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My first layout was a project I thought my two boys might enjoy. I wanted to make a 4x8 train table with a tunnel, some scenery, and a way to run two trains at the same time. I got this nice Woodland Scenics Kit for making a layout that had a tunnel and lots of interesting stuff at Hobby Lobby. It was pretty much what I was looking for, so one day I started working on it and had my son do some work too. When done, it was fun to run the trains. I even made a video of it. And after getting the roads and cars and such, it looked kind of nice.
The first design is shown here in this video, as well of how I built it. The train table was just a flat sheet of wood, but it should have been framed slightly to allow for my wiring to go through to the other side. Oh well, lots of learning.
After running it like this for a few years, I decided on some "improvements" I could make to the layout. I basically decided to change the track to be a twice-around loop with a small yard. The track that went by the lake I converted to a dirt road.
That made it more exciting; however, I took away it's ability to have two trains running at the same time. Still, I liked it better and just enjoyed watching them go around in circles. If I had really been thinking ahead, I would have still allowed two trains to possibly run by adding sections of isolated track with switches. But I didn't know much about that at the time, and it would have been too complicated for little boys to understand how to do it.
Eventually I decided to get rid of it and sold it on eBay for $50 I think.
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