Rob, you must feel that you are now in heaven with Mastering not one but TWO layouts, building LOVELY trees and NOW seeing and being so close to " BIG BOY " !!!!!!! God has looked down on you and given His blessings to you !!!!!!!

Wow Rob! Your layout and running sessions are becoming more realistic each time. Great sound from your locomotives, so real sounding. The automated railfans trackside is just amazing. You had me thinking it was real action for a while!

Absolutely brilliant love this Rib all my favourites in one shoot I have the Big boy in OO or HO and as you know my Union Pacific in N gauge . Thanks for sharing 👍

The way around all the hassles is by building it 'Point to Point' with turning facilities on one or both ends of the line, like the real guys do it, using a balloon track/wye/turntable. It's the 'roundy-round' or 'continual' which usually presents unrealistic situations.. Point to point can still go up and over, and down and under, and produce long running time.. But what it really does is bear realism; single mainline with passing sidings, spurs, industries/stations/terminals, yards, engine shops. It just does not need to and shouldn't go in circles except for 'belt lines', or say, light rail or trolley/subway.. P to P, if designed right, will leave no duck unders, to boot. Sorry. It's always the way I've seen it but in no way is meant to criticize anyone else's way of running model trains.. Los Angeles, Ca.

Dear Rob, very cool series, very interesting, informative, useful, unique and illustrative content! Love the way you flashed out the different rail profiles and referred to the CSX ‘bible’ of track dimensions. Didn’t know that, definitely will put it on my ‘hard drive.’ Whilst visiting the Essen technical museum I saw the museum’s display of track rolling equipment. Plus cross sections of all the different types of rail that was produced. Absolutely put your guide rail on the ground rules of design principles on the technical level of my ‘gene pool.’ On your point about the backdrops, humbly think it is a multi pronged design aspect. Especially on shelf layouts there’s often the necessity for a backdrop. However, it all depends on how the 2D relates to the 3D part of the layout. A too perpendicular design towards the background only allows for a single point perspective, which most often looks awkward when not observed from the correct 90° angle. Hence, a placement which uses a two point perspective has much greater flexibility and can indeed help to increase the field of depth and the illusion of perspective. Just recently saw a great example of a railroad with excellent painted backdrops. Al Pugliese showed the railroad of David Busch. David’s wife did an excellent job with the backdrops by using the slight angles in which the 3D footprint around the track already opens up the scene. By slightly exaggerating the angle onto the 2D image, she has made several excellent transitions. Overall, when planning my layout I would indeed try to avoid backdrops altogether. See much more in a height solution. It’s all about exploring our creativity after all. Best examples to me are railroads which use a natural divide. A city scene on one side can very provide an excellent profile for a hill on the opposite side of the aisle. Even when watched from the other side it should be possible to camouflage the buildings in such a way that just over the hilltop the city starts. From the city side this would mean its periphery connects towards the horizon under those same hilltops. Of course, that’s much harder when one wants to model a more flat landscape. But even then slight undulations might provide similar modeling opportunities. Cheerio

Dear Rob, such a cool and interesting idea to add those girder spans to indicate the underground tracks beneath ‘m. Will be curious to see your idea come to fruition. It won’t surprise me if this little project will further develop into a small cutout where the subterranean tracks will be exposed. Love the trees, fully agree on the ‘not soaking’ with Matte Medium, a more sparse application will indeed help make them trees look better. Although those ones that look fully feathered are of course excellent stand alone items, maybe for a little park or horticultural space. Always wondered about the Superliners. You definitely got me up to speed there. Great set, love the details. Cheerio

Hi Rob, very interesting video, I kind of find figuring out the whole thing quite enjoyable, trial and error seem to be my preferred methods but I’m learning as I go! There is so much in planning a layout that you can end up doing nothing thinking about everything. Doing for me is a much better way with a basic plan in my head or on a bit of paper and working it out from there. Farland has gone through so many transitions in planning but has turned into your lovely layout which I thoroughly enjoy watching. Thanks for sharing your extensive knowledge Rob, cheers for now mate, John

