I remain uncomfortable with the amount of space the engine terminal takes up. So I thought the two left long whiskers, one could be deleted in favor of two new "cold" engine storage tracks.
My thinking is that one purpose of the engine terminal is to service and ready locos, and the other purpose is to store locomotives not needed for the next trains outbound. This terminal allows seven or eight locos on the "ready" tracks or in the roundhouse, and another three in the storage tracks. (A natural place for diesels, which never really go "cold" as steamers do.) So that is 11 locos in the terminal, plus a switcher on the run-around tracks, plus perhaps another six locos pulling trains around the layout (two on each mainline): 18 locos easily: 16 on the mainline, and two on the "high line". Not counting the turntable lead track and engine service track, which are available for loco movements. Then there is "off-line" storage for locos on the car shelves at the far left, which can be loaded/unloaded using the connecting RR track.
The turntable whiskers are at 15 degree angles. I wonder if for a 30" turntable, can these come off at smaller angles - is this configurable by the builder? Is so, the facility footprint can be compressed a bit more.
