From my childhood (60 years ago), I remembered an "electric train" I received for Christmas (what could be more ordinary!).
It was a Meccano/Hornby BB 16009 loco with a few wagons and rails.
In 1997, I decided to go beyond the "oval of track" stage and build a semblance of a layout on a sheet of 1.25 m x 2.50 m plywood. Then I acquired a Fleischmann starter box.
After a while, it became clear to me that my network was poorly designed, and it lay dormant for 10 years!
Then in 2007, following my early retirement and with the free time that came with it, I set about rebuilding it entirely from scratch.
To do this, I had to create a dedicated room (2.5 m x 2.5 m) in my basement workshop.