Southern Pacific Switching Layout

[FCIN]

I will probably operate with the spurs about 75% full, I have the interchange and the storage track to act as drill tracks, Jack Hill operates with his spurs mostly full and he doesn't have a problem.

I want to switch, but I don't want to just have busy industries, Consolidated Container has plenty of switching by itself, the other two industries are there for variety.

Justin;

You're modeling an industry that is very rail intensive. The Consolidated plant would be 100% full pretty much all the time, but you have ample room to work this industry on your plan and the switching involved is what makes it interesting. If all you did was pull 4 cars from the plant and spot 4 more in their place, you'd get bored with it very quickly. The interest and operation comes from having to spot cars at specific locations; pull some, re-spot some, move an empty from the upper dock to the lower dock for reloading, etc. It reminds me of switching the distilleries around here when we often had almost every track full of cars and little room to work.

Jack Hill's excellent descriptions of how they worked this industry on the GET is a great way to learn about prototype switching operations.

Having one busy industry and then one or two that only receive cars now and then is very prototypical. Just because you have a dozen industries on your layout would not mean that every one of them would be switched every day. Small lumber dealers and similar facilities might only receive one car a month.

Get your track, put it down temporarily and try it out. If it turns out that it doesn't work for you then try something else. The plan looks good and should work just fine if you're happy with it.