Order

Totally up to you.  It depends on your priorities as a modeler.

Most people I know build in phases that enable them to incrementally proceed with operations.  So they build a yard or terminal.  then they build out to a major point, they they go to the next point.

Another way to do it is to put in the entire main and major sidings first and get teh Over the road operations running, then come back and cut in the industrial areas later.

Many ways to skin a cat.

If you want to try your hand at scenery, complete a section with minimal track and scenic that first to hone skills.

I'll be interested in the

Always keep trains running!

Since my favorite part of model railroading is operation, I built all my track work first then added scenery. For me, nothing keeps motivation higher than running trains between scenery building sessions.

Depends on yourself

If your focus is operations, then I suggest build benchwork and get the track working, operate it and make sure its whats you want before scenery.

If you like having various projects to work on depending on mood then build enough to have several stages to choose from.

No matter what or how you build, enjoy it and do it right. Nothing takes away from layout more than having a area or part that didnt work out like you wanted. It will bug you and cause your productivity to be low.

Its a hobby, enjoy the time.....

I like to build all the benchwork first

   Then I can get a better idea of the best way to design the tracks. Seeing it full size in person always gives new ideas that weren't so obvious on paper. Benchwork also goes up very fast so it feels like more is getting done initially . Usually I get everything running for a while then tear it down and start over so no scenery gets wasted with this method :> ) ....DaveB

The Dilemma

Order

Just my thoughts about :

While being rather slow in building up my layout - spare time is rather short and I'm almost a year behind my expected work progress - I only had two points on my schedule :

First all the messy wood work for the raw bench needed to be finished - and because I don't like standing in a non heated garage during winter I had to complete this step in the summer season.

My second goal was the completion of the track work. Being able to run trains in an early stage helped me to discover at least two "minor" construction failures which looked great on the paper and on the layout without running trains but they turned out as a bad idea during operation sessions. And having something a train could run on was neat to show off to friends, rather than talking only about it.

With this two major points behind me I am now free of decision what to do next, but starting to much construction sites at one time is slowing down the construction process even more.

My current plan is now to complete a section at once to nearly 90%.  But its rather a rough plan that helps me keeping the work going on.

 

I prefer to get all my track

I prefer to get all my track work and wiring done and then just run it for 6 months or so just in case any issue pops up with the track work or the wiring.  Its a lot easier to fix stuff without scenery then with it.  While I'm waiting I build what ever buildings I need for the area.  Once everything runs smoothly I then start the scenery and leave the ballasting for last. 

The order in which my layout

The order in which my layout took shape was driven by the placement of a few key components.  I despise the helix, but including one was a necessary evil to support the rest of the design.  The helix in the middle of the room came first, and the two layers proceeded out from there.

I didn't make an actual plan for the tracks, with scaled curves and turnout templates.  Mine was just a copy of the basement blueprint, with a semi-scale sketch that showed the general track arrangement, a few arcs from the compass to show possible radii, and the rough location of the major towns and mines I wanted to include.  I'm actually amazed that it worked as well as it did, but if I had tried to draw everything to scale, I'd still be drawing.

After the benchwork was up and all the track was in, we celebrated "Track Complete", and proceeded to run a series of test operations.  It revealed quite a number of track changes to remove operational pain points, some of which would have impacted the placement of structures, had they be completed and installed.

Now, I am working as diligently as possible to cover up the horrid pink landscape with at least a rough attempt at believability.  I plan to do "just enough" in the first pass, then come back later with more detail.

That being said, early on I began scenicking some areas in detail, and built most of the major structures that affect placement and operations - partly for non-rail guests to see more than just track.  But also, the large mine crushing plants take up LOTS of real estate, and the load-out pockets and tracks have to work together without causing operator frustration.

Priorities

I follow what Nate suggested.

Get the entire mainline in with the mainline turnouts, crossovers, etc.  Run trains.  Then come back to each of the turnouts and build out from each.

Den 

Great comments

These comments really help.  I think getting to where I have more possibilities will feel freeing.  I was trying to get every aspect of the yard track arrangement complete.  I hadn't even thought about the idea of focusing on mainline with the mainline turnouts but not having to get every siding track and yard track in and exactly right as I go along.  As I read the comments, I like the idea of getting the rest of the first level benchwork in sooner than later and getting the mainline down for that level as well as the helix at least between the hidden staging and the first visible level.  It will give me a lot more options for what to work on at any time.  I also hadn't though about the benefit of having mainline I can run on a while to detect issues.  If I get the continuous running possible, then I can be running trains while working on sections and learn quickly if anything causes occasional issues.

This was helpful.  (Too late for me though to avoid the cold garage for cutting benchwork framing and roadbed.  Already pretty cold here in NH.  But I'm pretty quick with the chop saw for the benchwork framing, and I do all the assembly inside where it is warm.)

-Ed

Another way?

    I'm putting up backdrops now for a new layout and still not sure what I'll build or how long I'll stay here so I'm thinking I might just install a narrow shelf all the way around the walls of the room and get a mainline loop and some staging sidings running then come back and cut out areas for sectional benchwork when I feel like adding a scene. If the layout turns out to have a long lifespan  I would eventually work all the way around the room and if not I'd only lose a small amount of time building the temporary loop and would have some salvageable sections to take with me to a new place. I could wire a main power buss initially and just tap into it as new sections are added. Anyone else ever started a layout in this manner? How did it work out? .DaveB