HO Freelance Shelf / Switching Layout

[sailormatlac]

Teejay funny you mention having the other industries some how relate to the cement plant, this crossed my mind and i chose to model other industries because i have a couple of background building kits unused. I feel as if it will seem kind of odd with the cement plant and then say, an industry with box cars next door, but i plan to make it some how all come together. Nothing is Completely set in stone yet, other than the cement plan. I love small hoppers and already have a small collection of 2 bay cement hoppers.

Industries that close would use a trucking company shuttle service instead of rail.

You were wise to avoid using connected industries on your small layout which btw is my favorite type of layout. . In fact my layout will be 12" x 10'.

I'm always much more creative when designing small layout. Large rooms give me the blank sheet syndrome! And so far, most small layout I've seen had a lot of charm and realism. I suppose it's why ideas I develop on small fictive ISL always end up on the club layout!

@getloose, this cement is starting to look nice.

I'm just curious, you put a lot of high profile structures in front of the layout. Did you thought about mirroring the track plan to put them on the back. It would be easier to operate. However, I'm aware that your actual layout plan use structures to conceal the ends and you want backdrop structure behind.

Matt