Very nice. I model in O gauge, so things are a little different. My basement is a bit over 1600 square feet, but subdivided into three rooms. Instead of having a 34x24 foot area at the one end of the basement, I had to make an 'L' shaped layout. I settled on a 24x18 L, with the short end at nine feet wide and the long end a seven and half feet wide. I'm pretty good at planning, so I quickly sketched out a basic design and then just went to work. I have the two mains, a trolley line and a commercial/industrial loop, with the industries on sidings and a small yard, along with the engine facilities. It is meant for long runs with decent sized trains, plus, the industrial section is run separately. That way, I can keep the mains running, so I can have people over and have switching operations at the same time. Either way, your video is quite informative and should help out those that are just starting out with a larger layout. An excellent video, for sure.

I didn't do the math myself, but are you serious that the scaled down recommended curve radius comes out to the prototypical standard gauge between rails? That's some kind of witchcraft coincidence there. :-)

Great insight and ideas related to planning ... thanks

Dear Rob, loved the ratio comparison of true to scale curves to the model ones. To me it’s once more a confirmation of the fact that the real world is much larger than our human minds can comprehend. Always like to add the context of a cubic yard or meter as a reference point. When folks order let’s say a big bag of soil for their yard, their first thought is that the volume received is that it’s too much, that’s until they spread it out. That same ratio comprehension also applies to necessary ratios to plan a model railroad. Absolutely agree on the point you made on backgrounds and background flats. Humbly think they only work when they are positioned in such a way that they are placed on angle towards the visual most important aspects of the scene. On furthering the illusion of perspective with a backdrop I definitely got a pet peeve. This ‘pet peeve’ design concept being the placement of the backdrop in such a way that the undulations in front of the 2D can be approached in such a way that the 3D scenery allows for a slight downhill aspect. That creates a much better transition from 3D to 2D. For flats in front of the backdrop, I humbly think they only work when placed on an angle. Such placement makes it possible to use a 2 point perspective, which is much more forgiving to relate from the 3D scene to the 2D representation. Great tips on layout design. Definitely will put your vid on the hard drive, very, very helpful and useful. Cheerio

An excellent and well though explanation with much to think about.

When I Built The Layouts For The Wife and I I Knew I was Gonna Have Plenty to Do I Don’t care cause It Keeps me Busy and Love The Power of trains.

There is a saying used in the British army that goes as follows: Failing to plan is planning to fail.

I agree that planning can help fit what one wants on the layout. I also like to run trains and my last two layouts started with a track that I could run trains on while I figured out what the rest of the layout was going to look like. I had to figure out how to fake easements in my track planning software to get a better idea of what would fit in the space I had on the table. I built a test loop before my current layout to see what grades my locomotives could actually manage with the cars I expected them to pull. This resulting in another series of plans on the computer before I started laying track. With the grade information i laid a flat loop to run trains on (that was part of the final plan and not a test track) then I continued to revise the final track plan on the computer while I tested various bits and pieces to ensure things would work as planned. I've been impressed with Farland Howe, particularly the trains operating over the system.

Thank you for your video 🙏 helps me out a lot 👍

In all my 65 years plus in this hobby I can say that planning has never worked for me. I always try to fit in more than the space will accommodate. It looks good on paper but it doesn't work. So my layouts are products of evolution. I put a piece of track down and add another to it and see where I end up. I no longer use fixed radius curves but rather transitions in and out of curves. On my current layout I have a short piece of no more than 15 ins. of about 26"radius within a curve of over 5 feet in length. I do like the free flowing running on Farland Howe. David.

Ah Yes Track plans Can Be Very tricky no Matter what scale you Run Slow Down Take Your Time, think It Over this Is A Passion Patience thing No a Race to See Who Can Build Their Layout the fastest. Slow Think It Over and It Will Come to ya To me I Don’t Rush what I do to And Yes I Don’t use a Computer I Have Also Built My Wife’s HO And N Scale as Well and Think this Too Balance every Section as Well. You will Be Happy you Slowed down And Take your time Do what you gotta Do and You’ll Be Happy You took Your Time.think About it and It will Come to ya. Remember measure 2 cut 1. And You will Be Happy in the Long Run.

