Having just moved, i have to decide what to do next. i am not into switching, and my preference was a continuous track plan that i could rail fan the trains going through scenery. i enjoy the modeling aspect of the hobby. my new home does have an great hobby workshop. this space was previously used as a kitchen/work space for decorating wedding cakes. its basically a kitchen with a wide peninsula/work table. there is a sink and cupboards and shelves all around the room. great place to store all the supplies and materials that you collect.

i would like to model 2 or 3 oil pump jacks on an area of my layout. Probably in a farmers field. This is in HO scale.

I need some help and ideas on configuring my storage yard. I was looking at off-layout storage for my rolling stock, but decided to add a drop down gate to cross the doorway to a 90" x 18" yard.
The following is a trial of using scarm and trying to layout as some sort of a yard to hold my equipment.  I will be using a #6 fast tracks jig for the turnouts. This is in HO scale. Oh ya, I don't have a clue about this yard business.

I have a couple of questions regarding track radius...

Joe had a superb article on track radii in issue 1 of MRH.  Here's my dilemma.

My 1970's era HO lay out is a 19.5 x 14 L shaped along two walls with a turnaround loop at each end (for continuous running)  One loop will be a 30" radius, while the second will be 27 or 28" r. It could possibly be stretched to 30 if I must. I'll have to put access hatches in both loops for maintenance and during construction.