Small Layouts

Layouts-  as much as I like to watch those giant sprawling layouts like the giant public one in Germany that runs floor  to ceiling in multiple rooms with its operating airports and computerized mayhem running amuck amongst trains, I feel more attracted to the compact every day working mans layout. In fact I like to see the ingenuity packed into tight spaces. It is like rooting for the underdog in a lopsided game or something. I like compact neat and tidy layouts. I love seeing how people can do more with less, and in this case space restraints. I find myself drawn in to the challenges most people face with their limited spaces. I mean, yeah everyone wants more room right, but the reality is most of us won't get it.  I think the reality of this hit me when a neighbor of mine who had collected trains all his life with intent to build a grand layout passed away recently. He had accumulated a treasure trove of some of the neatest, coolest train items in HO and N I have ever seen. But at the end, most of it went from house to house in boxes over his life time with no fun time. Now, it just so happens that I ended up with a handful of his untouched n scale from years past. I run it! And run it like it is majoring up for lost time just because of this unfortunate guys loss. Point being, even a small layout might of brought this guy some model train closure. So my feels are for the " less is more" type of folks out there and the not quite what I want or hoped to have layouts. ( you know who you are) I am one of them. My L shaped 8'x30" x 8'x32" is the embodiment of getting everything to look bigger than it is type of layout. It is my third and final n scale layout. My first was a 2'x 4' over and under continuous loop.... I loved that layout! It was the underdog of amateur king!  But I was running trains! Many of you have these same layouts and don't really feel like they are worth showing, but I assure you they are, especially in this group. It is what I created it for. Yeah I know it says the best of the best etc... And a lot of over the top pictures get posted, but the group needed a catchy name and a reasonable bait to catch some fish.... And I think that it has done that in the first 60 days of inception. It needed a fan base and we have one now. It will continue to grow too. 

I want to encourage the blue collar small incomplete layout owners to share their stuff! It is you that make up the majority in this hobby..., if you have that massive layout that is Hollywood movie ready (we hate you) but please post anyways because we need something to aspire to and continue to drool over from time to time..,

Patrick