Thank you, Ken, for a wonderful Christmas present!  I got another model railroad present, Lance Mindheim’s “Model Railroading as an Art.”  The two mesh nicely. 
 

I have just torn down much of my “Mid-sized and Unmanageable” in a similar-sized space in order to replace the oil tank.  The replacement layout will be much like what you are planning, set in a different place (York County, Maine) in a different era (1957ish).  Fiddling the staging in the next room has worked well, but I am aiming for fewer and simpler tracks serving larger industries.   
 

I will follow you with interest. Just do it!
 

York County in the 50’s should have plenty of raw material to plan a nice indutrial layout from.  Have fun with that!

The next steps for me are clearing out the lingering pile of stuff I still haven’t unpacked after moving, and then making sure I have a plan for anything that involves house wiring.  I need to be sure I either get it done before building the layout onto the walls, or make provisions for removing sections that will be in the way for an eletrician.  The biggest problem is a light switch on the wall at pretty much exactly the height of the benchwork framing for the height I think I want the layout at (48”).  And that switch is one that I’m pretty sure will need to have a bit of rewiring to get the lights the way I want them.  Hopefully getting those details planned out enough to proceed won’t take too long.