Quite the consist!

I bought the El Capitan set five years ago and sent it to my sis in Carlsbad CA. She brought it back to the UK when they moved after twelve years in the US.

Hi Rob, nice job on the lights and “metal work”, your diffusers certainly work very well. I see you suspended and positioned correctly so viewable on LHS as approach each. Great to see that lovely bridge and scene again, a certainly the right decision to incorporate and enough room to film from literally “down under” , lol. Signal planning at that level of detail is good to see, done the same for all my ground signals and running line 2 to 4 aspects and associated controls, timely but enjoyable in doing, I only intend in installing and wiring it all once……All the best Stephen

Great Video Rob , Like the ideas will have a go and see what I can create. Love the bridge clip and that added click clack. Thank you for your time in producing this for us Mike

What scale are these

Hi Rob What camera do you use to take shots like those from the platform?

It's a lovely layout but to a Londoner the landforms and geology is wrong - and stone walls are not a thing in London on the tube network (mainly yellow or dark brown brick).

Very beautiful and good detailled scenery!

All point zero airbrushes are just as good as the Iwata airbrushes. They are very good and can paint very thin lines, medium and wide lines. They are about just as good as the Iwata micron airbrushes and are very affordable. I love the point zero airbrushes. I been airbrushing for almost 40 years and these point zero airbrushes are very good detailed airbrushes and I recommend buying them before they decide to raise their prices.

Stellar work as always Rob!

We will now wait and see the better workmanship this NEW paint booth will give your models, trees, etc..... Enjoy it with pleasure !!!!!

Do you have a link for it please?

It’s all looking so good Rob! The bridge has certainly been worth the effort, and the cable racking looks brilliant! Nice views around the layout too. Cheers, Dan

Great review Rob. i love the way that you blended the valley together. great stuff. cheer's Tony.

The valley looks impressive with the three bridges close together. I was a little worried about the size of the trusses, until I remembered that the British railroads were 'blessed' with much lighter equipment than US roads such as the C&O. I'm used to longer spans (Columbus, Ohio where the C&O and other roads cross the Scioto and Olentangy rivers) and much heavier equipment. The result fits your equipment very well and the valley beneath seems more likely than the previous wall. Well Done. Now if I can only get the surveyor to layout the sub roadbed for my layout I might get somewhere.

What a fantastic scene you have created and there are some stories to tell associated with it I hear. I like very much the different styles of scratch built bridges, really compliment each other and that nice gap between really helps set off. Certainly something to be proud of and take a lot pleasure viewing, well done. Excellent modelling. All the best and enjoy! Stephen

Great review Rob and it all looks incredible. As your layout is British based and Britain tends to be a wet country I don't think I would want to live in that thatched cottage. You have a waterfall running down into that gully so some form of water course should be added I think. All the best and yes, take your breaks, the body knows best. David.

Rob, I have watch THIS layout from the beginning and if ANYONE says you haven't grown to the level of a MASTER CRAFTSMAN then you send them to me for a SOUND TONGUE LASHING !!!!! Between YOU and @GrahamFoulston I find it VERY, very hard to say who is number 1 as a MASTER CRAFTSMAN !!!!! I can hardly wait to see what you both come up with next !!!!! I TIP my hat to you SIR !!!!

Impressive Rob.

Hi Rob hope you and your family are 👌 Just catching up on your latest content and you have done quite a lot too. So impressed with the layout and the trees I swear they have grown bigger. I love your eye for the perspective bringing the whole layout and landscape looking like the real deal not to mention the lighting. The hand painted clouds are on another level absolutely fantastic in contrast with the bridge ,again the eyes tricked in to the atmospheric ambiance of the era. Thanks for sharing your quality content which I’m sure have helped others like me ,with their layout👏👏👏👏