Where to Begin?

The decision to start making Tranquility comes with the realisation that moving from a single train set to a full blown layout/scenery model railway is a long and winding road ...

And that is where I am now. I have some tracks which can form a loop, I have a steam locomotive (the flying scotsman) and that's about it.

"Where to begin?" is the main question. All I know is that the Hornby OO gauge set which I have is fully expandable and compatible with different products out there which should allow me to build Tranquililty.

Time to do some research, serious research: Internet style research.
After digging and googling around, I've stumbled on a very useful forum : http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/index.php
It has plenty of information on starting a layout.

From the wealth of information available, I concluded the start has to be with the one word: 'Design'. Everything has to be pre-planned, from track layout, station position, sidings, points, where to put it, etc ...

Well, at least this is one part where I shouldn't have too much problem with - compared to the actual process of making the set ;)

Welcome to Tranquility

What is Tranquility? Tranquility is my planned model railway layout.

See, I'm starting a new hobby: model trains. The start of it all is rather silly, my wife and I got our first Christmas tree. What do you need with a tree? Accessories, and lots of them. So the story continues, what do people put under the tree? Among others: trains. After contemplating buying one of those cheap plastic train toy, just for the tree, we finally decided on a 'real' model train. Although it is more expensive, it would be far better investment (and enjoyment) compared to the first option.

After some research, this is what I got: a Hornby model of the 'Flying Scotsman'. It went straight under the christmas tree. (insert picture here)

Of course now that a model train is sitting in my house, it would not be complete without a complete layout, with model train station, scenery, cars, etc, etc.... this is the story behind the creation of Tranquility.