Track plan

love your urban switching concept.....that's what I enjoy. Are you "hooked" to the 2 mainline loop plan on the 4x8? Could you cut it into a 2x16' L shape or something like that? And real railroads shy away from switchbacks. They go from making switching do-ably fun to really a pain. Eliminating the round-and-round would do away with those "dead spots" that attract switchbacks. 

@Mark

Yes, the 2 mainline loops serve a purpose. The room this is going in is strangely shaped and the long linear wouldn't work. It has to be moveable. The overall size is actually 4x10. Two 2x6 modules back to back with swing down end loops. Entire layout on wheels to be tucked in a corner when not in use.

@Greg

May be you can gain space for structure by making the inner track closer to the outer one, like a double main. This would give you some space between the 2 switching areas. 

You could also hide the 180° tracks turns under structures or scenery or use a scenic divider between the switching areas with flat structures.

Have fun anyway, it's a great hobby

Marc

Centers

Any reason the loops look to be on 4-6" centers?  You could make runarounds a car or so longer with closer track spacing.

I am revising to close the

I am revising to close the track spacing. I had initially intended to use snap track for the loops but have abandoned that idea so no need to have the 4" spacing.

Some suggestions

As I had a few time for armchair modeling, I created 2 variants for your plans. As I don't know your track system, I used Atlas code 100 library on AnyRail, leaving your track plan as is but reducing the intertrack space to leave you more space for structure and a bit of scenery. I introduced 2 areas with different heights to break the flat aspect.

and another one with option to have a hidden staging yard below the layout.

Enjoy.

I appreciate your

I appreciate your suggestions. I should have been more complete in my explanation as this is an ongoing creation. The constraints of the layout are thus:

Two 2x6 modules that can stand alone, but for this project will be joined back to back.

The 2x4 foot ends will actually be curved and will fold down. 

There will be a scenic divider between the two modules.

The whole thing will be on wheels to roll into a corner when not in use and have the room available for other uses.

BTW, I am using Anyrail as well with the FastTracks library.

The file

Greg,

Here is the any file.

Marc /sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/users/dumontmfiles/suggestion%20to%20greg%202(1).zip

Thanks Marc

There has been a development in my discussions on another forum. Here is the latest iteration.

A couple of issues:

The track spacing is off. I am using the Fast Tracks library with Any Rail and it places the track closer than 2"

I can't make the geometry work for the 19 degree crossing so it is just two tracks crossing each other. I expect that I'll work it out on the plywood.

The curved areas will be different. On the inside curve the spacing at the 90 degree point will be 3" to prevent issues on curved parallel track. Can't get that to compute with AnyRail.

Prefer your latest iteration

Thanks Joe

I was helped by someone I met on Facebook and it turned out he is one province over in Nova Scotia. Got a new friend in the deal.

I have looked at some google maps and also some insurance maps of Montreal in the 1950s. My father worked for Northern Electric (as did his father) aka Northern Telecom aka Nortel. Once a big deal here in Canada. The map I have shows two tracks going into the main building. Boxcars galore in and out of there. My era is the 70s but by stretching a bit I can imagine that things lasted that long. I want congested urban switching.

I also have John Pryke's city scenery book for inspiration.

Greg, That modeling city

Greg, That modeling city scenery book is fantastic. Another nice article you might look for was by Art Curren in model railroader, it delt with using a city scene as a divider down the middle of a peninsula. I believe it was one of the fold outs in a December issue and was on the cover. The backdrop was full of great kitbashed structures that were one industry on two sides and a different industry on the other two sides.