No, apparently not... I was playing around with the 11x13 foot grid design in Microsoft drawing and painting and after creating a fairly decent one for the Coast Line, I then went for something in the "East Valley" theme, but with both the SP and WP in it. I had no master plan or idea, or "layout design elements" in mind... just started doodling in the design and added this, deleted that, adjusted this, redesigned that......and here 'tis!
This is what I had in mind for a combined SP-WP themed East Valley layout. For now, I won't go into details, and labels, and description boxes -- what line is which and that kinda stuff. Suffice it to say that I decided to add a small switching area in the layout center that would, or "could" represent a subsidiary line of one of the big Class 1's. Well, that ought to give it away to anyone that knows the area!
Anyway, it's got some key "signature" elements of the area. One is a lumber / planing mill to handle all sorts of wood products-related freight cars (and a great place for a "scale smell" generator for that fresh-cut green wood smell, eh? And of course, there's room for fruit packing sheds, agricultural dealers, and perhaps a rice mill. I just can't seem to rid myself of using a grain elevator and sheds and bins on a layout, no matter what it is supposed to represent!
You'll note that there's a working interchange track between the Class 1's...and a close-by runaround track on each main so that engs can get on the "right end" of an interchange car or cut of cars. The railroad that has the "subsidiary" switching line on it has more potential for having a local switch engine / road switcher operation, and indeed on one side of the "diamond" crossing there's a small engine service / tie-up track. One thing I forgot now that I have transferred the work from drawing to paint mode (and thus can't easily change things) is an aggregates-loading industry, for some little short covered hoppers full of rust spots, dings and dents, and heavily weathered.
There's plenty of room I think for scenery...some hilllock coming down to track level that would blend nicely into a painted backdrop featuring the Sierra foothills and perhaps, a hazy Mt. Shasta way off in the distance. looks like the subsidiary and both mains should cross a river over in the middle left portion - the small line on a wood trestle, one mainline/sdg using a thru truss, and the other main/sdg on a lower deck girder design. I also wanted the chance to have a "main drag" with crossing flashers (upper right corner), and some wider open spaces (lover edge) where I could have an orchard or something like that.
The staging would be somewhere "under" the main layout level, which means they'd be a double ended design, and a grade on the visible layout (very slight) to create the needed offset in elevation. Remember that this layout will be built at a height that suits my operating it, so a "nod under" scheme to get from one "operating pit" to the other will not be a major problem for me. It's not like the level of the layout is 36 or 40 inches above the floor, and you'd have to groan and creak and crack the body doing a limbo under the layout! And the "underneath" staging tracks would be pretty much accessible directly from the side. Certainly not conducive to switching out trains by hand between "sessions," but I'd be more inclined to bring the "used" consists out to the open area and swap out, and then run the "new" consists back into the staging areas. I don't think that "surround staging" would work on this size layout without cramping the visible portion, reducing that generous 30-36 inch mainline radius curves, and creating a problem in blending the "foreground background scenery" with the "background scenery," with the "hidden staging tracks" in between them. And how to get from the layout to staging visually? Well, the town end would use the tired old but dependable overhead highway bridge (maybe old highway 99 concrete design?), and the "open scenery end (lower right) would use bigger hills, more oak trees and deepening cuts at an angle that would "hide" the openings to the staging.
And, there's that diamond crossing. I just have to have some sort of signaled element on the layout, with an attendant CTC board, US&S knob and lever design. With just approach signals and the home signals themselves, I could maybe afford a prototypical signaling system set up that would work. The DCC control probably would help out in that respect.
Yeah, it's a small layout, mainline runs aren't all that long (but at least visible for three runs of the sides of the room!) and it's a bit tight in operator access for more than three (probably two!) people, but I'm not envisioning operating sessions. I'm after a layout that takes me back to my "youth" in terms of locale and railroads, gives a variety of rolling stock, and is the size that I could maybe even get it up and running not long after a room this size becomes available in the place we settle in after retirement.
Any comments welcome.
