Rip van Model Railroader

Back. Getting ready to start the railroading after many years off. Finding the old blog very useful in understanding the things I did all of those years ago and how my old railroad works.

Have redesigned the indoor layout entirely, keeping most of the staging but nothing else. Simplified it - one deck, not two, so no helix, but there will be a second shelf for the branch line. The second "joint line" won't happen. I'm pleased with the new layout as it solves some design problems that kept bothering me about the old one and is something I will realistically be able to complete.

Funds are a big issue now, but happily finding that I bought all of the track needed in advance - in fact will probably resell some of unused the Peco switches and flex track in order to pay for more stationary decoders. Also happily, in the ensuing years I kept buying new rolling stock and locomotives as they came out, then stored them unopened after noting them in my Roster spreadsheet. Eventually it accumulated into quite a large collection. Haven't bought any for a while now, and don't think I'll need any more ever - in fact may resell some of the unopened items once I take full stock of it all. I will need decoders for the new locos.

I see Digitrax has released a component to allow smart phones to be used as throttles via WiFi - will be getting that, saving the costs of any additional throttles (and may also resell some of my Digitrax throttles as a result).

The outdoor layout did see another couple years of construction that I didn't post about, including a version 2.0 and 3.0 of the pond and some actual roadbed - will document that next spring.