Hello Bruce,

Have you checked out Appalachian Railroad Modeling? If you're modeling the Appalachian region (I assume you are), this site may be useful. I can't recall if they have any empties in/loads out trackplans, but there are plenty of trackplans with coal mines and engine facilities, along with plenty of prototype photos that are sure to inspire you and give some ideas. Most of the trackplans are large, but like I said, they should give you some ideas. Hope this helps in some way.

Grate site, lots of info will be a big help in the planning stage. Thanks

There should be several interesting places to get design ideasfrom, featuring heavy trains, grades and operations. The Clinchfield has a large following, along with the Interstate, N&W, Southern, L&N, C&O, depending on era of course even more!

The other option that many try today is "proto-freelance". I am doing that myself, building my Virginia Southern on the idea that the Clinchfield and Interstate merged to compete with the larger N&W+Virginian merger.The advantage of the proto-freelance is you can use your own preferences for things but default back to prototype if you cant decide or need a guide. One example for me is motive power. The VS has GP30's while the CRR and Interstate did not......

Randy McKenzie

I am inspired by a layout in one of the other publications as well as the great amount of info and ideas available on this forum.

I am thinking of something like the Appalachian & Ohio(layout from one of the print magazines) Also like anything from the C&O and all the others that became CSX as well as NS and Conrail. As far as time period I could switch out rolling stock and a few key structures to maximize the equipment at my disposal. I am not a rivet counter but do like details and scenery, the layout I am finishing up is a toy layout but I still want to try something a bit more challenging in S scale. There is a ton of "scale" diesels available in S but only a few steamers(but they are nice) and there are a few craftsman kits in S as well. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

I have 3 freelance railroad names in mind 1.Buckeye Freight & Terminal 2.Kentucky Coal & Container Corp 3. Michigan Saginaw Union Leasing . Number 2 and 3 interchange with the BFT which will be set in southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky.

One of the cooler Southeastern Engine facilities I've seen pictures of was a SideHouse - instead of a Roundhouse!

In this case, a long line of Left switches were used to access the stalls, and each switch lead crossed over two other switch leads while enroute to the stall.

Otherwise, Kalmbach has shoveled a nice arrawy of articles into a couple publications, one of which is solely on Engine Facilities.

 seeing an engine servicing terminal AND a coal mine in the same scene. While you might have a small sanding/fueling/water facility near a mine most engine servicing terminals are adjacent to larger yards. If you listen to podcasts Bernie Kempinski and I discussed engine servicing terminals a couple of shows ago over at model railcast (www.modelrailcast.com)

I also loved David Stewart's A&O - you may know of his website (http://www.aorailroad.com/) but some others may not. It's pretty neat!

Marty

Marty, thanks for the links, will check them out.

This  next layout will be more like a Free-mo modular setup with each module as a seperate scene. Module size depending on scope of what the scene is representing. What I had in mind as far as the mine scene was a drop off track for empty hoppers and a pick up track for loads with a run around track for a switcher loco to work the mine as well as a 2 track main line at the front of module. It may well be a big project as I want to do this in S scale. Now with the loco scene a round house w/turntable would be perferable along with sand house coaling tower and water tower and got to do an ash pit for steam and a fueling area for diesels.