I got my first train set (from Fleishmann) for my 7th birthday in 1965. Soon enough the blue 68000 SNCF loc was running it's first rounds, or rather ovals, on a plywood sheet in the attic.
There are no photos left of this layout. But I have one of my little brother (left) and myself playing with the cast iron clockwork trainset (0-scale) of my grandpa and grandma in Rotterdam.
This first layout is broken down and boxed up when we move  to a newly build house without an attic in 1970.

Fast forward to 1990. After years in student rooms and in an appartment I live again - this time with my partner - in a house with an attic. So there is room for a new train layout. There is one complication though: my partner has Märklin trains, so 3-rail and AC. And my train are 2-rail DC. And I would very much like to run them on the same layout.

Sadly the 1992 design dit not really 'work'. In particular the slopes were too steep and there was hardly any room for scenery. Whereas I like building scenery much better than just 'running trains'. And in 1996 another removal follows...

Layout design 1998

The new house has a smaller attic. So the old plan does not fit anymore. Only in 1998 a new design emerges. The slopes are much longer and there is space for a real town (back right) and an industrial area (front left).
But this plan is rather ambitious. And it soon becomes clear that what I have drawn does not fit in the available space. So this layout never gets further than the wooden frame. Work and other hobby's also have priority.