Fundamentals in planning a Model Railroad and the mistakes I made!

[@Tom-xe9iq]

Most people are very impatient and throw down the first thing that comes to their mind. Careful planning saves time, money and aggravation. Slow down and think about it first! Martin is a great teacher!

[@monham5041]

You are right. Martin is a great teacher and his tutorials are extremely informative and valuable. Keep in mind that many people don't have the space or the inclination to build a layout as detailed, intricate and high level as Martin's layout and are happy with something they have created. Some people can also form a plan of what they are aiming at in their head before they start based on what they have available to them and what space they have. This is not always impatience as you put it. There are many ways to skin a cat as the saying goes. Noone can judge what is right or wrong for others. We are all individuals after all. Martin's layout is fantastic and a credit to his ongoing efforts to improve it and pass on his knowledge. Not everyone aims so highly however.

[@Gbhmagic]

Thats what i did. Moneybwas really what dictated what i was going to have so it just sort of grew with what i had

[@NathanielKempson]

I used to throw stuff down and experiment as I went along. It worked pretty well. But now that I live in my own apartment with literally just two rooms..........theres not enough space to do that XD So i spent about 6 months planning each of my layouts on paper and in track software. For the most part thats worked out fine

[@gchristian7612]

I love your joy and humor. Shows you have a lot of fun! God bless

[@lorenzomarinelliclub413]

Hi Martin I only met you now but I am very happy I did, thanks to your advice I now have much clearer ideas on model railway, a passion that I have always hidden in my soul but which has now taken over, much to the chagrin of my wife. . I will continue to follow you by joining the channel livelihood program. Distracting myself from some initial interests of other Austrian brands, I then diverted my interests to the Trix for the need for direct current. My complements for your work.

[@ProfessorTrain743]

Fantastic, Martin! This is a great lesson and inspiring history of your journey.

[@jimstraba5772]

Martin, you’re a legend!🎉 you are making peoples lives better, thank you. So much to learn and you have so much experience and knowledge and your willing to share it. Thank you.

[@peponeslotproject8748]

Happy birthday and congratulations for the job done and for all your good tutorials ! Let's continue please !

[@castrogrilo9032]

You have a very good reason to be a happy person. It's a great work

[@TATICMOOR]

Martin, you created a wonderful layout to view and to run your stock on. I enjoy seeing all the different elements to it and how it has been constructed, with your talented hands, with the simplest materials and tools. Your tutorials are excellently put together and it still amazes me to see the results of the topics and themes in the videos. It was great to see this time capsule from the past ten years. The amount of commitment and investment that you have put into the layout has surely paid off with the stunning results so far. I have to say so far, because I'm always reminded that a layout is never truly finished. Cheers to the next ten years Martin, and thank you for all your hints, tips, and talented hands to watch on here.

[@terryflynn8830]

Your viedo is a pleasure to watch. You must be the happiest model railway youtube maker, always with a smile and a laugh.

[@Bruno.Trains]

Excellent rail movie! Thumbs Up Best Regards from France Bruno

[@gerhards795]

Thankyou for all wonderfull hours, we can spend with you and your great idears

[@jefftaylor1075]

Martin, your layout is absolutely stunning and beautiful! I am just getting back into the hobby since being very young and learning about DCC. I have been collecting HO scale track, switches, buildings, landscaping materials, etc. for the past 5 years and am just about ready to start building my dream layout in a 13 ft. x 33 ft. room upstairs in my home. At 60, I'm starting very late but when I see your layout I get very excited and feel like a kid again! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and insight and I wish you all the best.

[@renekreisel8165]

Du sprichst mir aus der Seele mein lieber für die eisenbahn ist man zu alt genug 🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃

[@rtalbot87]

Exceptional video. I am almost 2 years into my project and have yet to lay a track ! I have managed to include many of your very helpful tips; mainly by chance. I do know most of my track dimensions are critical so that should make the laying very time consuming. I have watched many of your videos, and will continue to do so, but this is the best one so far. Thank you.

