Road Trip! I will be traveling to the East Coast and to Southern California in the next few weeks. If you would like to get together to discuss a potential project while I am in your area, please contact me and perhaps we can connect.   I'll be in Pennsylvania and Washington, DC between August 6th and the 11th.   I'll be in Southern California in Mid-September (15th-19th) for the Pacific Southwest Region's Convention in Glendale. I expect to drive from the Bay Area to So Cal, so I'd be happy to make a stop or two along the way. I'll be presenting my clinic on Designing an Op Session.

Layout Design Even though model railroading seems to be on the backburner for most people during the summer, a couple of Custom Design projects have been active: - A large around-the-room layout inspired by Galveston, TX, inlcuding some rail-marine scenes. This layout has been a bit unique since it is primarily designed with HO Kato Unitrack. The owner also has some existing detailed structure scenes that are included, so getting everything to fit has been a fun project.   - I revised an N scale island plan to be built over a large workbench. The owner had developed some ideas and sketches and I created a to-scale CAD rendering and made some revisions and additions. He's taking my design and making some more additions of his own. Should be fun to see the result.   - Construction update: two of my N scale designs have been built. One layout shares the half-bath in a townhome and is based on the Santa Fe's Alice St. Yard in Oakland, CA. The other design is a freelanced pair of operations-oriented T-Trak modules -- a small yard module and a module featuring a (relatively) large industry. First reports on these layouts are positive! Watch for more information here or in the commercial press. (More info on T-Trak here)

I'm working on an Operations Conceptual Design for a large HO '30s-era Pacific Northwest shortline layout. Since the layout has not yet been constructed, I've been able to make some suggestions for layout design enhancements that will support the owners' theme and vision.   I've also been consulting with the planners of an ambitious multi-deck N scale layout on operations and design ideas.   Ops planning projects can take many different forms, from conceptual design to complete development of the operating plan and supporting paperwork and instructions. More detail is availble on the Operations Planning page. Ops Plans

By now most of you will have heard about the passing of John Armstrong July 28th. Very few individals have the impact on an entire field that John had in the areas of Layout Planning and Design. He wrote with deep understanding, humor, and humility. I had the very good fortune to meet John and tour his O Scale Canandaigua Southern railroad in 2002.   John was a very gracious host and the tour of his layout was amazing. It had the feeling of a space two or three times the actual footprint because of his innovative design ideas.  There is much to study and learn from in his broad array of work over the years and he will certainly be missed.