Today, I have brought down the curtain on Paekakariki. The track has been lifted and I'm planning to palm the baseboards off to another local modeler so that we can start building him a layout.
So what lead me to this point in time?
The first one is that I have not done any serious work on the layout since we moved into this house 12 years ago. I even set it up to see if that would spark anything. The only thing that achieved was to take up more space in the garage.
And I'm comfortable with my decision. When I started the layout in 2009, I was in a different headspace. The layouts I was designing back then revolved around engine swaps with the trains remaining unchanged. Hence plans for Authurs Pass, Cross Creek and Paekakariki. In the intervening period I've developed an interest in shunting, bush trams and smaller layouts. Paekakariki was 12' long without reversing loops at each end. This is much larger than my current thinking.
The clincher was my podcast listening over the last few months. American modelers not only build large layouts, but also seem to accept moving to a new prototype or layout. Hearing Lance Mindheim talk about getting rid of his Brooklyn Terminal layout "I saved the buildings and the rest went in the dumpster" gave me some clarity.
Sometimes I think we regard a layout as the endpoint of modeling where I am now of the opinion that we should regard it as a waypoint moving forward as part of a learning exerience.
Lifting the track today I have learned a few things. Double sided tape lasts an awful long time. My dropper soldering was awsomely good. I learned how to make track formations to the point that I can now do it on the fly.
So, it looks like is now time for the bush tramway I have always wanted to make....
