Work on the new layout has begun.  Phase 1 is an area 12' x 13' and will contain a yard, engine facility and a few industries.  This room doubles as my home office and will be the workshop with my modeling desk and Airbrush booth.

This is the grand plan, likely taking many years to complete the trackwork.  I do have some 10' modules from my last layout which are designed to incorporate into the new layout. 

The main room is 50x30'.  Track height is 56" nominal, leaving plenty of room below for staging at 40" and possibly some complete scenes as well.  

Stage 1 is in the top left corner and has a hole in the wall as access to the main room:

I resisted the urge to put up benchwork and start laying track.  The first step was to finish the room and lighting and work from the back forward.  The framing was rather complex as there was a lot of ductwork and my ERV unit hanging in the corner.

I used some 3/4" strapping around the shelf brackets to create a flat surface for the backdrop.

Then put 1/8" hardboard over top, spackled the seams and holes and painted the backdrop with some blue paint and dryrolled some white  on top.

This benchwork was installed at 53" high.  The plan was to put 3/4" plywood and 1/2" Foamboard right on this surface.  Once I ran all my wiring (more on that below), the framing became so busy, and there were so many framing pieces, I didn't feel there was sufficient room for the Tortoise switches which I plan to use.  You might suggest that I just use servos.  Good plan if I didn't already have 100+ tortoises and numerous NCE Swith8's already on hand.

Sooo, the plan has changed and I will add a secondary level of benchwork, 2.5" deep, raising the track level to about 56.5".  I'm 6'2", so this is still a comfortable height for me.  I plan to assemble this level and lay track on the modules, and solder all the track drops in the shop, on the workbench, prior to installing the top layer on this benchwork.

After installing this sub frame, all the holes were predrilled for the wiring.  I felt this was the time to run all the wiring, prior to covering it up.  I learned from my last layout that it's much easier to run all the wires while you have easy access.  And I also learned how many wires I actually needed.  I stick to a specific colour for each wire and stay consistent throughout the layout.
Why so many wires.  Well this is what I think I will need:

Red and Green (Main DCC Track Feeders)  GIRO is the acronym that I go by: Green Inside, Red Outside

White and Black (DCC Feeders for Block Detected sidings)

Blue and Yellow (a secondary DCC bus for accessories)

4 Clear Copper Speaker Wires (Ground, 12V+, 5V+, 12V+ Switched (for lighting))

Black NCE Throttle Bus

And I have five 10 Strand cables going to various points in the benchwork to communicate with local panels and give feedback regarding switch positions.  I plan to use an NCE Minipanel for one touch route/siding selection and most of the Tortoises will be DCC controlled through NCE Switch8's.

My next step was to lay some cardboard on the benchwork and cut it out with the planned shape of the top layer of benchwork.  I printed out some Fastracks templates for the turnouts and used painters tape to transfer my proposed trackplan onto the top layer.

This gave me a great visual feel for how it would all fit and I could imagine the movement of the trains through the yard.  Naturally this lead to some changes.  I was able to identify areas for structures, and I removed some yard tracks, in favour of some industries that could be switched.

The benchwork is 28" deep around the post.  24" deep around the walls.  I don't run the track deep into the corners.  I try to keep it within easy reach and will put scenic elements back in the corners.

It's getting close to tracklaying time.