Nachoman's summer 2010 enginehouse challenge.

[nachoman]

I have done a little more work work on this challenge, but now have some decisions to make. First, I added the "workshop" to the side of the structure. I like the way it looks, and I like the overall shape and size of my building. I also began laying tracks from my turntable to my enginehouse. I am not sure I like the short curve immediately off of the turntable because it seems to be causing some operational headaches. The turntable needs to be firmly held in position so that the momentum from the locomotive does not cause a track misalignment and a derailment. I am not sure if I consider this a turntable mechanical problem that will be solved with some kind of locking mechanism, or that I should consider a standard roundhouse with tracks that radiate straight from the turntable center.

I did some rough measurements of how wide a standard roundhouse would need to be at the back end considering it can only be about 4 inches from the turntable pit to allow for 9.5-inch-long stalls. I could probably squeeze one in the space that I have, but it would be a much more dominating structure and I am not sure I want to sacrifice the real estate. My idea is that the enginehouse will be part of a very busy and much larger smelter complex. I want the "selectively compressed" smelter to completely overpower the size of the enginehouse, and I am afraid having a roundhouse that is 8-10 inches wide along the back wall will be too much. I will think about it some more and maybe do a rough mockup of a roundhouse, and then decide.