02-19-2010, 02:43 PM
Back to my original thought... the point-to-point ending at each side of the door is what I have invisioned since the inception of the layout building. The reason I like that is that the trains really are going to distinct locations, and for me, the overall "feel" of that is "appropriate"... I mean, it just feels good to me.
But the thought hit me that I could gain even more room for industy trackage by combining the interchanges at the far left. To me, this sacrifices the realism of the layout, in that trains from both directions end up at the same place.
As for car floats and all that... very creative. My intent was to model a freelanced shortline/industrial railroad similar to the LAJ and loosely based on the industrial parks around Houston, Texas.
Wayne, when you say put the staging under the layout, you mean have a track on grade that goes down to a lower shelf with the staging?
My thoughts on the interchanges: The interchange yards would be scenically complete and would be where cars come off of and go onto the layout. I would have storage drawers underneath. Between operating sessions, the cars leaving my railroad would be placed back in storage, and new cars would be placed on the interchange tracks based on some type of waybill system or whatever. During the operating session, we would drop off the new arrivals at their industries, at the same time we would pick up loaded cars and empties and take them back to the proper interchange (later to be removed by hand from the railroad entirely). In this way, the staging isn't so much a parking lot as being a real destination where cars really leave the layout.
But the thought hit me that I could gain even more room for industy trackage by combining the interchanges at the far left. To me, this sacrifices the realism of the layout, in that trains from both directions end up at the same place.
As for car floats and all that... very creative. My intent was to model a freelanced shortline/industrial railroad similar to the LAJ and loosely based on the industrial parks around Houston, Texas.
Wayne, when you say put the staging under the layout, you mean have a track on grade that goes down to a lower shelf with the staging?
My thoughts on the interchanges: The interchange yards would be scenically complete and would be where cars come off of and go onto the layout. I would have storage drawers underneath. Between operating sessions, the cars leaving my railroad would be placed back in storage, and new cars would be placed on the interchange tracks based on some type of waybill system or whatever. During the operating session, we would drop off the new arrivals at their industries, at the same time we would pick up loaded cars and empties and take them back to the proper interchange (later to be removed by hand from the railroad entirely). In this way, the staging isn't so much a parking lot as being a real destination where cars really leave the layout.
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times