Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your wife. I model in n scale also. I am 76 years old and enjoy it totally. After loosing my layout in KatrinaI decided to build the new layout as a 61/2’ by 18” industrial switching railroad that I am totally in love with.
@@williamschneider6811 Hi William. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and my wife and I want to wish you a Happy New Year. That is encouraging that you are still modeling and enjoying N scale at 76 years young. It’s also great that you enjoy switching in n scale on a dedicated switching layout. There’s not many of us who do that. Thank you for watching and commenting. Stay safe!
Beautiful layout. You've managed to a lot of operations oriented buildings into a relatively small area without it looking over crowded or overwhelming. Very nice indeed.
@@Howie2025 Thank you for your nice comments. That is what I was trying to do. Have a great weekend . Stay warm and safe if you’re in the path of this storm.
@@clearlycaribbeanreb2895 I hope you had a Merry Christmas and Santa brought you some trains. I’m glad you enjoyed the tour , it was something that I had been thinking about doing and Christmas seemed a good time to do it. Operations on Saturday, hope you can watch. Stay safe, my friend.
Hi Thom , thanks for the overview of the layout and plans for the future. I would hate to see it go. But that’s the way modeling works. I have a small 7 foot 6 inch x 4 foot . Me and my wife plan on building a new home on a pice of land we have purchased. I’m going to have my own train room. So I plan on keeping my small layout and expand it. So I’ll have plenty to do. My plans are to put the small one in the middle of room and build off of it so I can run contentless trains. Thanks for sharing. Have a good day. 😎😎. 👍
@@tommynorwood5184 it sounds like you have a good plan, Tommy. Our plan is to stay in this house until we can’t. Single story, easy maintenance, close to everything we need. So I won’t have more space and that’s OK. Even if I go to HO it will be enough space for me. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Thom, Merry Christmas to you and your family (includes the pets). I will be 76 in March of 2025. When I was 66 I started to build an HO layout because I thought I would not be able to work with the N Scale layout that I built in 1997. I now have HO and N scales in my basement and still work on and enjoy both. It is more difficult to work on the N but I enjoy it more because it is a continuous running layout. The HO is a point to point switching layout. It's a difficult decision to make but I will probably stop working on the N layout in a year or two because of my eyesight and arthritis in my hands. Thanks for sharing your experiences, history and modeling skills. Rich
@@richgreene7043 Merry Christmas to you and your family, Rich. Thank you for sharing your personal experience. I really have no desire to have 2 scales at once not counting the outdoor railroad. I think that having the ability to loop a train would be nice, but it’s not a ‘must-have’ for me. I would probably do like I did 30 years ago: just watch the train run and not get any work done. And I have a loop outside. The hard part will be selling the N scale stuff because I know I won’t get what I want for it. Anyway, it’s just stuff to ponder on. Enjoy the day with your family and stay safe!
@@cncpgreatlakesdiv4896 Thank you for your kind comments and I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. I hope you’ve enjoy my layout and occasional railfan and garden railroad videos. A nice community has grown up around the channel and I encourage you to ask questions dnd make comments. It keeps me on my toes and makes the layout better. I’ll post an operations video doing some yard switching this Saturday and possibly a short progress video on Sunday. Happy New Year and stay safe!
Marry Christmas. Short note on the Figures: I just got a Mechanic for my Switcher from Noch. They are super detailed nowdays. F.ex. he has a remote Controll for the Switching Loco on his Belly (from eating to mutch french Cheese and Wine), has a propper Helmet, propper Cloathing and even a Mustache 😉
Good morning Thom, Merry Christmas to you and yours!! Excellent tour of the layout!! Sounds like like you have some big decisions to make in the near future 🤔 In my opinion, I think you have a lot of potential for that room with either scale you choose to model. Have you thought about 2 levels at all? Just a thought. Rick from Socal models has a cool layout and I've gotten a lot of ideas from him as well. I model HO scale and for me its perfect from running trains / operations to working on the models and other small delicate pieces. Either way it all boils down to personal preference and what you want to do🤔🤷♂️ Im sure you will figure out what works best for you and I look forward to following along!! Thanks for sharing. Have a good weekend and stay safe. Happy modeling!! - Jason
@@jaybird111207 Good morning Jason. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family. While 2 levels may work for some people, it is not something that appeals to me. I want 1 level at the ideal height, not 2 levels with compromises that are difficult to work on. Like you said, we all have our preferences as to what we like to model and how we choose to do it, so to each his own, but 2 levels is not for me. I’m glad you enjoyed the tour and I always welcome ideas and thoughts from fellow modelers, so thank you. I’m kicking around ideas now. My wife and I used to watch ‘Love it or List It’ on HGTV and while I don’t have statistics to back it up, it seems the majority of the time the decision was not to move but to keep the remodeled house. The easy choice would be to stick with N scale and that is probably what I will end up doing but just utilize the space a little better. Have a great weekend and stay safe.