[@CM-he8ni]

Priceless so informative. Your English is excellent,better than most natives!

[@bobsterndlschauer5923]

Martin you are one of the best - amazing work

[@julioabreudossantosneves7226]

Really a perfect manual about how to reduce the probability of future problems. Congrats!

[@Alpenkracher]

Danke. Das macht echt Mut. Ich baue schon über 10 Jahren an meiner Anlage, und werde gefühlt nie fertig.

[@jmv209]

I think you should be nominated to the nobel prize of model railroad 😜

[@317russ]

Your best video ever - my biggest advice to anyone would be to do what you like because then you'll want to spend more time with it.

[@pierrepicco]

Very realistic model and very well filmed. And finally trains moving at realistic speed. Well done!

[@Herriot7]

Just incredible. Thank you so much for sharing ypur thinking and process in designing and building the layout.

[@gustavofernandez484]

Thank you Martin for sharing your experiencies, your ups and downs, it surely will inspire young people to become model railroaders....that will be part of your legacy and it's something to be proud of....rgds

[@medwaymodelrailway7129]

Enjoyed your video you put together. Loads going on. Thanks David.

[@peterpaultruijen]

Martin, ik kijk elke keer met veel plezier en ontzag naar hetgeen jij weet te bouwen. Ik ben slechts beginneling en ben van een kant en klare lay-out van Noch uit gestart. Ik vind het leuk om hiermee evengoed aan de slag te gaan met het verder in te vullen van het (al voorgeprogrammeerde) landschap. Ben nog van het analoge tijdperk en denk dat ik het daar ook bij hou. Het moet ook een beetje betaalbaar blijven ;-)

[@thomream1888]

Congratulations Martin, and thank you. You have given us hours and hours of education and entertainment, all for free! Well, for us! And it is nice to hear the how's and why's of what you have done, the many things that work and the few things that don't. It has been fun watching you go through these steps, sharing your successes and (very few) failures. Hoping the next ten years bring more joy and success to your railroad activities. Thanks Martin!

[@Lasztmichdurch]

Congrats Martin! Imo you are the most professional Model-Railroader/Builder out there...

[@jeffbrownlee9612]

You are amazing. Thank you, so much, for sharing your process and journey to this point. As always, I'm excited to see what comes next.

[@sergiovasconcellosocriativo]

It's a beautiful and incredible story of your space. I imagined the hard work that was...

[@lindaoffenbach]

An Exciting lay-out you have Martin, and so full of ideas. We went through those steps as well, but the first decision to make for us was 2- or 3-rail. We’ve been contemplating on that for at least 6 months and decided to go for 3, the reason being that it's reliability of contact is profusely higher, even with dirt and grime building up. As long as the trains run once a week, it’s fine. We’ve decided not to go for a certain era. Some parts are just more historic. Why not dash an ICE-4 through it, the particular scene imaginable being situated in modern times. Why not drive steamers or other historic stock as well, possibly as part as museum runs. That’s the beauty of the hobby, the lay-out is a flexible fantasy to your own liking :) We will be doing catenary as a last touch though, and your vid about it was extraordinary helpful :)

[@thomasdwyer6128]

Thank you Martin for taking the time to organize this presentation as you did. Been working on my layout for almost four years now and it was a series of disasters that had me pulling out what little hair I have! So, it's been a series of fixing these screw ups with good results so far. Watching how you planned the layout and went about construction gave me a better insight on how to plan much better. To make a long story short, I started my layout as DC with the old fashioned wood gridwork supporting the track roadbed. Then, I learned about DCC and using Styrofoam for scenery. For awhile, my layout looked like something from Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory trying to rewire for DCC and add the foam board along with the existing gridwork. Things are finally moving in the correct direction and my hair is growing back just fine.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

Quite a marvelous accomplishment. Some day soon I will start on a similar journey.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

Happy anniversary dude! You are a total inspiration! Here's to the next ten years! Huge thanks and big love!

