Mike,
That layout looks great, packs in operations and multiple main with great looking scenery! Really shows what can be done. That wallpaper looks great as well!
Joe, I would love to modify the door but unfortunately this is a large apartment that I'm renting and the owner doesn't allow such drastic modifications. I considered reversing the door so it swings into the hall. He might not remember which way it swung by the time I move out!
Returning to the layout, life happened as it does and I ran into a mental roadblock trying work a design I actually liked. I ended up buying a bunch of HO track and some power and rolling stock, and started construction on that before stopping and pulling the plug on it as well. I realized I don't really have the spare time to build all of the kits for the buildings and bridges and strip/DCC convert/paint/decal the locomotives and rolling stock I purchased in any reasonable amount of time.
And I couldn't stop buying O scale stuff I liked in the meantime!
Anyhow I just recently went back to the drawing board and I finally roughed in a design I like. Gives me an outside O54 loop to run my bigger power with turnouts into the upper yard track to double as an interchange, while also allowing me to give trains a start and end point and a reason to run, with an engine shed to start the day from, flood loader on the outside loop, a small aggregates loader & power plant on the peninsula, and finally an industrial gas plant that receives coal and ships box cars(which are actually tank cars on the inside). These were all actual customers on the P&S, though much further apart than I have room to model. It is tight on people space but it covers my wants well. The light green shapes are view blocks(hills).
The outer loop will be graded up 2% or so either side of the interchange to the flood loader to get it above the inside loop.
