On Taking a Break and Gaining New Perspective

A friend reminded me recently that it was odd that here we are in April 2020 already and that there has not been an update or anything this year.  There is a good reason for that.  I have become burned out completely on the layout, model railroading and trains.  It was time to take an extended break to focus on other things that have been neglected while the layout obsession had become overwhelming and unhealthy.  During that time and much needed separation from all things train-related gave me time to clear up and develop a fresh perspective.

Here are some lessons I learned in this break, which is likely to continue through the first half of the year:

• Obsession with building and meeting goals clouds good judgment
• Ambitious undertakings inevitably lead to frustration and disappointment
• If something doesn't feel right on its face, then step back, take a break and don't do it
• Simple is always better than complex
• Less is more and can be far more satisfying
• Keep the hobby in its place - don't let it rule you
• Having other interests always benefits the current project

We are in interesting, unprecedented times.  2020 very quickly has become a time of epic disaster. Who would have imagined that our whole world and how we live would have turned completely upside down in ways that nothing we have experienced in our lives has prepared us for? The only saving grace in trains is that it is a hobby that can thrive in our new normal of shelter in place and isolation.

A Fresh Perspective Yields a New Operation

As I charged ahead with building the layout over the past few years, struggling with what part of it to start modeling first, the major accomplishment was completing and making fully operational the passenger terminal.  There were several operating sessions with invited operators to test various switching scenarios, and they all worked out pretty well.  It was an ambitious undertaking that, for the most part, seemed to work out pretty well.  Operators seemed to enjoy the team approach to switching the terminal according to prototype practices.

But something really started to bother me about the passenger terminal concept and its operation, and, outside of an ongoing cognitive dissonance without clear reason, I could not quite figure out what it was.  But I chose to ignore that feeling and charge ahead - burnout warning sign #1.

View of the competed and fully operational passenger terminal ladder with platforms going in, small office building, Depot and a couple of full-length prototype passenger trains (UP City of St. Louis, SP San Francisco Overland).  One can see just how ambitious this undertaking was. 

Diverting my attention to getting a start on actual modeling, I started to build the Express Terminal building, shown below.  During its initial construction, even though it appeared to be what I wanted and according to plan, something in me just snapped.  'I've had enough of this!'  'I hate trains.' 'I hate this hobby.'  'Do I really want to spend time, money and effort on something that only brings me frustration and disappointment?'  'Am I squandering my artistic energy on this stupid hobby and being a member of this community of people I generally dislike?'  All these thoughts kept going through my mind uncontrollably.

Express Terminal being laid out.

It was time to throw the switch, power down the layout, pack everything and put it away, lock up the room and forget about the whole thing.  Through this process I contemplated getting rid of everything and tearing out the whole thing and turning the space back into a normal basement.  Maybe this new, normal, basement could have a nice little bedroom layout in HOn3?  

There were two valuable lessons in all this.  One, I needed to spend time away and on things that I love but have badly neglected.  Two, if it bugs me, walk away, and eventually the problem will become clear and solutions present themselves.

Same Concept, Simpler Approach

During my brief time away from the hobby a few things simmered at the back of my mind.  Then a few moments of clarity presented themselves.

• The passenger terminal, though nice to operate, was just too big, crowding out other things on the layout and overwhelming it
• The operations of a passenger depot that I really care about - mail, express, set-outs - can be accomplished just as easily in a smaller space with fewer tracks 
• As built, and with my interest being switching and variety of operation, a mainline-centered layout was neither what I wanted, nor practical.
• Big, prototype-correct name trains, though interesting, are just too big to operate on a regular layout - in fact, the physics of HO scale don't work with large trains
• I like branch line operations best, with smaller trains and small, diverse customers, and quaint feeling
• The citrus-packing industry is a good focal point for creating diverse trains and operations
• Simple, scaled-down operations are always better - throwing things out helps the layout
• If you have a big straight line to work with, make it count
• Locals are perfect for layouts (12 car freights, 5-car passenger trains) and practical
• If I did what I really, really wanted, the prime straight real estate where the terminal now stands would be more interesting as the center of the freight operation

Suddenly, without explanation, an idea presented itself, and, upon consideration, I realized that it was a rather good idea.  What if I relocated the passenger depot and focused the main part of the layout to a branchline packing and light industry operation?  What if I rerouted the main to eliminate the double-back, slice through the middle of the layout, bunched up curve that I (and I learned my friends) never liked?    Lessons learned, however painful and injurious to one's pride, are always valuable.

A simple exercise of plotting the layout on a straight line can be so revealing and refreshing.  Starting with the assumption that the operation I wanted could be a branchline, rather than mainline, was freeing.  Taking the line operation and plotting it onto the current layout's benchwork footprint presented a simpler, better approach to what I want.

The new layout plan with rerouted main, relocation of passenger terminal (switching places between original packing district and depot) took only about 15 minutes to draw out.  Note a quick list of sample freelanced and prototype local trains that are possible.  This list is a sample, and there are many more possibilities.

This newer plan, which is really a simple set of changes, gets me a better operation.  Rerouting the main on the North Peninsula (right side of picture) both eliminates the problematic doubling-back, bunching into a double track in the curve yin-yang line that split the peninsula and hobbled any kind of real operation, AND it created a much more visually-appealing routing of trains around the layout's new star attraction: the 25' straight-line packing operation on the back wall.

