Layout Concept - Defining and Redefining

In Layout Design Process 6 - Defining and Redefining I identified a problem solving process of defining and redefining the objective at hand, in this case moving from a broad idea to fine tuning the process (in this case layout design) to those final elements that can be reasonably represented on the layout.

I had a pretty good idea what I wanted - geographically, type and size, and industries. That lead to my early development of the 5 second ‘overview' of my layout that you see on the banner of this blog:


..... the Western Washington Short Line, a HO multi-deck layout freelance - prototype railroad model in the 1950s based on my interests in Class III railroads, traction, logging and coal mining ...


With that in mind, I was able to investigate prototype railroads in the geographic area and identify areas of specific modeling interests. Those interests then were documented in a 'theme' document I could then refer to in the track planning process. You can find that theme document here.

For those who approach the concepual process differently, there is another tool that can be used to assist in the definition and redefinition process.

Bernard Kempinski has documented his layout concept process within a spreadsheet format. You can find his process here. A copy of his spreadsheet shows his givens and druthers.




Notice that Bernard identifies his givens and druthers in a series of rows, and then has a number of options to meet each given and druther in a number of columns. Bernard then weights each given and druther with each option. The 'best' option based on weighted averages would then recommend that option to the modeler.


Alternatively, if a modeler had no set prototype interests, then his research could be based on modeling interests (by row) and he would identify specific railroads that had operations that supported those modeling interests identified in a specific column. Weighting each category would then give the modeler a recommendation of which railroad (or branch, or subdivision, etc) to model.

Here's what Benard did back in 2006 when he was modeling a differrent layout. You can find the entire article in Model Railroad Planning 2006.






Here is my specific railroad interest and modeling interests 'druthers' based on the information I gathered during the Concept phase of the layout design. These druthers will be consolidated with those developed during the structural component to determine my final layout design.





You will find the WWSL's design matrix here.


References: