Reviewing my layout plans

[sailormatlac]

In terms of being worried about few industries no being enough, I recommend that you read Trevor Marshall's blog at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/">http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/</a><!-- m -->. Scroll to the bottom and you will be able to select categories like prototype or operations.

Trevor has also compiled what he calls "Achievable Layouts": <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?page_id=3063">http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?page_id=3063</a><!-- m -->. These are prototypes from various locations that he feels would make a satisfying model railway.

I hope this helps inform your thinking on how a simpler layout can still be interesting.

Andrew

I must agree with Andrew. We totally overthink our needs for industries. Think about it, do you seriously think you'll be regularly switching dozen of industries every week, for several hours in a row? Probably not.

You could model half Hainesport industrial park and have enough on your plate for years to come. When I first stumbled on Trevor's work a few years ago, I had my doubts, but after many experiments, I can say going simple is far to be simplistic or not enough. When you break down railroad operation, you find out any normal customer is more than just pulling loaded and empties. That was really a turning point and it freed me from my worst design fears.

Our club layout fills two rooms (about 18ft x 28ft) and have only 3 industries. A typical layout this size would probably have 15 to 20 industries. One of our club member can spend hours switching and he doesn't waste his time trying to be "prototypical". In fact, reducing drastically the number of industry helped us to reproduce them in all their glory.

And don't worry, I also had my moments when I thought OH NO, I can't use my gondolas, my reefers, my grain hoppers, etc... A team track in the middle of nowhere took those worries away. This team track serves 4 "ghost" customers on irregular schedule, according to our fancies. Better with an industrial park setting, it is just the normal way to handle a lot of traffic.

Also, going that way saves you lots of money on useless track, turnouts and structures (I truly wish I had found about it sooner). You can't serve two masters, better focus on something and do it right. It also means you have a more balanced schedule between running trains and building the layout.

At some point, try things out in real: a few tracks, a few cars, a loco and experiment settings. It's far better than wasting precious time in front of a screen, drawing 100 versions of the same utopia and reading dozens of contradicting comments. Model railroading takes a LOT of time, a lot of precious time. Many of us here have beeing doing it for decades and are far from the goal (if there's truly one!!!).

Don't be discouraged. I think you have already many good ideas, choose the best and go forward...

Best regards!

Matt