Dilemma HO layout plan

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

Stephen,I like the idea of a pier with a car float as staging.

I would kill the industries on switchbacks and replace them with single industry spurs.

I wish that Jurassic age layout design element would fade quietly into the annuals of history..

I started to lay the track today. I will try the plan out as is for now before committing to it. I'll know pretty fast if I won't care for the arrangement. I do have a Walthers car float and dock in sealed packaging if I do like the plan I can stage off of the float.

This latest plan is great! Both RRs (if there are two) can use the yard w/ ease. And really like the variety of the industries meaning a variety of freight cars. Have you given any thought to a team track.Attached are the two that will be on my layout to give you ideas what you might want to do. You could only have two spurs to depict both sides. The Santa Fe side does mostly "shapes" (metal products) in a variety of boxcars, coil cars, flat cars & gondolas. The LAJ side gets airslides (flour) & covered hoppers (grain & pellets). Recently they've been shipping out dirty dirt containers in well cars.

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

The twin Larfarge tracks on the lower right will be for trans-load ops. Looking at cement coming in by covered hoppers and pipe in gondolas. I do like the look of the trans-load dock in the picture on the left. Might have to do some selective compression and put one in there.