Pacific no. 1470 "The Great Northern" + seven bogie coaches

H4 "Ragtimer" 2-6-0 no. 1003 + six bogie coaches

J13 0-6-0 PT no. 1247 + six 6-wheel coaches

J5 0-6-0 no. 394 + short goods train composed of GN, GE and M&GN stock

Great fun!

[Les1952]

1. Are you a binge user - do you leave it for days and then suddenly have an 8 hour marathon of train running?
I tend mostly to have trains running at home when testing or when preparing one of the (4) layouts for a show.  I like to spend some time in the shed most days- the layouts get lonely in the dark...

2. How often do you change out the trains are sitting on the layout (or maybe you have space for a yard area)?
When building the layout or testing/repairing the layout the same trains run  for some time.  When testing trains they change frequently

3. Do you have strict train compositions that you are unwilling to change/mix or do you change everything around all the time?
As roundy-roundies Hawthorn dene and Croft Spa have fixed rakes and these go into their boxes the right way round in the right order.  Rakes do change a little to accomodate new stock/repaired stock and lose stock waiting repair.  The OO shunting plank has no fixed trains, and I'm playing with rakes on the new one, Bregenbach, as I build it.

4. Is there a pattern to using your layout - e.g. do you run it for 30 mins at 8am every morning?
No

5. How does it work with friends family - are they barred or do you like showing the layout off and running all the trains when they visit?
I'm a show-off.

6. Do you ever leave the layout running as a background activity, much like you may listen to radio sometimes?
rarely, usually only if running something in.

7. Do you do anything else while trains are running - whisky or beer drinking ?
no

8. Have your playing habbits changed at all over the years?
Not a clue....

9. Do you even even run your layout at home, or only at club nights/exhibitions?
One layout is set up most of the time between shows (except if going out twice in quick succession.  I suppose you could describe what happens on the finished layouts a s playing- the current one is in build.

Les

[LASteve]

Here goes ...

1. Are you a binge user - do you leave it for days and then suddenly have an 8 hour marathon of train running?


Not really - depending on other things going on I might leave the layout for a couple of days, or if I'm stuck with a problem and need to mull it over, then it could be a couple of weeks or more that I leave things alone. When I come back to the layout hopefully the solution in my head works on the ground.

2. How often do you change out the trains are sitting on the layout (or maybe you have space for a yard area)?

Right now pretty much everything I have is on the layout, with the exception of a couple of locos I'm not sure will ever belong (even allowing for Rule 1). I'll mix up the locos working the main or the branch to give them some exercise.


3. Do you have strict train compositions that you are unwilling to change/mix or do you change everything around all the
time?

Nothing is "strict", although I like to be consistent with coach formations, so those stay pretty much the same. However, I saw a great YouTube video a couple of nights ago about the end of steam on SR where there was everything running with everything else. I'm not sure if it made me shudder or gave me even more "Rule 1" leeway.

4. Is there a pattern to using your layout - e.g. do you run it for 30 mins at 8am every morning?

No. If I have a running session it'll be late in the evening as a wind-down. Sometimes it can be a wind-up if things don't go according to plan.

5. How does it work with friends family - are they barred or do you like showing the layout off and running all the trains
when they visit?

SWMBO is the only visitor. No-one is "barred" but equally no-one has much interest so that's fine with me. I share on the forum, that's good enough.

6. Do you ever leave the layout running as a background activity, much like you may listen to radio sometimes?


Yes, usually while I'm working on some other modeling, kit-building, etc. directly related to the layout and I'm in the same room. I don't have it running in the background while I'm doing anything else un-related, although if I had the space I could see me working in the home office while the railway was running on the other end of the room.

7. Do you do anything else while trains are running - whisky or beer drinking ?


All of the above. Coffee in the morning, adult beverages at any appropriate time. I try not to solder when the sun is under the yardarm, I think I'll set myself or the house on fire. I do enjoy sitting back with a glass of wine and watching the world and the trains go by.

8. Have your playing habbits changed at all over the years?

*Habits*. Yes, my first layout was a single-track end-to-end with a bay platform, main terminus platform and run-around loop at the scenic end and I thought I'd be thrilled with driving a train a few feet, running around, and driving it back again. It was fun, but eventually began to pall as I realized I liked seeing trains rolling by at slow speeds. TINGS 2019 changed my mind, especially when SWMBO told me I needed to build a bigger layout. So that's what I'm doing. I've got a dual mainline and an upper branch, and usually have three trains slowly running around while I figure out shunting problems, possible stock movements or construction issues


9. Do you even even run your layout at home, or only at club nights/exhibitions?

No club nights or exhibitions here in the USA, so it's all at home. As the layout comes to fruition I'll probably post more pictures or video links on YouTube - it's others that have posted which got me into the hobby and let me see the possiblities. Those future postings will be my "club nights and exhibitions".

[GrahamB]

I guess I'm a type nine.

I enjoy building and working on my layouts and stock, planning how it should work and improving it. My private running is more to ensure everything is OK and preparation for exhibitions although usage has been much heavier during lockdown.

At exhibitions my colleagues do most of the running and I deal with any problems or answer questions.