Good morning Thom, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your entire family! Was very nice to have a layout overview video to just sit back and enjoy your artistry. Really glad to hear you will definitely be retiring in about six months. An early congratulations! I’m planning to retire at the end of 2025. I think whatever you decide to do in the future with regards to your model railroading interests your followers will be very excited to be there along for the ride. Your layout is like an old friend for most of us, but the most interesting thing is your passion and creativity. Again, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year and stay safe. Scott
@@kahunatiki6498 Good morning and Merry Christmas, Scott. My retirement date isn’t 100% firm yet, but as long as the economy doesn’t do something wonky, I should be good to go. The good thing about making decisions on my layout is that I’m not forced into anything. It’s not like I’m moving. I even thought of a way that I could still keep Oak Hill and model the area south of it if I want to make 5,000 trees.😁 Some interesting industries down there. Thank you for your nice comments. I hope you have an enjoyable day with your family. Stay safe, my friend.
Fun vid Thom. It's nice to see so much detail and finished layout sections. You sure do good switching on it too. Great ideas for the future. I sure don't know any advise to give ya LOL. Just keep enjoying it and hope ya stay healthy for a good long time. God bless and Merry Christmas to you and yours. Joe
@@NitroStarGT Good morning and Merry Christmas, Joe. Thank you for your kind comments. I wasn’t really looking for advice, but thoughts and constructive criticism are always welcome. I try to learn from those who went before me. Enjoy the holidays with your family. Stay safe!
Happy Holidays to you and your Family. I watched your layout grow since you first stated. I do HO scale but I get great inspiration from you. so when I work on my layout or do some switching, I try to get my coffee and at least 2 doughnuts with you in mind. LOL Great work!
@@calvincurtiss2490 Merry Christmas, Calvin. Thank you for your nice comments. 2 doughnuts are fine, but 1 is not enough.😁 Enjoy the holidays with your family and stay safe!
@@SpringfieldAndWestern at this time I don’t plan on changing scales. I have an idea kicking around in my head that I need to put on paper to see if it’s feasible that will keep me using what I have (equipment wise) for a few years. Thanks for watching and your support. Have a great week and stay safe!
I model the WP in N scale. I've had several different layouts but none ever got to the "finished" state. I have a small collection of HO equipment that I can take to some of my friend's layouts when I get invited. I also have a few pieces of British 00 gauge trains for no ther reason than the fascinate me. Your layout is inspiring me to try a switching layout in the future.
@@JDsHouseofHobbies Thanks for your kind words. This is my first finished layout not counting the garden railroad. I hope you try a switching layout. They are a lot of fun to operate. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom. Your RR sure looks good. Taking it as far as you have in N scale is pretty amazing in my opinion. My wife convinced me a couple of months ago we needed to find a smaller and cheaper house so a move is on for late winter or early spring. That has me doing what you are doing and considering possible options. I know I will have less space. One thing I have considered more than one is to build a test diorama in On30 as my shaky hands, (essential tremors), has made doing N scale a bit frustrating and even HO. An idea to consider once you reach the done or mostly done level with your present layout. Have a great day and week.
@@jackheninger5471 Merry Christmas, Jack. I actually have just a little bit of On30 stuff and dabbled in On3 20 years ago. The size appeals to me, but I like modeling diesels and modern stuff more. Steam just doesn’t inspire memories in me. I may change my mind, but HO would probably be my next move. When I bought my house in 2006, I was in my late 40’s and planned on living there until I was no longer to live on my own. 1 story, 1 step into the house, close to everything I need to be close to. Definitely don’t need to downsize. Good luck with your move and I definitely understand your thought process. Enjoy your day with your family and stay safe!
