We've taken a look at space, discussed the available scales for model railroading and even taken a quick look at a little scenery trick - photos still to come, I hope.
Let's assume you have some space and have decided which scale you would like to model.
Now for some tough questions:
Do you want a switching layout that involves several industries and a lot of movement of short cuts of cars among those industries?
Do you want a layout with long stretches of track so you can run long trains just like the real thing and watch those strains stretch out?
Do you want hilly or flat terrain?
Do you want some crazy combination of all the things above?
For most model railroaders, planning is one of, if not the, most important steps in the process of building a layout.
I, admittedly, have fallen flat when it comes to spending a lot of time planning.
I kind of just go for it. I tried sketching things on paper, but when it comes time to start putting things together, I have issues. I run into the "I'm never happy with what I put on paper" problem.
Let's start where I started.
Being that I'm not one who wants to get on the floor every time I want to work on my layout or run my trains - and assuming you are of the same mind - there is the question of benchwork.
There are plenty to choose from - open grid, solid plywood or particle board on a handmade frame of some sort, foam insulboard on top of the base material - or not ... I've even seen articles about layouts constructed on old doors. The possibilities seem enedless.
Model Railroader Magazine, to which I am a subscriber thanks to Christmas gifts from my in-laws, is a wealth of knowledge for all things related to model railroading, including benchwork. If you don't want to do the work yourself, there are even companies that will construct the benchwork to your specifications and ship it to you with easy instructions for set-up.
Benchwork for my latest layout, along the walls of a spare bedroom, was done with a need for storage in mind. I purchased 3 sets of sturdy plastic shelving. Combining the sets gave me 4 sets of 3 shelves on top of which I placed 1/2-inch particle board. It seems to me to be less prone to warping than plywood. The shelves under the layout surface are quite useful for storage of Christmas and Halloween decorations and a multitude of other items that somehow find themselves in my hobby room.
I often think the insulboard - you know, the thick, blue foam people put around their homes to keep the heat and cold out - would have been a better pick.
It allows for more contours when it comes to terrain and scenery, but I'm not about to tear things up now. That's a change to make for my next layout.
Have the space? Getting a little more serious.
Start thinking about the benchwork and what type of layout you might like and I'll be back with the next step in my plight to create my own little world.

OK, I've provided some initial tips for those considering jumping aboard the hobby that is model railroading.
While I'm sure there is plenty more to cover, there is something I feel the need to share.
When designing a model railroad, one of the things we must consider is that simply watching a train go around a track is not necessarily realistic.
Sure, you can set up a simple oval, but how often do you see a train go in a circle in real life?
To fix this problem, model railroaders employ a number of tricks. We use backtrops to cut a layout in half. That works fine if your layout sits in the middle of a room with access to both sides for operation and viewing purposes.
We also use mountains through which the trains must pass, giving the illusion that they are leaving or entering scenes on our layouts. This technique is especially helpful for those of us who have constructed our layouts along the walls of a given room.
I have employed mountains at either end of my layout. They are just big enough for my trains to enter completely before reappearing.
This technique is relatively simple, but there is something important to consider.
While it is pretty easy to lay the track so that there will be little chance of derailment inside the tunnel, nothing is impossible.
If you have ever constructed a layout that included a mountain through which trains must pass, you just might have had the unpleasant and frustrating experience of a derailment therein. There's nothing fun about having to reach through one of the tunnel portals to try to retrieve a missing train car. There's even less fun about pulling up an entire mountain to do the same thing.
With that in mind, and yes I am speaking from experience, I was working on my second of 2 major mountains/tunnels over the weekend.
I am normally a big fan of plaster cloth for landscape construction, but a while back I purchased a grass mat by Woodland Scenics.
The mat comes in rolls, is easily cut to the size you want and can be shaped by heating it with a heat gun and simply holding it in the position you want it until it cools down. Once cool, it will retain its shape.
I used this mat in about the center of the mountain, attaching it to the top of the foamboard I used to form the roof of tunnel and allowing it to drape down to the base of the layout. I heated it, molded it into shape and placed some molded rocks at the ends. I then glued rocks to the layout base being careful to leave the edges of the rocks without glue to allow the grass mat to slip underneath. This conceals the edge of the mat where it meets the layout and allows me to easily peel up the mat to gain access to the mountain's interior should I have to retrieve rolling stock.
Check back in a day or two for a couple pictures that will show what I did.

OK, here we go.
For those of us who are already involved in the hobby of model railroading, nothing here is going to be news.I'm writing this for those of you who might be thinking about it, but might be unsure what is what or where to start.
There are numerous scales involved in model railroading. One of the biggest concerns when choosing the scale you want to work with is, quite simply, space.
Sure you can cram an O-scale Lionel layout in to a 4-foot by 8-foot space, but you won't see anything but train and track. It's kinda like putting an elephant in the living room. The furniture, aside from being a little flat, would be largely unnoticed if not unusable.
Likewise, with such large rolling stock and locomotives, the scenery would become secondary at best with an O-scale layout in such a small space.


If you have the space, money and time, O-scale can be tons of fun, but be prepared, the equipment isn't cheap.
G-scale railroads often are constructed in outdoor gardens. The equipment is sturdy and the track somewhat weather resistant.
At the other end of the spectrum, Z-scale is so small that I have seen attractive layouts constructed in a briefcase.
Arguably, the most popular scales are N and HO. They are smaller and operate on a 2-rail track system as opposed to the O-scale's 3 rails.

Without getting into too much detail, among the popular scales are, smallest to largest: Z, N, HO, S, O and G.
For more on model railroad scales, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Model_railroad_scales.
To put it simply, the smaller the trains and accessories - buildings, vehicles, trees, etc. - the more you can pack into a given space. I know, I know - DUH!
So look around. Have a little extra space? Looking for something to do in your spare time - assuming you have some spare time? It's time to start thinking about model railroading.
You might have to beg your wife, husband or significant other to use the available space for such a purpose, but a little begging can have its rewards.
Next week, I'll discuss some of the preliminary steps to planning your own little world. So choose your space, do a little cleaning and get your brain on track.