Folks - Whenever I find spare time I'm hoping to do a few crude sketches of "Garage-Sized Layouts" for future issues of The Meteor. I think this website has proven that there are a LOT of interesting, prototype Frisco locations that would lend themselves well to modeling in a smaller space. Whereas the original mission of the FMIG was "Preservation of the SL-SF in Miniature," I think that part of this entails helping new modelers (or new SL-SF fans) to have a catalog of ideas from which they can choose. Model Railroad Planning from a few years back included a "decision matrix" by Bernard Kempinski on trying to decide what to model. I've tinkered with a similar version but approached from a standpoint of difficulty. My goal: use this matrix as a guide to help a modeler determine the "degree of difficulty." As the attached examples show, since my proposed Caruthersville Branch includes more handlaid track (which I still hope to try), it ranks higher in overall difficulty than the Northern Division layout currently under construction. The weight in the first column is how difficult I perceive a given task to be: the higher the value, the more difficulty it would entail. Please keep in mind that the values assigned are very arbitrary and based on my own probaly faulty assumptions. I am not an engineer or scientist by trade; I can hold my own when it comes to reinsurance and finance and can play the Texas Instruments BA II Plus financial calculator by ear but that's it! I would really like any feedback that anyone has so that we can include a "degree of difficulty" with any future layout plans. Best Regards,
Yes, I forsaw the day when there would be no surviving Frisco facilities nor equipment to see and photograph. I also forsaw the day when the thugs would vandalize the displayed Frisco equipment (i.e. caboose 1111 in Newburg), and the only reminants would be on our layouts. That slogan wasn't popular with everyone, especially those whose interests were historical rather than modeling. I'll look over your spread sheet and try it out as I learn (after procrastinating 8 years) 3rdPlanit and draw an HO Ft. Wood RR plan to fit my space. I find that program intimidating, even though I learned earlier MR Planning softward and AutoCad. Thanks Chris
