Not having touched a model train for 60 years, I started my "come back" with not-so-prototypical Bachmann snap-track. As kids we felt HO was for wusses. Now as an adult, I'm glad I had the good sense to go with HO scale instead of O gauge, given the limited space, and big ideas I have.
One of the participants in my doctoral study lived in Enola, Pa., where a tributary snakes into the Susquahanna. There used to be a huge rail yard there. This rail yard inspired the water feature in the layout. These girder bridges crossing that water feature, would later be replaced, when I decided to add catenary for the GG-1 I run on the layout.
So yeah, I bought and opted not to used a ton of stuff that will end up on eBay for cheap. But I learned and quickly arrived at the design I wanted. The Bachmann snap-track was one of the things I quickly ditched, early on.
I'm loosely trying to model the late 1960s, early 70s. I say loosely because I'm shoe-horning all my favorite childhood memories into the layout. So, combining post-1975 intermodal elements with a PRR passenger train, whipped along by a GG1 is a stretch, for sure.
After getting the foam modeled to about where I wanted it, and the track nailed down, I painted the foam a flat grey, dark brown or dark green, to get a sense of how the topoglogy was taking shape. I then started detailing, cutting in features, putting down a black foam layer for the "paved" areas, etc.
