Jumping in with both feet.

 This will be my first model railroad layout in about 40 years.  Coming from the dinosaur age of model trains to the present, things have changed a thousand fold.  Things like DCC, availability of structures, rolling stock and locomotives. It's a whole new ball game in more ways than one, not to mention a huge learning curve. But, we'll get there.

Subscribing to magazines like Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsmen has slowly brought me up to speed to the present. Watching the folks at Model Railroader Video Plus build their project layouts has been a huge incentive for me. Lots of good info for newbie modellers.

Another valued on line presence has been the blog(s) of Lance Mindheim's "Reality Based Layout Design". Can't say enough good things about this master modeller. Two of his books, How to Design a Small Switching Layout and How to Build a Switching Layout are top notch in getting someone launched in the scale modelling hobby.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention Bev and Fred at Warehouse Hobbies, Winnipeg for untold countless advice on re entry into the world of model railroading. There is no question that stumps master modeller Fred. His encouragement for bringing new folks into the fold of model railroading is a solid 10 out of 10.

And last but not least, all the railroad modeller blogs, websites, and forums out there. There is a lot of information out there on the net..some of it good, some of it not so much. The trick is to try and sort thru that tangled weave and ferret out the right stuff.

Over the last year and a half or so I have been reading and researching anything and everything model railroad from all of the above venues.  Lots of questions, not as many answers.
Where would I build this layout? What scale? What time frame/era? What size? As I mentioned earlier, I have been reading Lance Mindheim's books and blogs. Lance has made answering those above questions a whole lot easier.

The "where" question will be the converted and remodelled hay loft of an old barn in the back 40. Years earlier I had renovated said barn into a heated machine shop. Just recently I turned my attention to the loft, by panelling the rounded quonset walls, painting and re lighting. Installed two dormers and several other windows for some natural light. The only real negative about a quonset style building, although pleasing to look at, is that the higher up you go on the inside, the more rapidly narrow the walls become. So what may have been a 30'x50' footprint at the base, now becomes a narrow 20' wide on the second level.

The shop, in the back 40, new home to the Harte Siding model railroad.