[@jenssteenlarsen1818]

Thank you very much, Martin, for this very valuable video with all the advice I should have followed 2 years ago when I started my layout. But.... I still enjoy my layout with all its failures. And i follow and suppport you on Patreon. I strongly urge every one else to do the same.

[@OnnoDonald]

Awesome video! Very nice to see. The planning steps are truly useful to me.

[@davidallison976]

So much enjoy your videos. I have learned a lot here! Thank you so much!

[@WMTrackdog]

Very cool layout! Thank you for sharing your journey.

[@melkitson]

Always so inspirational Martin. It is very obvious that all the thought that you put into your planning paid dividends. You have once again made me think and I know I will be revisiting my planning in view of some of the thoughts that you have offered. Fortunately I am not so far along in my build and so can afford to make a few positive changes.

[@gvet47]

A very interesting video to see how your layout began and the great detail you have added. Every detail is a masterpiece. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@christinae30]

Grattis till de tio åren!💐🇸🇪 Uppskattade särskilt iden med att göra ett rutnät utifrån kurvradien!

[@luctoulouse]

Awesome video. Very useful for beginneer. Cheers from Canada.

[@sturnie1]

Simply amazing work thank you for sharing all your hard work and lessons

[@andreasoroszi2849]

Great video. Congratulation on your 10th anniversary and thank you very much for sharing your experience. It's really amazing to see how you did your first steps building up this wonderful layout. Greetings from South Germany

[@Magnuzo1]

A lot of useful tips and ideas from the first steps of planning till an advanced layout!

[@RoaldvdM]

Very impressive! I love your eye for detail!

[@04fys513]

I appreciate your advice. I started with an N gauge layout, and am switching to Marklin HO. I may have to make some sacrifices for the available space I have, but I will also explore the possibility of using additional vertical levels to maximize the space I have available. Beyond that, I have no clue where to start, particularly with another axis that has been added to my empty drawing board.

[@andrewpalm2103]

Another excellent video, Martin! The planning process is well thought out and I'm sure will be helpful to those new to the hobby or those who are thinking about "upping their game" and building their dream layout. Your ten year journey building your layout was also very interesting to see, especially since you shared not only your successes but also some of your less successful decisions. It's important for newcomers to understand that the process is never a series of perfect decisions (just like real life). Cheers from Wisconsin!

[@abunny94]

Thank you very much for this very good video. 🇫🇷

[@johnkelley9877]

This was a fascinating tutorial! You provide a lot of information but I have to say I really liked the transition between the unfinished layout and the finished one. Thank you for sharing this.

[@markjohnson9136]

Loved the layout history lesson.

[@filibertkraxner305]

What a great video! I'm feeling inspired to get out of my 'forever planning' state and actually start building something again. It's been over 10 years since I last had a layout 🤔😅

[@igoreklee2944]

My congratulations 10th anniversary. I watched all your videos You are really great. You my primary and secondary school Must be continued!

[@nicolassalles1111]

Happy anniversary ! And thanx for sharing all your tips and tricks with us.

[@dkaustin98]

Great video! A couple of points. If one decides to use a published track plan then I recommend you import that into AnyRail, and in AnyRail choose your type of track and turnouts you will purchase to see if it will fit on the track plan. You will quickly learn why a number of track plans were designed without a type of track in mind and why those plans do not work as drawn. Yet with some adjusting you can workout a similar plan. Also, let it sit for while. Go back later to see if you should make changes or deletions. Are there locations that could trap a loco? Can you switch all the industries? Could you improve the plan by adding in a passing or runaround track? What if you relocated a turnout? Then let it sit again and go back to review it again. Do that several times until you are pleased with what you have designed. In clearance do not forget vertical clearance. You need to decide on what your minimum clearance will be while planning out your grades. It might be based on a crane car, your tallest locomotive or the NMRA standards. Then build yourself a block and base that you can use to set on the lower tracks at the point where your upper tracks will cross over. That way you are assured of your clearance every time when adjusting your grades. Otherwise on a test run you risk something hitting the overpass and possibly falling to floor. Martin, after watching many of your scenery building videos I now realize who caused the toilet paper shortage we experienced during the pandemic! Just joking, but I bet at the high point of the pandemic you had a fortune in TP in the layout.