In this plan the South Peninsula, labeled 'Olinda' in the picture, is also a branch operation.  Starting as the Warehouse District, which comprises retail furniture and appliance stores/warehouses and food distributors, the branch continues out to the outskirts of town into the Olinda oil fields.  Also on this peninsula is the main junction on the layout, Keys-Victor, which leads to the operation's off-layout gateways of Los Angeles (main level staging at workbench, leading all points West ) and San Bernardino (lower level visible staging with depot, leading all points East over the UP, ATSF and SP).  The branch starts at Keys-Victor Junction and continues to its terminus points of the Depot, Holly Sugar and Olinda.

A Consultation with My Good Friend Mr Bluetape

Once the plan is completed, and all plans look good on paper, the next step is to validate the plan on the layout itself.  I have said on many occasions that blue painters tape (specifically 1 1/2") is the best tool for laying out a track plan in scale and vetting its operation.  Once again this valuable tool proved its worth.  With the layout cleared off, I proceeded to mark off the the new mainline route and new tracks for the redesigned Packing District and Depot operations.  

Rerouted Main:  With the main goal of rerouting the main to become visible, eliminate the bunching in the corner and its diagonal slicing through the middle of the peninsula and thus open up the space for useful operation, I plotted the new route with tape.

As shown above, the main track is rerouted to follow the backdrop, instead of slicing through it, as clearly shown by the current track and proposed rerouted line marked in blue tape.  Here the line straightens out considerably as it moves to the back to make room for the switching operation presently modeled in front of it. This rerouting also frees up usable space, foreground right, for an industry, such as a Del Monte Foods canning plant.

Following the backdrop, the rerouted line easily accommodates the desired 39" radius curves I have established for the mainline.  Visible but moved to the background, this new route is both practical and visually appealing as a supporting cast to the switching in front of it.

With the backdrop extended to join the back wall, as marked by the Walthers building kit and blue line extending from it to the wall, the mainline comes off a nice 39" R curve to rejoin itself in what is currently the Express end of the terminal.  Should this plan be implemented, most of the track and all but one of the switches in this picture will be removed.  In the foreground is the small freight switching area connecting, via a 24" radius curve to the proposed new packing house tracks.  With this simple connection the little freight switching area remains intact.

New Packing District: Subject to change after getting to work on it, the new packing district follows a straight line along the back wall - about 25' of it!  This packing district is modeled after those on ATSF's 3rd District (from Placentia to Riverside, California).  These packing districts were near just off the mainline and were straight.  Here it is a couple of parallel tracks connected through a series of switches that allow spotting and pulling cars throughout its length.  Its focal point being 2-3 packing houses, the district also can include cold storage, crate maker, feed, flour mill, grocery warehouse, Borden's Milk, lumber and petroleum distribution.  There are many opportunities for diverse industries with an interesting variety of freight cars and switch moves serving it.  

General scheme of the new packing operation in place of the current Depot ladder.  Except for the 3 tracks at far left, all of the track in this picture would be removed to make way for the new operation.

The New Depot: Taking the place of the original packing district, and with the nuisance of the bunching up of the mainline removed, the newer, more efficient and operable depot complex can accomplish most of the original depot's purpose in a smaller, more effective space.  In this new scheme, all tracks move to the front for ease of access and operation, while the structures for the smaller depot, Railway Express Agency and Mail Terminal are behind the tracks.  The depth of scene afforded by this plan allows the area beyond the terminal, including streets, truck loading and taxis to have plenty of room to be modeled unmolested.

Showing the in-progress Railway Express Agency transload building in the foreground, the proposed new Depot complex is in a room of its own on the north end of the layout.  with about 10' of straight track, this more efficient depot can easily handle building 12-car fruit express trains, multiple mail cars and even passenger car set-outs. On the far end is the Mail facility, which can handle 5-7 baggage cars easily.

New Passenger Switching Opportunities: This new concept of a branchline operation, though impractical for the 20'-long name trains of the prototype roads, opens up a whole new set of opportunities around passenger locals and connecting sections to the bigger name trains off layout.  Passenger locals can include 2-6 car connections of mail, express and passenger cars (typically a coach or two).  They also can include, as seasonal demands increase, a sleeping car or two, set out overnight tied up to steam and electrical lines in the tracks and with passengers departing in the morning and being ready to depart on the next outbound local.  Locals are highly variable in consist an offer a lot more variety of operation than switching big trains.  This depot can put together respectable mail trains bound for Los Angeles or points east at San Bernardino.  

The New San Bernardino Station:  With the changes proposed here, San Bernardino becomes a major gateway operation with lots of potential for both passenger and freight switching.  Relocated to the lower level and using the staging tracks installed last November, this new yard is correctly-oriented, with buildings moved to the back, to be a bustling and convincing staging yard operation.  The depot section, originally at the front of the passenger ladder in the original depot concept, was moved, rotated and fits perfectly behind the tracks in its new location.

Shown in the lower level staging are, this proposed new San Bernardino Depot can be a complete yard operation capable of handing a Name Train or two at a time, plus complete freight and local passenger staging in the foreground tracks.  This new concept, much to my relief, allows me to complete the beautiful depot building as a background building without the need to figure out its interior finish and showing off its best side!

Back to My Break and Time for the Concept to Gel

The beauty of focusing on my other, true, passion, 1" scale historical modeling, is that I can continue with what I was doing while this new concept has time to simmer on the back burner.  Not being in a rush to start demolition, continuing with my hiatus allows this new concept to settle a bit before committing to it.  During that time I could come up with a better plan or a better way to execute this one.  Either way, the break will do me - and my layout - a world of good.