What I've been up to...
I know my picture posting is way down...I'm still here everyday, but have little work worthy of posting. I have decided on the track plan, now I'm roughing in the roads and building placement. All the track in pinned in place and won't be finalized until I get 4 more Peco turnouts to replace some older Atlas and Bachmanns.
Overall length is 16 feet, width at each end is 24 inches narrowing to 16" in the middle. Note the angled ceiling I have to contend with. the "northern" most mainline track is on roadbed only and flat while the inner siding is on roadbed but raised 1/2" to help hide the area where the wall and ceiling meet just behind the northern mainline. Crown molding is centered and affixed on the front of the layout to help keep everything on the layout in case a sleeve or arm drags across too low to the structures/trees/trains. The "southern" most track is on grade without the raised roadbed for a change in elevation and perspective as well as providing a gulley to hopefully catch a car or engine just in case the worst happens.
The theme mimics South Blvd here in Charlotte where the NS mainline runs through urban areas very near businesses and streets. Many industries, businesses and living areas predominate that stretch of track, finally ending in the yard on the north side of the city. The yard itself is on multiple grades, almost like the added a lot of track as traffic increased, and placed it wherever they could. I hope to run DCC in the future, but for now, it's wired for DC operations. There's still a ton of things to do as I'm sure you can see. But I can run a train on this dog bone design for hours without a derailment - and for now that's fine. When we go DCC, the operation will go more into servicing the industries and local freight transfer to the yard for train buildup and longer mainline travels.
I'm still very open to suggestions...if you can make anything out from the pictures! All ideas are welcomed! :thumb: