WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build

[nachoman]

I remember reading an article from the late 1980s about someone who built a layout strictly for operation realism. As I recall, the layout was a zigzag of peninsulas, no scenery, and simply signs for industries. If one is striving for operation realism only, why bother with anything but plywood scenery and trackwork that looks like a schematic? On the other hand, making something look like a believable miniature of the real world often means compromises in operation. For example, it is sometimes nice to see the trains go behind a mountain or tall building, but it is hard to reach behind those things to uncouple cars or fix a derailment.

As far as reasons for your curves - sometimes it is a anthropogenic boundary rather than a natural one. If property boundaries already existed before the the railroad, the railroad may have to have strange curves in order to weave between property boundaries that don't line up. I can't recall seeing it in railroads, but I see it in roads all the time. The property boundaries existed prior to the roads, and the highway surveyors had to locate the roads between the existing properties.