Things you realise after a certain point

[Zogbert Splod]

Also make a note of any paint colours used for large areas of scenery and if you have a ballast recipe ( I mix three colours together ) make a note of that too. Make a note of which colours of scatter material you use as well.

All of the above is useful if you need to make alterations to your layout.

Same applies if you bake yer own bread!!! Oh yeah.....

[PGN]

I think the biggest revelation for me was the realization that it's not actually "cheating" to pay somebody else to do for you those things which you lack the skills / time / inclination to do for yourself. After all, how is this any different from buying a RTR locomotive rather than scratch building it for yourself??

So now, instead of struggling with my lousy carpentry to produce baseboards which don't provide an adequate basis for a layout and weigh an absolute ton, I pay a little bit more (but not a lot more, when you consider the amount of wastage involved if I attempt it myself) and have somebody who understands carpentry and can actually DO it build them for me.

And all those locos sitting waiting to be renumbered, relined or reliveried when I can find the time to do it? Slowly but surely, as funds permit, they're being sent away to be done by somebody else.

So now my time can be spent on (a) building and painting all those models I've always wanted to build and paint for myself, and (b) turning my test track into a "layout", learning the scenic skills along the way, in anticipation of my first portable scenic layout, which will come next, I promise ...

[Oldman]

For me it was your wallet runs and hides every time you have a new idea.
Also need to do more planning before investing in ideas that are not practical given space  restrictions.

[D1042 Western Princess]

Also make a note of any paint colours used for large areas of scenery and if you have a ballast recipe ( I mix three colours together ) make a note of that too. Make a note of which colours of scatter material you use as well.

All of the above is useful if you need to make alterations to your layout.

While agreeing in principal S/M it should also be noted that ballast can change colours quite dramatically on the prototype where PW work has been carried out and fresh ballast laid, so a variation in this would not necessarily be wrong.

[Lawrence]

Planning is just one of my weak areas, I do do great track plans that are close to real world settings and work well in practice but then I start a build and it all goes Pete Tong

[D1042 Western Princess]

Planning is just one of my weak areas, I do do great track plans that are close to real world settings and work well in practice but then I start a build and it all goes Pete Tong

  Just like mine - award winning stuff, not a lump of ballast out of place, no electrical problems, the layout wins 'Railway of the Month' places in magazines - right up until those first few feet of track are laid then          !
Strange, isn't it!