The Dark Age of Quinntopia - when will it end?

Hello fellow modelling enthusiasts of all scales and types!  Obviously, I have not been active on the old blog, or in the hobby for that matter, lately.  As this weekend is sort of the one year anniversary of the 'end of Quinntopia' I thought it might be nice to provide an update on "Quinntopia: The Reboot".

Except there isn't one. Yeah, I really have not made much progress.  I have had ambitions - and a few false starts - of using layout design software to create my next layout, but each time I keep creating the same layout I had before (and / or far larger than I really want) or too minimal and not at interesting enough to get motivated with the carpentry.

So...the dark ages of Quinntopia continue.

But I had a sort of epiphany...what if 'planning software' is my problem?  After all, the original Quinntopia began (and continued to grow) without any software planning (I did go back in and retroactively recreate it in RRTrack just so I could have a plan to work with). This led to a much faster creation to train-running time period, and was far more satisfying than a plan on a computer.

So I may take that approach. But not without any sort of limits - I sort of know what I want after my experiences with the original Quinntopia, so I plan to make a mental list of those things and be disciplined about sticking with them.  Some of those 'best practices' I established in my 'mistakes' post, for example, while it does not need to be mobile, it can't be permanent.  I don't want it so large that it dominates my entire room.  I want as much 'main line' for train running as possible, and finally, its an urban layout, so start with the city and work the tracks in and around the structures.

So here's my strategy: Start with a module that will fundamentally be the city - all the buildings, cars, and lighting that that entails.  From there, configure the tracks as if they were passing through an urban area.

Simple, right? Well, we'll see if simplicity is better motivator for getting a layout back in the world versus thinking about it!

On a more personal note, you may be surprised that the ruler of the kingdom of Quinntopia is a human just like everyone one else and was subject to distractions which kept him from the development of his benevolent dictatorship;  I found myself on the receiving end of one of those 'reduction in force' discussions last Fall.  Yes, I was 're-tooled' or something!   So for much of the quiet period this past year I was out networking and applying for new roles, etc....  The good news is that I am now gainfully employed again with a great, new employer.  The bad news is that the job requires more time and a bit longer commute than I previously had, so precious discretionary hours for hobby-related interests are a bit more difficult to find.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the detailed and fascinating (and somewhat amazing) story of Terry's repair of a Rivarossi Chapelon locomotive that he has been sharing on this blog over the past couple of months.  It was fun to see that story and share Terry's experience. If you have something you'd like to share on my blog, drop me an email at quinntopia at hotmail dot com and we'll see if its something other readers would like to read.

I hope this won't be my last post in awhile but life can be interesting!

Thanks for reading !