OGR Forum members have already offered helpful suggestions. You mentioned that you have some accessories on hand. Consider installing them with a plan based on real-world placement -- like actual railroads do. Trackside features give your trains meaningful work to do; i.e., pick up raw materials and deliver them to a factory or processing plant:
* Dairy farm with a loading platform - send milk cans to a diary processing plant with a Lionel Milk Platform and Operating Milk Car nearby
* Install a forest with logs to be leaded onto an Operating Log Dump Car -- send the car to the Lionel Sawmill for cutting
* Operating Oil Derricks in an oil field; place an Oil Drum Loading accessory nearby
* Install a factory and add your own signage to it, as: METALWORX, Inc. (a steel culvert manufacturing company} with the Lionel Culvert Unloader and Culvert Loader at a nearby siding
* Place a large RR station in the downtown area then place a Country Station on the opposite side of the layout; i.e., give a reason for passenger service to exist
* Create a Main Street strip with these iconic accessories by MTH: Fire Station, Gas Station, Car Wash. Then place some Ameritown buildings along that street (Bank, Post Office, Hardware Store, Rexall Drug Store, etc.). Then add people figures and period vehicles for added realism.
Once started on this trek to RR reality, you'll think of more possibilities. Carry on ...
Mike Mottler LCCA 12394