You've been holding out on us, Thom! There's a lot of your layout we don't get to see very often! Lol! I hope you and yours have a fantastic holiday season and once again, Merry Christmas!
Mike, the way that I run my operations it can sometimes be 2-3 months between visits to certain areas, especially Oak Hill. Thanks for your nice comments. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Marry Christmas Thom. This was a very nice over view of the layout and you bring up a very good point in the video. You are two years older than me and I've been thinking about the same thing, should I stay with N scale or go back to HO. My first train set was an Athearn HO scale train set that I received Christmas 1967. I did receive a AHM / Lima N Scale train set in 1970, but HO remained my modeling scale until 1988. In 1989 I had a new wife and we were living in a small apartment that did not offer any room for a HO scale layout. But after some negotiations, there was room for a small Hollow Core Door N scale layout, so I made the switch. Now that I'm quickly approaching retirement age, I'm beginning to question weather I want to stay in N scale or go back to HO scale. For me the determining factor will be what space I'll have in my for ever retirement home. My wife wants to move South when I retire and her first location choice is the Gulf side of Florida. Since Florida homes do not have basements, I'll be limited to a spare bedroom or garage and preferably a spare bedroom. I'll probably stay with my branch line style of layout, so a shelf layout will work for me even in HO scale. Now like you've mentioned, this is just back burner thought right now as I still have a few more years before I reach full retirement age. OK Thom, I look forward to seeing your layout update and ops videos in 2025. Cheers, Rich S.
@@RWSBaden Merry Christmas, Rich. I hope you’ve had a great day. It’s definitely something to consider. With the space I have, HO would work just fine for what I want to do. Thanks for your information on sanding facilities. Enjoy the rest of your evening and stay safe.
Hello my good friend Thom nd Merry Christmas to you nd your family nd thank you so much for all this wonderful years to share your videos nd I love N scale trains😊
@@horaciovera7678 Hello Horacio. It is good to hear from you. Thank you for watching. I am glad that you enjoy my videos. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and are having a great holiday season. Stay safe, my friend.
Maybe when you retire you could add to your outdoor G scale layout? I retired last year and have not started my G scale layout yet. (I have been collecting items for it now for 3 years.... And you are right it is a co$tly scale). Enjoy your videos ... Have a good christmas.
@@Koen5050 Good morning and Merry Christmas. The difficulty with adding to the G scale layout is that when you build it on a raised platform, it is sort of ‘landlocked’. Looks better and easier to work on than ground level, but difficult to expand. I could go through the shed and sling the back fence, but it would be very expensive. I am actually think in of scaling back the G scale. Not the size , but right now I have a lot of diesel era stuff but also some steam stuff. I’m pondering getting rid of one or the other. Thanks for watching and your thoughts. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and stay safe!
Hello Thom, At 51, I am hopefully far off from having to make the decision between N scale or other scale. I do love different scales for different reasons, but right now, with my limited space and passion for operations, N scale is a great choice for me. That said, I have A LOT of light over the layout. Imagine bright lighting and then double it. This seems to really help during operations, but not so much when working on the bench. I do have optivisors and a digital microscope, so for now I am sticking with N scale. But it is definitely in the back of my mind.
@@HumancityJunction at your age, I wouldn’t think twice about changing scales. Lighting definitely helps, but good eyesight and a steady hand are more important and fortunately for me I’m still ok in both of these areas. Thank you for watching and your support. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Stay safe!
Great story! If nothing else you have accurately described the downfall of manufacturing in the Jackson/Chillicothe area. So sad. I remember as a kid in the 70s several active coal mines in the area as well (south/east of Jackson).
Merry Christmas Thom! Love the layout? By chance does your friend Pete have an On30 layout? I think we know some of the same people from when I lived in Ky.
@@RunningTrainsWithChris Good morning and Merry Christmas, Chris. Pete lives in Kansas City and we’ve never met in person. I don’t know what type of layout he has. I haven’t been involved with any train clubs in over 30 years, but still have a few friends around, so there’s a possibility. Enjoy the holidays and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom, great details in description you did today, Question; I've seen it before in your videos but is that model airplane wing off of an ole free flight plane? Did you do this back in the day or possibly control line?
