Thunking

Something I came across in my hunts is something from American Lance Mindheim. While he has some decidedly odd views on some things, there is no doubt that he knows what he is talking about when it comes to model making and building layouts. This passage from his blog made a lot of sense, and is something that most of us can aim for.

'Here's where I'm going with all of this. For many of us, consideration should be given to layouts with shorter life spans, say three to five years. By keeping the layout size and complexity manageable, we can get it up and running quickly, flog every ounce of fun out of it, and then move on to a new and exciting theme. Such an approach will keep us energized and excited. Shorter term layouts will be put together with a more consistent look because they represent a narrower band of our skills progression. Turnouts, trees, bench work, and electronics can generally be salvaged keeping the cost down. To be clear, I'm not talking about getting two months into a layout and then constantly changing your mind and never getting anything up and going. I'm talking about driving a manageable model railroad purposely towards completion in a medium time span, and then re-stoking the fires with a new project.'

This is something that does make sense to me. there are nights when I look at the monstrosity and wonder ' just WTF were you thinking'. It does tend to go but I still wonder what I could be achieveing in the way of smaller layouts. The flip side is that there are some things that I woudl never have attempted on a smaller layout.