Photos are all upside-down

Photos are all upside-down

Photos

I noticed that.  Flipped them, and reposted them, that's why there are two sets.  But they are all upside down, maybe I'll have to post from a PC and not an iPad.  

Upside down photos

yeah, I've had that happen with IPad photos that weren't taken in the proper orientation. In the past I was able to rotate them in the Photos app in the IPad and repost them but recently reposting the rotated ones still resulted in upside down photos. Something has changed either in the forum software or the IPad software. I had to email them to myself, open them in another computer and rotate them ( they still posted upside down on the forum) then take a screen shot of them and post that. Didn't used to be that way.

What can we do to...

...talk you out of a "Time Saver" switching puzzle?

That may come on strong but hear me out...

You've defined a pretty specific area -- Owosso to Saginaw, MI.  I count six towns (inclusive) along that route:  Owosso,  Henderson,  Oakely,  Chessaning,  St. Charles,  Saginaw.  Almost all of them have a grain elevator, except St. Charles which substitutes a large lumber (mill?) operation, and Chessaning adds what looks like it was a lumber yard to the "downtown" core.  Both ends have junctions and St. Charles has a river crossing which could make for a nice scene break.

You don't say if you can go past the shelf dimensions for any kind of staging, but perhaps a temporary one could be added in front of the window to support the coming from / going to somewhere...

So, how about trying to capture the feel of two towns?  Granted, there's not much space, but the window side portion of the "L" could be Chessaning with the elevator and grain operation with staging coming in from the south (Owosso).  Proceeding around the "L" to the left and heading compass north, include a bit of pastoral running, cross the Bad River as a scene break in or near the corner and skirt St. Charles (as the prototype appears to have largely done) and "terminate" against the wall with the lumber mill operation with the main line separating and fading into the backdrop.  Bonus points if you can conceal five or so car lengths back there so the local has somewhere to go if leaving town to the north, or stage a passenger train in there for a mid-day run while the local is working in Chessaning, if the era fits (you didn't mention that).

That's three major industries and their respective car types plus the scenes along the way with no crazy switching puzzles or a sea of track.  The once-a-day-each-way local would be short, hauling only a couple cars each for the modeled industries plus one or two more to simulate "other places" (and get in the way).

The real question to ask is what are you looking to get out of the model railroad?   There's the fun of building it, but what do you like to model?  There's the fun of operating it, so do you like the out-and-back single train (e.g. local freight) operation?  Even more pertinent, once it is built, for how long should it entertain you?  The trackplan and ops described above could support an hour-long session for a two-man crew if executed at less than jackrabbit pace with moves and ground operations simulated.   I suggest reading up on some of Lance Mindheim's publications or his blog for more ideas along this vein.

Good luck!

Not really sure yet on what to do with the track plan?

Hmm. Don't wanna sound like a jerk, but you probably should have thought of one before you built anything.

You're going to have to expand on your shelf no matter what because unless you're modeling in N scale, that curve looks awfully tight.

The easiest way for you to

The easiest way for you to get a decent radius curve on your shelf might be to simply add a section to the shelf shaped like a 45 degree triangle and place it into the front edge of the corner you made with the shelf.

After that you can engage in some full scale 3d track planning or break out the pencil and paper or cad program.

There are lots of published plans that you may like for L shaped shelf layouts. you might also consider parts of plans that are much larger if you see something you like.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/track-plan-database

Above is a link to the track plans on this site there are lots of them. Good luck and do not be discouraged by the naysayers. You now have a place to build a layout.

Thanks Ralphie..

You've shared a lot of ideas that I really like, I'll have to start working on drawing up those ideas and begin to see how things might fit together.  Of the towns between Owosso and Saginaw, Chesaning and st. Charles are favorites of mine. They are also the bigger towns on the list, but not really big like Saginaw and Owosso.  Chesaning also had a good size packing plant until recently, St. Charles had coal mining as well.  I will have to make an industry list and decide what's most important for me.  This will help me set the era, which will likely be at least a few decades ago, if not more.  I know I don't have a lot of space, so I'll have to choose carefully!

Curve

There is enough real estate to make the curve, I tested with 18 inch snap track and have room for a bigger radius if I want.  I've been known to fix many mistakes after making them, so not a big deal if I need to come up with some fix so some issue along the way.  The shelf got put up first because that's the space I had, not because it's my dream layout, and I felt like getting something up before another great use for the real estate came up.

Yellow Wall Club

Hey Yellow walls... Me too!   ...now we can start a yellow wall club.

I only bring this up because I hear 'it' surprisingly often regarding my yellow walls, that are pretty much the same warm yellow you seem to have

In any case, I am totally looking forward to seeing your shelf layout unfold!

At the window end it would be

At the window end it would be possible to use a piano hinge to attach a swing-up extension to give your trains an off-layout destination or source.

I've done that on my layout. The extension is as long as the layout is high so it hangs vertically and takes up next to no space when not in use. The single line onto my extension splits into two. The track to it travels under a road bridge and I cut a hole in the backdrop to provide access. The bridge and end backdrop disguise it really well.

Mike

Window

I can cross the window, I'd have access to another 12 or so feet of wall if I wanted too on the other side of the room then.  It's defiantly nice to have some room for future expansion.  At this point I'm a very slow modeler, have four young kids, am rebuilding the house I'm in, and work, so I'm happy to just have a start!

Yellow walls

I considered a backdrop, but just painted those walls, so I like them for now!

Yellow/peach color walls

Count me in !!!  My room is the same !!  I call it the glow of the evening color.

Layout design

For me, designing and track planning a railroad, whether prototype or freelance, have always been a big part of the enjoyment of the hobby. But as you've done, you have figured out the plan of the real estate you have to work with. And it's a good start! I have a running blog about living in a tight space in a Condo in Toronto and modeling a small switching layout in the space I live in. I would suggest go simple like I have with my layout. Model just one town with industries to switch. A lot of the suggestions up here are good. I would agree to have staging across the Window. The vertical fold down is a great option. Or at least you can have an interchange track. And it will probably be an 18" radius curve, at best a 20" from I can see from your photos. I would go with a 4 axle diesel with what era you choose. 

I look forward to seeing your progress!