@@charleszang8963 Merry Christmas, Charles. Thanks for watching and your nice comments. That is a wing from a free flight plane. That’s was my Dads hobby for his entire life. His wish was for his planes to be destroyed upon his death, but we all kept one and several wings. We sold the engines through his club. I built a few airplanes when I was small but my love was trains and he encouraged me. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
@ that's a great story, my dad brother and I flew rubber powered and mostly control line we belonged to a club at North American Park in Columbus. But in the summer my brother and his buddy and I would load up his paper route wagon with planes and jump on our bikes to fly all afternoon, best times Thanks Thom
@ I got a control line Stuka bomber for Christmas one year. My Dad took me to the park where we actually had a circle of blacktop to fly control line planes. He decided to do it first even though he had never done it. It went straight up and then straight down, destroying it. It never flew again. Merry Christmas to me!😂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your wife. I model in n scale also. I am 76 years old and enjoy it totally.
After loosing my layout in KatrinaI decided to build the new layout as a 61/2’ by 18” industrial switching railroad that I am totally in love with.
@@williamschneider6811 Hi William. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and my wife and I want to wish you a Happy New Year.
That is encouraging that you are still modeling and enjoying N scale at 76 years young. It’s also great that you enjoy switching in n scale on a dedicated switching layout. There’s not many of us who do that.
Thank you for watching and commenting. Stay safe!
Beautiful layout. You've managed to a lot of operations oriented buildings into a relatively small area without it looking over crowded or overwhelming. Very nice indeed.
@@Howie2025 Thank you for your nice comments. That is what I was trying to do.
Have a great weekend . Stay warm and safe if you’re in the path of this storm.
Looks fantastic! Wow 12x12, there is hope for me then😃
The perspective make it look really deep with that backdrop.
@FoamersDelight Thanks for watching. 12 by 12 is plenty of room for a nice layout.
Have a great weekend and stay safe!
Great tour Thom! I always wanted to see your whole layout. Looks fantastic! Merry Christmas buddy!
@@clearlycaribbeanreb2895 I hope you had a Merry Christmas and Santa brought you some trains. I’m glad you enjoyed the tour , it was something that I had been thinking about doing and Christmas seemed a good time to do it.
Operations on Saturday, hope you can watch. Stay safe, my friend.
Hi Thom , thanks for the overview of the layout and plans for the future. I would hate to see it go. But that’s the way modeling works. I have a small 7 foot 6 inch x 4 foot . Me and my wife plan on building a new home on a pice of land we have purchased. I’m going to have my own train room. So I plan on keeping my small layout and expand it. So I’ll have plenty to do. My plans are to put the small one in the middle of room and build off of it so I can run contentless trains. Thanks for sharing. Have a good day. 😎😎. 👍
@@tommynorwood5184 it sounds like you have a good plan, Tommy. Our plan is to stay in this house until we can’t. Single story, easy maintenance, close to everything we need. So I won’t have more space and that’s OK. Even if I go to HO it will be enough space for me.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Thom,
Merry Christmas to you and your family (includes the pets).
I will be 76 in March of 2025. When I was 66 I started to build an HO layout because I thought I would not be able to work with the N Scale layout that I built in 1997. I now have HO and N scales in my basement and still work on and enjoy both. It is more difficult to work on the N but I enjoy it more because it is a continuous running layout. The HO is a point to point switching layout.
It's a difficult decision to make but I will probably stop working on the N layout in a year or two because of my eyesight and arthritis in my hands.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, history and modeling skills.
Rich
@@richgreene7043 Merry Christmas to you and your family, Rich. Thank you for sharing your personal experience. I really have no desire to have 2 scales at once not counting the outdoor railroad.
I think that having the ability to loop a train would be nice, but it’s not a ‘must-have’ for me. I would probably do like I did 30 years ago: just watch the train run and not get any work done. And I have a loop outside.
The hard part will be selling the N scale stuff because I know I won’t get what I want for it.
Anyway, it’s just stuff to ponder on. Enjoy the day with your family and stay safe!
MERRY CHRISTMAS, looking forward to the New Year filled with train videos.
Hope all is well.
