Brewery shelf layout- Feedback appreciated

[Corsair]

Thanks for the replies. It's really helping me figure this out. This is my first layout since working with my dad on his growing up. It's a compromise because it's less space than I would like, but all I have. Things like a yard or engine house make no sense other than I would like to have an area to display things as I complete them. That doesn't mean I couldn't move the engine house scene to an unconnected diorama.

I drew this last night after reading Mike's comment, trying to use the parts I liked the best from the last two plans. Moving the extension track to the front left corner does help with construction because of the bookshelf this will live on.



I do like that the yard and engine house together let me do things like model a static hopper and tank car hooked to pumps for fuel and sand. I could also put a concrete pad at the end of a yard track for an RIP area. A caboose on jacks with a truck forever removed would be fun to see.

Dave, reading reading your comments, I would like to make a version where the brewery gets the whole layout and I can use the front edge. Corn syrup goes into sweet beers and ciders. The local Coors brewery has an outdoor unloading facility that looks like ground level piping with some storage tanks. I have seen pictures where that happens indoors too, so you could just spot tanks on a covered track. The power house could go either way. Coors still has theirs, and I think the emissions regulations that shut them down in most smaller places hadn't happened yet in my era. Still, if I find I spot on the layout an abandoned power house with a grown over track may look good too as visual interest.


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[Corsair]

Okay, this is probably it. I rearranged the room a little and picked up another 2'. That made all the difference. Everything fits now, and it looks more interesting. I'll still be using a tail track on the left as a fiddle yard.




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[Charlie B]

Just one thing, I notice you have a tank car and a hopper car for sand and fuel marked "permanent" This could be some more switching possibility if sand and fuel were delivered by rail, then you could switch those cars out, and of course, the new shipments never arrive together.
Charlie

[BR60103]

Now that you think you have your plan, print it out. Then make some scale cars and locos and push them around a bit to see how it works. (Just flat paper drawings; don't start building in a new scale!)

[Corsair]

I will definitely mock everything up in paper and cardboard before going too far. The layout is going to be a shadow box sitting on top of a long bookcase, spanning a television in the middle. I want the railhead about 6" above the current surface, so building the base and sides of the box might be the best step to take next.

I can make the service hopper and tank cars switchable. It would just depend on how carried away I get with the hookups. A tank car with the dome up and hoses attached would be really interesting, but I would have to try my hand at making it in HO scale before deciding if it's worth losing a spur over. I doubt that would be the first area I tackle in terms of scenery, so I can just play with it before deciding if it's going to be a static scene or not.


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[wollastonblue]

As I am planning a switching layout myself, I am watching with interest in your progress.

With regards to how the layout works, as you have designed the layout in SCARM, you can download an extension that will allow you to have a play with one loco and some wagons, they are of German prototypes, but it does give you an idea of how the layout will work.