The runaround looks a bit skimpy relative to the capacities of all the spur tracks. But since all the spur tracks face the same way, this may not be an issue.

Will there be access to the layout from beyond the benchwork to the right?

If not, perhaps it would give better access of the tracks on the right hand board were moved closer to the left hand edge. Putting that track on a slight diagonal might result in a bit more visual apeal than track paralleling the benchwork edge (on the right board )

Best regards,

Charlie

I agree that the runaround is skimpy, and I could easily make it 10 feet long, but that is fixable when I expand. As for the straightness, it is by design to allow for long sweeping coners when expanded, and the area on the Sunset Route that I am protolancing is very flat and very straight. I know, tough calls. If I add 2 feet to the longer section, it would allow for a loger lead to the switch and a longer runaround.

As for the track towards the rear, it is only a foot wide and I plan to have a street infront of the tracks with some non-rail businesses. Plus this is simply a rough draft, since it will be a garage layout, and it is just too hot to work in there right now.

I will take the angled track into consideration though, even a slight 10* angle could help out

switching section appears to have enough industrial sidings that the S.P. would have had more run around capacity.  Since there is no yard on the layout, the train would need to come from the nearest off layout "yard" to work those sidings.  How many miles would the train travel in push mode?  How many trips would the prototype make to complete switching out those sidings?  I would eliminate the run around track as drawn.  I would then move the entire railroad forward on the bench work just enough to fit an long passing siding behind the main, and put in as many cross over switches as needed to work those industries efficiently.  Keep in mind that by the 1990's, the railroads understood that "time is money," and they would put in what ever track was needed to promote efficient operation by switch crews.  If switching out an industry is too hard or takes too long, it becomes more economical for the industry to use trucks instead.

If you want to be most "realistic" for the Arizona desert, a few tracks relatively far from each other may be a good choice. I'm not sure how the Walthers Grain elevator fits in the Arizona desert, but I don't know the whole state, maybe there's a grain belt somewhere I don't know of.

If you do include a grain elevator, note that for realism the tracks serving it should be nearly twice as long as the number of cars you'd like to spot. This is because they are loaded by rolling them under the discharge chute.

For maximum operating interest in a given space (which may not be your goal, I understand), it's often helpful to overlap design elements in a switching layout.

An example of this is my freelanced HO shelf switching layout layout (5'X7'X2').

This layout and the concepts of overlapping elements and making multiple uses of the same tracks are discussed thoroughly in MRH July 2009.

Best of luck with your project.

The basic area I am protolancing is the Casa Grande area, my local grain elevator has a 65 ton GE centercab to switch the elevator. Tom Fassett took this picture:

As for many tracks, you would be suprized, In Casa Grande alone, there are sidings for Frito Lay, Arizona Grain, Fertizona, Casa Grande Pant Food (corn syrup) Graham Packaging, Bull Moose Tube, and a few more that I am not sure of the name of (I think that one is Wal Mart since they have a distibution center near the tracks. There is also a long passing siding and a 5 track storage yard without an office. The local is powered by a pair of GP40's

Resized photo. Editor.

When you mentioned desert, I was thinking of a relatively uninhabited place, not an area like Casa Grande (where I actually have been a couple of times). I also wasn't thinking of Arizona's "Desert Durum" wheat.

For a fairly industrialized area like that, you certainly could go with denser industry and trackage than your orginal sketch and still be quite realistic.

The open pit mine north of town was even rail-served at some point, I think.

Best of luck.

I know, desert out here is 65% of the state, and I can see how people don't think of agriculture out here. Casa Grande has grain, Yuma grows more iceburg lettuce than anywhere else in the country. Yes, it has quite a bit of industry, but it is still streched out. Another option is to have a 3 track yard/runaround and the elevator, and perhaps add a siding for another industry like the corn syrup plant.

Eventually, I want to have it to where it can be a loop with a staging yard on the back, and run some through freights through, and maybe an AMTRAK run. I am aiming for 1980's so I can use GP9's and a caboose. I have a U30C and plan to get some tunnel motors and GP60's for the through freights.
 

As for the mine to the norhtwest of town, I don't think it was rail served since it is rather small. One fun option would be to add Maricopa's "AMShack", a Cailifornia Zypher observation car and the town's water tower (old SP water tower)

It looks uncrammed and quite spacious. I am looking at constructing something similar and am currently looking at Woodland, West Valley sub of the SP. Similar idea as yourself, grain elevator, one coolhouse and a few food processing plants....

Without loss, you could make this L-shaped so you don't have an obtrusive peninsula.  If this is a stand-alone layout, there is no need for a run-around track since all spurs are in the same direction.  I'd make the "upside" tail-track of the runaround track longer.  You could then leave the run-around double-ended for appearances sake but place an industry on the siding.  The grain tower's loading/unloading facility should be placed mid-spur to permit more effective car capacity. The plan doesn't offer much in operations while the space would permit much more, but that's a personal choice.