[@qwincyq6412]

Your point is so true. I built from an Atlas track plan book but the final result was very different. Due in part because some attributes just didn’t work and because I used some Peco wye switches which have a different radius from Atlas.

[@tonypetts6663]

Very informative video Martin with some interesting points raised on planning and making sure you get what you want in your layout. Nice to see the before and after shots as the layout has progressed, but for me the best bits was the bare bones of the early construction. I was fascinated by the number of steel rods used to obtain the various levels, something I've only seen used in helixes previously. Thanks for posting.

[@prpman99]

Martin, Thanks so much for the inspiration and sharing. You are my go-to resource and have learned a great deal. Some day I too may graduate to a "big" layout but in the meantime I'm enjoying the build of "my" layout. Please keep them coming.

[@moonshinerunner01]

Congratulation on your ten year anniversary, It is great to see the before during and after. 2013, 2018 and now. Fantastic video. Really liked this one.

[@TonisalpenmodellbahnN58]

Hello, auch wenn ich eine fertige Anlage habe: interessant und spannend erklärt, Gruß Toni

[@prestons6891]

Congrats on 10 years!!! Maybe a dumb question, what track would you use today?

[@kaeseblock1362]

I really enjoyed watching this video. Thank you for sharing.

[@kraigsickels3918]

Absolutely great video…. It’s full of wisdom, knowledge and first hand experience!!! Thank you 😊

[@ErzgebirgsMoBaHO]

A super interesting video. Thank you for showing us how your system was created. Greetings Tino

[@garylong7599]

Like the roller for the cobbles who produces that

[@flybobbie1449]

Never seen mixed scale. I always thought would be good to have 2 ovals of different scales with same train type. So larger scale would travel in fore ground, disappear into tunnel. Then some time later smaller scale would travel in the back ground. Then again some time after the larger reappears at the front. Could create real depth over very short distance.

[@jcwonder]

Felicitaciones por esos 10 años y que sean 10 más. Saludos desde Chile.

[@Benjamintrains]

Martin very impressive layout for a garage space! I live in Phoenix, Arizona USA and live in a apartment and I have very limited space and your video helped me understand better on limited spaced. Plus I model n scale and love modeling european locomotives. Happy railroading Benjamin!

[@jontaylor1652]

Excellent video, very interesting.

[@bowlinggreenoil]

Outstanding channel. I have begun scenery building and with your expertise my life is much easier! On where to start, I was advised to start with picking the locomotive. Curve requirements are critical to know when choosing gauge and room requirements. Thanks again for expertise in modeling and in video presentation, there is no one better.

[@peterpocock9062]

Nice job Martin. You can be proud of your effort. I would also like to thankyou for your huge effort at filming and sharing your empire with us! A small idea if I could put to you, your steam locos could be "Preseved Trains" then you could run them when ever you felt like among your modern stock. Then, they would not be out of place as it were.

[@Readbooks6800]

Congratulations sir for completing 10 years 👏 🙌

[@stephanlocher9590]

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary, the layout is fantastic, immaculate, the explanations (how to conjure some of it... or not) are always great to see.

[@oliversiefert8260]

Congrats and thank you for sharing your Videos!

[@florisvanderweide155]

So skania produces trucks nearby, and you ship materials to the factory, but no trucks out? Looking forward to a skania train on the parade track!

[@modeltrainstipsandtutorials]

Truly inspirational - thanks Martin.

[@siam1883]

Wow! Great video. Thank you for sharing your techniques.