@@MichaelManiscalco-k5k Merry Christmas, Michael. I’m planning on lots of videos. Stay safe!
Great looking layout new sub and bell and Merry Christmas to you looking forward to more in 2025.😊😊👍👍
@@cncpgreatlakesdiv4896 Thank you for your kind comments and I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. I hope you’ve enjoy my layout and occasional railfan and garden railroad videos. A nice community has grown up around the channel and I encourage you to ask questions dnd make comments. It keeps me on my toes and makes the layout better.
I’ll post an operations video doing some yard switching this Saturday and possibly a short progress video on Sunday. Happy New Year and stay safe!
Marry Christmas. Short note on the Figures: I just got a Mechanic for my Switcher from Noch. They are super detailed nowdays. F.ex. he has a remote Controll for the Switching Loco on his Belly (from eating to mutch french Cheese and Wine), has a propper Helmet, propper Cloathing and even a Mustache 😉
Good morning. I guess even model figures need to watch what they eat!😁
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, too. Stay safe on New Year’s Eve!
Good morning Thom, Merry Christmas to you and yours!! Excellent tour of the layout!! Sounds like like you have some big decisions to make in the near future 🤔 In my opinion, I think you have a lot of potential for that room with either scale you choose to model. Have you thought about 2 levels at all? Just a thought. Rick from Socal models has a cool layout and I've gotten a lot of ideas from him as well. I model HO scale and for me its perfect from running trains / operations to working on the models and other small delicate pieces. Either way it all boils down to personal preference and what you want to do🤔🤷♂️ Im sure you will figure out what works best for you and I look forward to following along!! Thanks for sharing. Have a good weekend and stay safe. Happy modeling!! - Jason
@@jaybird111207 Good morning Jason. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family.
While 2 levels may work for some people, it is not something that appeals to me. I want 1 level at the ideal height, not 2 levels with compromises that are difficult to work on. Like you said, we all have our preferences as to what we like to model and how we choose to do it, so to each his own, but 2 levels is not for me.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour and I always welcome ideas and thoughts from fellow modelers, so thank you. I’m kicking around ideas now. My wife and I used to watch ‘Love it or List It’ on HGTV and while I don’t have statistics to back it up, it seems the majority of the time the decision was not to move but to keep the remodeled house. The easy choice would be to stick with N scale and that is probably what I will end up doing but just utilize the space a little better.
Have a great weekend and stay safe.
Good morning Thom,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your entire family! Was very nice to have a layout overview video to just sit back and enjoy your artistry.
Really glad to hear you will definitely be retiring in about six months. An early congratulations! I’m planning to retire at the end of 2025.
I think whatever you decide to do in the future with regards to your model railroading interests your followers will be very excited to be there along for the ride. Your layout is like an old friend for most of us, but the most interesting thing is your passion and creativity.
Again, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year and stay safe.
Scott
@@kahunatiki6498 Good morning and Merry Christmas, Scott. My retirement date isn’t 100% firm yet, but as long as the economy doesn’t do something wonky, I should be good to go.
The good thing about making decisions on my layout is that I’m not forced into anything. It’s not like I’m moving. I even thought of a way that I could still keep Oak Hill and model the area south of it if I want to make 5,000 trees.😁 Some interesting industries down there.
Thank you for your nice comments.
I hope you have an enjoyable day with your family. Stay safe, my friend.
Fun vid Thom. It's nice to see so much detail and finished layout sections. You sure do good switching on it too. Great ideas for the future. I sure don't know any advise to give ya LOL. Just keep enjoying it and hope ya stay healthy for a good long time. God bless and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Joe
@@NitroStarGT Good morning and Merry Christmas, Joe. Thank you for your kind comments.
I wasn’t really looking for advice, but thoughts and constructive criticism are always welcome. I try to learn from those who went before me.
Enjoy the holidays with your family. Stay safe!
Layout is looking great Thom! Merry Christmas!
@@ModernDTI Thank you. Yours is looking great, too. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Happy Holidays to you and your Family. I watched your layout grow since you first stated. I do HO scale but I get great inspiration from you. so when I work on my layout or do some switching, I try to get my coffee and at least 2 doughnuts with you in mind. LOL Great work!
