TRAIN LAYOUT THOUGHTS

For years, other’s expectations

Colored my operations…

Electrical blocks

Of track (lots),

For two-train considerations.

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Problem is–I

Don’t know many other guys…

Only one “club”*

Accepted me, bub,

Since then, how the years do fly!

–

How many trains can I RUN…

The answer is just ONE!:

With a couple of places

As engine storage spaces,

I’ve over-built–that’s what I’ve done.

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In staging, I can keep two or three,

Trains to appear frequently…

The chances of TWO

OPERATORS are few–

There’s room for only me!

–

For one big block the need is,

With lots of electrical feeders…

Keep It Simple for Success**

Prevents the mess,

I’ve gotten into other years.

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I’m thinking of a place of yesteryear,

Where two New England railroads both appear…

The Boston and Maine

And the New Haven, the same,

Find interchange and switching dear.

–

Industrial railroads exist

Where private companies find it best…

Better profit when alone,

They their railroad own–

When profits drop, they get it off their chest.

–

Something like that is what I mean,

Or some very similar scheme…

A tourist line, too,

Helps the revenue

With industries that match my kind of dream.

–Jonathan Caswell

* only one “club”…the guys at the Tioga Transportation Museum…back in the early-to-mid 1980’s

** K.I.S.S. (one possible use of this nemonic)