@PRR1950 posted:Not to be critical, but Melgar's design is only one way to design a railroad and works best if you primarily like to watch trains running, even if you also prefer scenery to be included. Another important option is to design for operation, giving your model railroad a reason to run, even if only fictionally. You could model a branch line off of a Class 1 railroad (obviously requiring a junction and yard), built just to serve a few major industries with maybe some small passenger service. Or, you could model a major industry like steel, chemical, or auto manufacturing requiring constant car movements inbound, outbound and internally.
Check the track planning areas of this and other model railroad fora, and look at the NMRA's Layout Design SIG. for ideas before you start nailing wood together.
Chuck
I definitely want my model RR to be somewhat prototypical. I know I want to do multiple spurs with each of them being a different business as well as having a yard I can use to stage the different rolling stock for said business. I’d love to have a double track main but I think with the size restrictions and curves I wanna use, I’m very limited. But I’m probably also limited by my imagination too haha.