@@calvincurtiss2490 Merry Christmas, Calvin. Thank you for your nice comments. 2 doughnuts are fine, but 1 is not enough.😁
Enjoy the holidays with your family and stay safe!
2-3 does it while switching. the brain needs the energy. LOL
Thanks for the tour and enjoy your holidays!
@@workingfolk Thank you. My wife and I wish you and your family Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Stay safe!
Many thanks for the great layout overview! I hope you manage to keep doing N scale for several years to come!
@@SpringfieldAndWestern at this time I don’t plan on changing scales. I have an idea kicking around in my head that I need to put on paper to see if it’s feasible that will keep me using what I have (equipment wise) for a few years.
Thanks for watching and your support. Have a great week and stay safe!
I model the WP in N scale. I've had several different layouts but none ever got to the "finished" state. I have a small collection of HO equipment that I can take to some of my friend's layouts when I get invited. I also have a few pieces of British 00 gauge trains for no ther reason than the fascinate me. Your layout is inspiring me to try a switching layout in the future.
@@JDsHouseofHobbies Thanks for your kind words. This is my first finished layout not counting the garden railroad.
I hope you try a switching layout. They are a lot of fun to operate. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom. Your RR sure looks good. Taking it as far as you have in N scale is pretty amazing in my opinion.
My wife convinced me a couple of months ago we needed to find a smaller and cheaper house so a move is on for late winter or early spring. That has me doing what you are doing and considering possible options. I know I will have less space. One thing I have considered more than one is to build a test diorama in On30 as my shaky hands, (essential tremors), has made doing N scale a bit frustrating and even HO. An idea to consider once you reach the done or mostly done level with your present layout.
Have a great day and week.
@@jackheninger5471 Merry Christmas, Jack. I actually have just a little bit of On30 stuff and dabbled in On3 20 years ago. The size appeals to me, but I like modeling diesels and modern stuff more. Steam just doesn’t inspire memories in me. I may change my mind, but HO would probably be my next move.
When I bought my house in 2006, I was in my late 40’s and planned on living there until I was no longer to live on my own. 1 story, 1 step into the house, close to everything I need to be close to. Definitely don’t need to downsize.
Good luck with your move and I definitely understand your thought process. Enjoy your day with your family and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom ! Love the layout.
@@MrTrainman64 Thank you, MrTrainman 64. Merry Christmas to you and your family! Stay safe!
You've been holding out on us, Thom! There's a lot of your layout we don't get to see very often! Lol! I hope you and yours have a fantastic holiday season and once again, Merry Christmas!
Mike, the way that I run my operations it can sometimes be 2-3 months between visits to certain areas, especially Oak Hill.
Thanks for your nice comments. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Marry Christmas Thom. This was a very nice over view of the layout and you bring up a very good point in the video. You are two years older than me and I've been thinking about the same thing, should I stay with N scale or go back to HO. My first train set was an Athearn HO scale train set that I received Christmas 1967. I did receive a AHM / Lima N Scale train set in 1970, but HO remained my modeling scale until 1988. In 1989 I had a new wife and we were living in a small apartment that did not offer any room for a HO scale layout. But after some negotiations, there was room for a small Hollow Core Door N scale layout, so I made the switch. Now that I'm quickly approaching retirement age, I'm beginning to question weather I want to stay in N scale or go back to HO scale. For me the determining factor will be what space I'll have in my for ever retirement home. My wife wants to move South when I retire and her first location choice is the Gulf side of Florida. Since Florida homes do not have basements, I'll be limited to a spare bedroom or garage and preferably a spare bedroom. I'll probably stay with my branch line style of layout, so a shelf layout will work for me even in HO scale. Now like you've mentioned, this is just back burner thought right now as I still have a few more years before I reach full retirement age. OK Thom, I look forward to seeing your layout update and ops videos in 2025. Cheers, Rich S.
@@RWSBaden Merry Christmas, Rich. I hope you’ve had a great day. It’s definitely something to consider. With the space I have, HO would work just fine for what I want to do.
Thanks for your information on sanding facilities. Enjoy the rest of your evening and stay safe.
Merry Christmas 🎄
@@thecincinnatikid6227 Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Merry Christmas to you guys.
@@michaellee9975 Merry Christmas to you and your family , Michael. Stay cool and stay safe down there!
