My morning coffee, trackside.

Were it placed in a basement room or an attic, the act of checking in on my layout would be an effort. Not a great or negative effort but I would have to make a conscious choice to do stuff. That might mean that I just don’t get much done. Given its location here in the dining room I see it every morning while enjoying my morning coffee. Instead of leafing through a magazine or watching TV I can switch it on and move a car on a siding or just appreciate having it. As I’ve mentioned before, the choice to have it here wasn’t my first or favourite idea but I’ve really come to like it for the way it is a part of my everyday life – as it is me. It’s been a while since I shared some photos of how it’s coming along and I figured it might be time.

I’ve been experimenting with different colour profiles for my track. I’m most happy with this particular section. Also in the spirit of working on things I built a cardstock mockup of a typical PEIR freight shed.

Coffee’s on and I’ll run a quick train up the line to move a few cars. Again, fifteen minute operating session was a terrific experience.

Proof of how much you can get done when you “just do it”. Frustrated by a lack of progress, one morning I quickly shaped the foam and laid down a preliminary layer of ground foam. There’s lots of things to do here but it looks so much better than a slab of bare pink foam. Total time to get this done was (really) about twenty minutes.

Everything about this layout has been an exercise in doing something instead of just thinking about it. What I find so enjoyable about this layout is that it exists without purpose beyond providing a palette for experimentation. My focus remains squarely on enjoying the activity and reflecting on what I learned. It’s a big canvas on which to experiment and this approach is something I wish I had done before.

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‹ Ed’s Railfan Five

Deliberate practice – making ladders for no good reason. ›

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Categories: Prince Street Layout