Ted, these points are a good $0.02 Funny you should mention the Armstrong book, I started plowing through it a few days ago. I will jump to chapter 6 tonight. I am with you on operational variety and have liked over the years the idea of a turn table and a switch yard of some sort. I saved these two track plans from Stan Gitler's articles over the years - see below. I also have a few from ken 0-gauge too.
Truthfully, I have a scale MTH J that requires 054 curves and nothing else needs the 072 in my fleet. You raise a good critique about the large curves and the real estate they require. If far enough along, please share your plans when ready- I would love to see what you have in mind.