[@smallscenesh0]

WHAT A RIDE!!! Watching this video was truly an outstanding experience. The layout is fabulous and the explanation an exercise of mastery! Thank you for sharing all that passion and knowledge! Congratulations for the 10th anyversary and the 100k Subscribers!👍😁👍

[@martinformini3621]

Congratulations. Very good job.

[@bobtudbury8505]

cheers.p.s. storage yards here in the uk is fiddle yards!!

[@josefbuckland]

WOWSERS! I’m 2 years down and 8 to go and progress is going nicely. Albeit the videos I put out ever week are about 2-3 months behind what I’m actually up too on a couple of breathtaking videos now coming out soon that really show my imagination finally being let loose. Always a pleasure way watching your vids I have picked up plenty of ideas and unlike Charles at Chadwick the European efficiency and focus make for top Production values. Be sure to take a peep and some of my videos not as impressive as yours but the layout is certainly taking shape. Tell me why is it most euro and indeed German steam locos were black in the top with red bogies underneath. Rather than googling it thought I would ask you since it’s the answer you will no just like that. Josef Model Railway & Toy Room

[@HHExpress]

Thank you for sharing. Layout looks amazing and I learned a lot from it greetings from Hai

[@greenelmstation7930]

Another brilliant video! Well done, Martin. Regardsless of the size of a layout, there is a lot to learn from your experience and advice.

[@MrMiketoase]

Another great video showing what you have done over the years. I think this is worth watching a few times. (I know I will).

[@terielrand8344]

Great video! Has it been 10 years? I would love to see how you typically operate the whole layout or a layout operating session.

[@Sephyricon]

Super impressive, Martin! Snyggt jobbat!

[@PoolModelRailroad]

excellent Video 👏👏 Fantastic 👏

[@mistered1397]

Great video and helpful information.

[@iannarita9816]

Just remember, it is your railroad. If someone plays model railroad police and says that is not prototypical. Just say it is my railroad and I will do what I want!!

[@paultijink4235]

Great video, really informative!

[@GrampiesWorkshop]

How's she goin'? Thanks very much for the history of your layout!!! Very interesting and very great ideas an tips!! Take care!!!

[@dietmarschlichtherle7061]

Very nice video! Thank you for showing 😀

[@arjenvanderhel]

Congrats MarklinofSweden with “your” 10th anniversary. You have reached the age of driving a moped now. Anuway, your video was great as usual. I loved the “then now”-changes from the same angles. One question: what was your decision to choose for the Märklin 3-rail system? Grtz from the Netherlands Arjen

[@davidsalas8913]

Great job

[@peterstecks7660]

Excellent video as usual Martin. You always make me smile, with some excellent observations. Wisdom comes from experience, and I am so pleased that you share. KZbin is a game changer for many aspects of life - including model railways. I wonder if you have a book or two in you Martin? Thanks again and stay safe.

[@titotec6625]

La verdad que es impresionante la maqueta que has construido, muchas horas de trabajo invertido pero sin duda una gran satisfacción para ti. Y para mi por poderla ver a pesar de la distancia. Un saludo 👍

[@dragonsknights]

Happy Birthday for your 10th Anniversary from Italy! :)

[@rianderous8761]

probably a good idea to do the five steps a little bit in parallel and not going trough them 100% sequential... If I would have a bit more space than I currently have, I would consider O scale instead of H0 scale. And that has a huge impact on what the possibilities are....

[@nielsdebakker3283]

Congratulations, die trassensatz martinstown ist teil der Noch neuheiten dieses jahr.

[@susannesmodelrailroad]

Great video! Wish I would have seen it before building my layout. But after some rework Im starting to get there! Happy to be a supporter to you and your great channel! Thanks!

[@pauljacobsen9002]

Great video! Thanks!

[@Hordakkk]

SUPERB video!

[@eamonnoconnor6664]

Great video and thanks for all the education you pass on to fellow modellers. I see from this video you used set track, I am using Kato HO set track, I see you have done a wonderful job on ballasting and blending in the set track. Have you made a video of these techniques? Keep up the wonderful work.