By 2011, I had removed all the old layout. 

And I was thinking about trying the Iain Rice method of "shadowbox" model railroading. So I constructed an small L-shaped test module(s) using his methods for construction as outlined in his book about Shelf Layouts.  And I liked it. 

I did change things up a bit... added a box frame of 1x3's in which the foam sat. It was all very solid.  I was using the 1/4" heavy steel L angle shapes left over from the previous layout instead of the two prong bracket / wall mounted support strips as he outlined.  I basically wanted to see how the thing looked with the fascia and overhead lighting set up and fascia.

It was very very satisfying.  I went ahead and put up a small amount of track (prefab) over that Homabed stuff, and was pleased with the results.  I had hoped to get around to do some hand-laid track on the bench work to test the strength, but never got to that. I had also wanted to experiment with some of the many newer methods of scenery.  Never got to that.

Basically, I had covered everything I wanted to experiment with on this type of layout construction.  Use of two-inch foam, couple of types of roadbed (cork and Homabed), laying down pre-fab track including super elevation, and wiring up and playing with that Digitrax system.  Even adding decoders to a couple of units.

At this point in time, I was still looking ahead to a layout in a spare room location in a future retirement house, like about 11x13 feet. 

Shelf style with perhaps a two foot wide peninsula down the long way middle.  SP Coast line with the best features of the Seacliff / Oceano section based in about 1967.  Those hard mud cliffs, oil pipeline land bases and of course walking horse wells here and there, a beach, a couple of those great SP Coast Line steel bridges over arroyos, leftover of old Highway 101 and the businesses of that era, and a small town with plenty of industry and a base for a yard engine and local, with thru trains picking up and setting out blocks of cars. So, visible main line would be about 80 to 90 feet, and staging below, which would make it a "continuous run" design, i.e. double ended staging to serve either direction, or to store passenger trains.  Oh, I was drooling about modeling the Lark, Coast Daylight and "Sad Sam" mail train.  had a few pretty detailed layout designs produced, and was pretty well satisfied with the concept. Minimum 30 inch radius for those passenger trains and piggyback.

And, being the pre-planner person that I can be at times, I started buying all sorts of SP stuff to get ready for the modeling.  Engines, cars, passenger equipment, etc.  More and more boxes of stuff.  Right there along all the Midwest prototype stuff left over from my Milwaukee Road designs of the previous 20 years. It was starting to overflow to the garage and even one side of the laundry room for storage.  God only knew what all I had in there!  I sure as hell didn't. 

Yes, I was getting ready for retirement.  I think I even had blog on this site that started talking about the layout and including a track plan or two and design "points." By now, it was getting close to 2012, and I had dreams of getting lots of that SP stuff kitbashed, or painted and decaled and detailed in advance of retirement (planned for 1-1-14) and relocation.  But of course, following all that pre-planning (and expenditures on rolling stock), there was no follow thru.  Just not enough time, or poor time management.  Did so much on-line research for the time period and equipment.  But didn't get to the models. Maybe I just wasn't ready for it.

And then, I realized what my true calling in model railroading had been all along, and what I wanted in the future.  It was so obvious.

(to be continued...)