Steve,
I'm sure you could take the same plan and give it to a room full of folks and have a room full of different results because of the individual interests and personalities of the individuals. What happened to me was that I looked at so many track plans that I hit a "wall" and wasn't really sure what I liked best. The only things I was sure of was that I wanted a Shay and I want to power it with Digitrax.
I saw Badger Creek and I REALLY like everything about it. I don't pretend to be able to accomplish that level of quality but I do want it to turn out functional and attractive. I most likely won't be completely accurate with what details I use on my layout but I will use what I think looks good.
Its good to know the ballasting process will hold my track down since I didn't relish the idea of glueing it down with Liquid Nails, mostly because of the hassle involved if I wanted to add to my layout. I do plan to add a bit later on even though I am starting out with more than I originally wanted.
Half of the benchwork is completed, I would post pictures but they would be kinda big and I dont have a program loaded that wil reduce the size. Maybe I'll post them with a warning that they are a bit large.
I haven't decided if I want to use the Zephyr or the Super Empire Builder. I need to make a decision soon, tho'.
I bought my track from a "local" hobby shop. "Local" means it takes an hour to get there. There are two that are closer, but one is a national brand with unfriendly folks running it and the other looks like a bomb went of in it and its hard to even walk through it. Still, I may go back there for some of the rolling stock because he had quite a selection that was still on the shelves and the owner is very helpful. I know saving $$$ is important but I can't help wanting to support the local folks as much as possible.
Anyway, I need to make a lumber run to finish my benchwork so... before I go, if you want to check the railroad I'm going to loosely model, it is ..
http://www.littleriverrailroad.org/