Let me explain a few things before you start. The red quad-circles show the position of 2 doors and their open angles. I will keep the door next to "Temple/San Antonio" open as this is a main door to the room while the other one will be permanently locked.
The focus of this layout is (1) Rosenberg where BNSF and UP trains will meet, and (2) Galveston Island, main industrial hub.
Let's take a BNSF train ride from Temple. The train heads westbound (Galveston) from Temple towards Rosenberg on BNSF Galveston subdiv line. It crosses Tower 17 and onto the outer track toward Alvin. The train makes a down grade to Algoa and heads to Virginia Point. In reality, the train does not cross underneath a bridge; but since I need to make a loop to Virginia Point, I added the bridge. After Virginia Point, the train crosses the Galveston Causeway into the island where it will go into the yard. The switchers will take the cars into the industries on the island.
UP train from San Antonio heads eastbound on UP Glidden subdiv towards Rosenberg. It continues towards Virginia Point and Galveston island. Like BNSF, its enters the yard to drop off the car loads.
This is a loop (Temple/San Antonio) to point (Galveston) layout. My purpose is to be able to run 10-15 cars per train with 2-3 trains running at same time. Switching will be done at Rosenberg, Alvin, Algoa and Galveston.
The loop on west of Rosenberg can act as dynamic staging yard i.e. with trains moving at slow pace to make up for a feeling of a long distance run. Likewise, switching at Alvin and Algoa also to prolong the operating session.
Now, let's hear from you.
Links:
TrainBoard: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=100515&page=5
Model Railroader: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/133485.aspx?PageIndex=2
Jimmy Low
