One of your "Givens" was to have operability - I don't see that in your current plan, unless you have yet to account for more industries along the side walls.  I really like the yard design at the bottom of your plan - you left plenty of classification tracks while allowing your switcher(s) to run around the yard without getting in the way of inbound/outbound freights. I have three suggestions for you:

It seems as if you have more yard than operating track.  I know you wanted to keep everything on one level but have you considered placing your staging yard on a lower level?  You would not need a helix as you are running around the wall and can use that space. Using two walls, you can drop ~9" at a 2.0% grade and 11 5/16" drop with a 2.50% grade.

My second suggestion to you would be to focus on the yard at the bottom of the plan and lose the staging yard, completely.  In turn, place more industries with at least one large industry at the top of the plan to act as destinations for your trains.  You could still have a small, visible staging yard that could represent interchange with the "rest of the world" but keep it off to one side so that you don't take up too much room.

Lastly, what's in the center of this room?  I see your land grants went through with the local government so why not include a peninsula in the plan?  Considering the room is virtually square, you could add a lot more landmass while still maintaining wide aisleways.

Just some thoughts!  Hope they help.

Johnny,

Sorry if I left something out of my previous post.  The center of the room is going to be a branch line that will have a heavy focus on switching.  The peninsula will be roughly 4' x 12' with a backdrop down the middle.  This will give me about 20' of additional layout probably in the form of two separate towns.  I was going with a design/build in phases approach.  Phase 1 is around the room which will give me continuous running and some switching.  Once this is completed to my satisfaction, I would start on the peninsula (Phase 2) adding to the operations aspect of the overall layout.

I really want to keep the whole layout "open to the air" so to speak, so I really don't want to bury staging.  I know it's hard to see on the plan I posted, but the staging yard is at 53", while the main and passing siding in front of staging is at 50".  The same holds true for the yard area: the main and passing siding at the back are at 53" and the yard is at 50".  So a trip from staging through the yard and back would be two full runs around the room.  Likewise to get from the yard to the town on the right would require an entire loop around the room, so the train would be on the main for a while.

I think that there is less yard track than you think, but it was 1:30 this morning when I finished the plan.  I'll color code it when I get home tonight to help discern the different types of track.

Thanks for your ideas!

Ryan

Whoops!  I did read that but, in referring back to your plan, I forgot about it!

I think we need a bit more on how you'd like to operate your layout, especially your staging requirements.

What do you plan on using staging for?  Is this a connection with the "outside world" or will you be using it solely to stage home road trains on their way to their destinations? Also, where do you plan on attaching the branchline peninsula?  This may affect your current track arrangement.  Do you have this drawn up?  It'd be a good reference for you at this stage to see how everything will fit so, by the time you get to building the peninsula, you'll have all the bugs worked out.

If your focus is on switching operations and staging exists only to portray an outside connection, I suggest that reducing staging to a modest interchange yard may better suit your basic requirements.  This will also increase layout space so that larger/more industries can occupy the area where the massive staging yard now sits. Of course, this is only useful if you plan on having only one or two trains enter/exit your layout during a single op session. Any more and staging will be useless.

Here is my plan for staging. (It may be flawed.)  Currently, there are 7 tracks.  I figured 3 tracks would be points east, and 3 tracks points west (the outside world).  The center track is the through track.  I was planning on having one through passenger train each direction and one through freight train each direction.  The final staging track each direction will be for trains that originate/terminate at the interchange yard.

The main focus of the around the room part of the layout is more rail-fanning than operations.

My current plan is to have the yard lead double as the connection to the peninsula and be the beginning of the branchline.  I don't see the branchline as having more than three turns a day, two for passenger traffic the other for freight.

As for how I think I would operate the layout, the through traffic would run through on a timetable, and there would be two freight runs, one on the mainline to the town on the right side and the other up the branch line.  The branch line would act almost as an interchange.  A train would come from staging, drop a cut of cars in the yard, a switcher would build the turn.  Another train would run the turn and bring back the cars that will be outbound for points east and points west.  Also, there would be a passenger run up the branch in the morning and evening that would terminate in the yard and people would continue on east and west from there.

Does this help?  Am I smoking something?

Thanks,

Ryan

• Blue - Mainline
• Light Blue - Passing Siding
• Green - Industry
• Light Green - Arrival/Departure
• Orange - Caboose
• Purple - Yard
• Pink - Branchline
• Turquiose - Staging

Elevation will create the sence of distance. Please take a min and watch video of Grande Pacific and use of this principle.

I use it though out the layout.

Elevation will create the sence of distance. Please take a min and watch video of Grande Pacific and use of this principle.

I use it though out the layout.

You may not be happy with the grade separation, as it might look a bit crammed in.  You would get more mainline mileage, but the scenic effectiveness is lacking with that little bit of separation.   If you were modeling Chicago it might work. 

Not very many tunnels around either.  Lots of trees forming an effective view block is more representative.

Single level double track around the walls might be the hot setup for your space and prototype.  The staging yard could look like Glendale yard, double mains down the middle.  http://binged.it/MpEYp4 for a bird's eye view. 

Any thought as to which branch line?  The Waterloo line would be a natural, coming off your proposed Watertown yard.  The train later known as the Cannonball went on this branch.  I think the evening train out of Milwaukee went on the branch towards MADison.  The equipment somehow deadheaded back to Watertown to be in place for the morning run into the city. 

The Waukesha branch might also work.  There was a fair amount of business on the line. 

Watertown itself had a industrial spur coming off the main south of the downtown area.  The CNW diamond would give the interchange requirement as well.  This could be rigged into the signal system to delay mainline trains as you feel necessary. 

Here is your bridge scene.  Rock River in Watertown.

A little less water these days, easier to get shots of the footings and piers and such. 

My first thought is that you should leave your wife. But seriously, I like the plan. I'll look at it more closely later when I have something bigger than my iPhone.

Mike,

Thanks for the ideas!  I really like the twice around idea because there is actually some distance between locations.  I know it's not prototypical, but I think that I that this plan is developing in to a good use of my spacee and will be fun to operate without being overly complex to build.  I love the pictures of the bridge coming into Watertown.  This plan has three passing sidings that can easily handle the planned train length.  I think that with a few meets, this plan can handle quite a bit of mainline traffic and keep the aspect of running mainline trains interesting.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Here is an updated track plan.