Merry Christmas
@@mikechristensen2099 Merry Christmas to you and your family, Mike!
Hello my good friend Thom nd Merry Christmas to you nd your family nd thank you so much for all this wonderful years to share your videos nd I love N scale trains😊
@@horaciovera7678 Hello Horacio. It is good to hear from you. Thank you for watching. I am glad that you enjoy my videos.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and are having a great holiday season. Stay safe, my friend.
This was a great way to start my Christmas. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy 2025.
@@genej43 Thank you, Gene. Merry Christmas to you and your family and Happy New Year, as well. Stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom.
@@Longshadowsmodeltrees Merry Christmas, Bob. Thanks for watching and stay safe!
Maybe when you retire you could add to your outdoor G scale layout? I retired last year and have not started my G scale layout yet. (I have been collecting items for it now for 3 years.... And you are right it is a co$tly scale). Enjoy your videos ... Have a good christmas.
@@Koen5050 Good morning and Merry Christmas. The difficulty with adding to the G scale layout is that when you build it on a raised platform, it is sort of ‘landlocked’. Looks better and easier to work on than ground level, but difficult to expand. I could go through the shed and sling the back fence, but it would be very expensive.
I am actually think in of scaling back the G scale. Not the size , but right now I have a lot of diesel era stuff but also some steam stuff. I’m pondering getting rid of one or the other.
Thanks for watching and your thoughts. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom. I think next year you should build a helix with staging tracks underneath. LOL I know how you feel about the helix!
@@frantesorero Nooooooooooo! To both the helix and underground staging tracks!😜
Merry Christmas Fran. Have a great time with your family. Stay safe!
Good News
@@Kermondale Thanks for watching. Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Hello Thom,
At 51, I am hopefully far off from having to make the decision between N scale or other scale.
I do love different scales for different reasons, but right now, with my limited space and passion for operations, N scale is a great choice for me.
That said, I have A LOT of light over the layout. Imagine bright lighting and then double it. This seems to really help during operations, but not so much when working on the bench.
I do have optivisors and a digital microscope, so for now I am sticking with N scale. But it is definitely in the back of my mind.
@@HumancityJunction at your age, I wouldn’t think twice about changing scales. Lighting definitely helps, but good eyesight and a steady hand are more important and fortunately for me I’m still ok in both of these areas.
Thank you for watching and your support. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Stay safe!
Great story! If nothing else you have accurately described the downfall of manufacturing in the Jackson/Chillicothe area. So sad. I remember as a kid in the 70s several active coal mines in the area as well (south/east of Jackson).
@@BlackMan614 Thanks for watching. It is sad how little is left in the area.
Happy New Year and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom! Love the layout? By chance does your friend Pete have an On30 layout? I think we know some of the same people from when I lived in Ky.
@@RunningTrainsWithChris Good morning and Merry Christmas, Chris. Pete lives in Kansas City and we’ve never met in person. I don’t know what type of layout he has.
I haven’t been involved with any train clubs in over 30 years, but still have a few friends around, so there’s a possibility.
Enjoy the holidays and stay safe!
Merry Christmas Thom, great details in description you did today,
Question; I've seen it before in your videos but is that model airplane wing off of an ole free flight plane? Did you do this back in the day or possibly control line?
@@charleszang8963 Merry Christmas, Charles. Thanks for watching and your nice comments.
That is a wing from a free flight plane. That’s was my Dads hobby for his entire life. His wish was for his planes to be destroyed upon his death, but we all kept one and several wings. We sold the engines through his club.
I built a few airplanes when I was small but my love was trains and he encouraged me.
Merry Christmas and stay safe!
@ that's a great story, my dad brother and I flew rubber powered and mostly control line we belonged to a club at North American Park in Columbus. But in the summer my brother and his buddy and I would load up his paper route wagon with planes and jump on our bikes to fly all afternoon, best times
Thanks Thom
@ I got a control line Stuka bomber for Christmas one year. My Dad took me to the park where we actually had a circle of blacktop to fly control line planes. He decided to do it first even though he had never done it. It went straight up and then straight down, destroying it. It never flew again. Merry Christmas to me!😂
@ 😂😂 my brother bought a Stuka ha it was a very good looking plane but same thing happened with his , it lived up to its name " dive bomber" 😂😂