The feeling begins

OK, so where do I begin? I live in a small house with my family and there is not a lot of space for this railroad, and there is always a potential threat of it being crushed by some little kid or cat having it´s fun, so what to do? I soon found out that one solution could be having the layout being framed - then it could be hung on the wall when not in use and at the same time be quite safe from destruction (well, nothing ever is - I have come to learn!).

A prefabriced frame was bought from IKEA, 60 X 80 cm, which immediately set the borders of my  little world. I plan to install foamboard in one or two layers above the masonite plank (and the glass will have to come of of course). Since I am a man of big dreams and never ending plans of what to do next, I thought it would be a good idea to make some rules for the layout so I would not overdo it in this very limited space. Remember I want it to be simple, nostalgic and like a painting of a time gone by - not an electric grid pattern! I want this layout to be possible to be finished in 2-3 years, which may sound as a lot of time, but with two little active boys in the household and a demanding office work, not to mention my lovely wife with whom I want to spend a lot of time with - it really isn´t. 

The rules are as follows:

• A small rural railroad, set in Sweden at the outbreak of the sixties
• Kits for structures and rolling stock, no time consuming scratchbuilding please! 
• Only Swedish or Swedish-ich structures and rolling stock allowed
• Analog controlling
• A maximum of 4 switches, and 4 isolated sections (remote controlled)
• Format H0e, narrow gauge 9 mm track
• A lot of attention paid to landscape and structures, not only the trains

A first scribble on a piece of paper rendered this

My first attempt at Sörlinge railroad - SJ

The name Sörlinge, is a derivative of my childhood village of Hörlinge in Skåne Sweden, and since this model railroad is thought to be in the southern parts of Sweden an "S" was put in instead of "H" giving it a more southern tongue. The initials SJ is also the name of the Swedish federal railways company, so there is a small hint of expansion later on...

The layout contains one small station (Sörlinge of course!) with two tracks (top of drawing). There is also a small harbour facility with storage building, a couple of tracks for loading and unloading and a fright shed/blacksmiths workshop in the middle for goods to be handled. Just above the harbour in this drawing is a small stop.

Hm, looking quite nice, doesn´t it? Let´s go to work!