When I finalized the trackplan for my switching layout, & got the track laid, what I ended up with was a single track main, running the length of the layout, a runaround track with room for 5 40' cars, & turnouts coming off of these, leading to 2 double track spurs, & a switchback siding...This gave me a total of 6 stub-ended spur tracks.
I hadn't really done any planning for structures, other than I knew I wanted to have an urban/industrial theme...
I guess my original thought was - 6 spurs - 6 industries...but it didn't take much studying to realize that wasn't going to be feasible within the confines of the narrow, shelf-style layout...
So while I was testing track, & running trains, I started to think of the layout as having 3 distinct areas...a double-track spur to the jeft, a double-track spur to the right, & a switchback spur to the rear of the layout, roughly parallel to the backdrop...
I started to form a plan for each area to represent a large industry (selectivly compressed, of course) with multiple sidings (2 each in this case). A couple of advantages of this plan became apparent to me...
*Even though this is a small layout, with a lot of scenic compression, I wanted to try & convey the look & feeling of fairly large industrial concerns.
*Multiple tracks going to each industry not only provide twice the operating potential, but also allow you to represent different aspects of an industry...shipping & receiving of different types of commodities, in different types of rolling stock...
The following photos will hopefully illustrate what I mean...
I hadn't really done any planning for structures, other than I knew I wanted to have an urban/industrial theme...
I guess my original thought was - 6 spurs - 6 industries...but it didn't take much studying to realize that wasn't going to be feasible within the confines of the narrow, shelf-style layout...
So while I was testing track, & running trains, I started to think of the layout as having 3 distinct areas...a double-track spur to the jeft, a double-track spur to the right, & a switchback spur to the rear of the layout, roughly parallel to the backdrop...
I started to form a plan for each area to represent a large industry (selectivly compressed, of course) with multiple sidings (2 each in this case). A couple of advantages of this plan became apparent to me...
*Even though this is a small layout, with a lot of scenic compression, I wanted to try & convey the look & feeling of fairly large industrial concerns.
*Multiple tracks going to each industry not only provide twice the operating potential, but also allow you to represent different aspects of an industry...shipping & receiving of different types of commodities, in different types of rolling stock...
The following photos will hopefully illustrate what I mean...