Hello all,
I can't believe its been over a year since the thread above began. Shortly after my last post, we welcomed a third child into the family and as you might imagine, anything hobby related was relegated to the 'caboose' as we got our bearings on life with 3 kids under age 6. I've continued to explore a few concepts for the same space and am closer to pulling the trigger for the layout.
Attached below are two schemes - neither is complete - but I wanted to share nevertheless for any insights and assessment from your collective experiences as to which direction may be the most promising.
The "dog-bone" Option is inspired by the work of @Obsidian and the "loop option" was inspired by @Ken-Oscale.
* I've shifted over to a gargraves+ ross switches plan for the time-being.
Dog-bone option:
- Pro's: Over-under action and more complex running scheme than a loop
- Cons: Limited opportunities for townscaping; second "station" might be difficult to accommodate. (Right now, its envisioned that there is a passenger terminal in the lower left area of the design- loosely - modeled to be Chicago Union Station.
Loop Option: 
- Pro's: More accessible yard, and extension of straightaways allow for more complete passenger platforms etc. Its not modeled well yet - but the thought is that the platform on the lower right would include the a passenger terminal station and city-scape above grade.
- Con's: Loop scheme - hard to differentiate between one destination and the next, limited multi-level activity,
Attached are the scarm files in addition to jpgs.
Welcome your thoughts/ critiques / advice. Many thanks in advance,
Scott
