Well, I have started dismantling the layout. Although 'dismantling' sound drastic, it only means I am disconnecting the various modules so they can be moved. Because of the housing situation in the town we are moving to, I have decided that a layout half the size of the current C&SFT configuration would have much more chance of fitting into a rental property. So I have decided to keep the Interchange Yard, Forest Junction, Calumet South and Dolton Junction areas.

The South Forest branch, Midwest branch, and Van Loon areas won't be part of any future layout. The train sequence and the way the layout is operated will change considerably as well. Instead of having the 3 staging areas I have had until now it will be just one staging area (the Dolton Junction area), and instead of 4 railroads connecting to it there will only be two - Indiana Harbor Belt and Chessie System / B&OCT.

There would still be 8 industries to switch and space for 3 staged trains at Dolton Junction even on only half of the layout, so it would still be a lot of fun to operate. But realistically it would probably become a one man show - I am not sure that there would be enough traffic to justify two or more operators.

One thing I am really thankful for is this: That when I started building the C&SFT three years ago I designed it to be modular, flexible in configuration and movable. If I hadn't done that I would probably have scrapped the whole layout and starting again.