Since the holidays, the Civil War layout I started back in 2018 has been moved to accommodate space for the new Unitrack setup and modern trains we got our 5-year-old. He's very happy with how nicely it all works, and so am I. Frankly, it really has illustrated how bad the old sectional track was on the layout. My guess is a combination of tarnished metal, lack of soldering, and only one feeder wire for the whole thing. Beginner mistakes, for sure.
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| Current situation for the 2018 layout. |
During this time, only the passenger station remains on the layout, due to that being the only building glued into place. Everything else—all figures, buildings, etc.—was put into storage boxes for safe keeping.
I wanted to make one more nice video of the layout by now. But life has been not so kind to my free time. Now that the layout isn't in presentable condition, I have to make a decision. We're planning on moving this year, as early as June, but definitely before the start of next school year in September. I'm not taking the layout with us, no matter what. Do I reassemble the entire layout, with dozens of figures, tents, wagons, buildings, fences, walls, and track that's in desperate need for a thorough cleaning if I hope to run anything on it, just to make that one last video tour? Or do I just take this as a sign to move on and put this layout out to pasture? I don't think I can sell it. It's not good enough for that, especially the trackwork quality. Demolition would be the only option. The trees are salvageable, as is the trestle and station.
At least I can continue painting miniatures, engines, and rolling stock, even without a layout. If I get the itch to run any Civil War stuff, I have the Unitrack, which is much more enjoyable anyway, even if it's not authentic to the time.
It's not an easy choice to make, but one many model railroaders have faced. This isn't how I thought it would go down. The layout is currently taking up an awkward amount of space on the floor in the corner of the boys' playroom. I want to start doing something soon.
I'll give it another few days.
