First some thinking...

Before starting the large 'Marche-en-Bières' project, some thinking had to be done. As with any model railroad, there are four conditions that have to be met: space, time, money and skills.

Available space

Obviously, we all need some space to practice our hobby: even if we only make small diorama's, we need at least some working space, cabinets and some shelves for our tools and spare parts. There are some alternatives for people with little space: folding layouts, small-scale layout built in a briefcase, build into a diner table...
I'm the lucky owner of a 17 by 24 feet attic, under a gable roof. This space was until recently used (as you can see on the picture below) as most attics: for stocking more or less reusable things. The stairway and a small work area with closets and shelves take part of the available space. This is where I design (on my computer) and build parts of the layout.
This way an L-shaped space is available for the layout. The two "legs" of the L-shape are about 10 feet wide and 17 feet long. If we reserve some room for walking-through, the usable (available) space is about 20 square yards.

Available time

Time has always been a concern for any hobby. Everyone wants to spend as much time at it as possible. Without spare time there is no hobby possible (of course, we wouldn't have the need for a hobby then...). As for me, I once used to have lots of spare time (being a high-school student, living with my parents...) Later, when I went to college, got married, children, a home to rebuild, ... I hardly had any time left. Now, with my kids growing up, I have spare time once more, which I gladly spend on this fascinating model railroading hobby.

Available money

Hardly anyone has enough money, and a hobby costs at least some. By building lots of stuff yourself you can save several bucks, but you still need some financial basis. As most students, I had a constant lack of money. This remained the same during the first years as a married man (children, buying and rebuilding a house). Now (2001) we finally have some money to spare, but I still try to be economical by building a lot of things myself. It costs some to get good-quality tools, but that's money well spent.

Skills and knowledge

To be good in such an all-round hobby like model railroading, one has to be a Jack-of-all-trades. Wood-working, engineering, electricity (and preferably some electronics too), computer skills are helpful too ... artistic skills (drawing, painting, ...) and spatial insight too are needed to design and build a layout. From my childhood, I got lots of stimulation from my father and older brothers. The fact that I can consider myself a fairly handy person, I owe them.
Knowledge on electronics, computing, railroading and modeling in general, I got from various magazines (Elektuur, Spoorweg Journaal, Railhobby, Modelspoormagazine, Model Railroader...) and various books.
Knowledge and skills grow with experience. Besides earlier layouts (although they weren't that good or big), and designing the present project, I have been busy with electronics and computer programming. That was once on a Commodore C64, later an Amiga and now a PC. I have done Basic as well as C and assembler programming. I hope this knowledge helps me to automate parts of my layout.