Well, I already had my walls & floor, etc., from other designs I've been working on. When you posted the first plan, it was intriguing enough from an operations standpoint, and close enough to the size and configuration of my room that I wanted to try and adapt it! I guess all told maybe 4-6 hours? Two hours one night to "rough in" the track from your image file, maybe two hours the next night to join the sections with custom fitters, and another hour or more to refine the design, add view blocks and the tunnels through them, etc.
I was going to populate the layout with urban and industrial structures (and I still might.) But I wanted you to see the potential of what SCARM has to offer. The real beauty is that you can run trains on it!
I took the liberty of adding a couple of crossovers between the two primary mainlines. The first time I did what was convenient or seemed intuitive. However when I actually ran the trains, I found it difficult crossing over to the "engine terminal" in the foreground so I reversed the orientation of the two nearest crossovers and I think it "runs better" this way.
I had one of those "Tinplate Templates," and literally wore holes in the paper making revisions to my designs. All software has a learning curve, and the initial design might take a bit longer. Especially if you want to run trains on it, you have to sweat the fit of custom sections and it can be frustrating. [I think RR-Track might be a little better in this one aspect.] Once you have the basic design however, it's much, much easier to make "clean" revisions.
For years I used RR-Track and it's ok too (now on version 5.) What converted me to SCARM is the ability to play-test with up to 3 trains moving at once, and what's in some ways a better 3D rendering. The mountains can look clunky but there are workarounds. Playtesting helps you optimize the track layout, but the 3D rendering really helps me visualize how the layout will "fit" in the room: access, reach, where there might need to be a drawbridge, aisle width and other "human factors" kind of stuff.
The layout I'm planning to build will be my first-ever attempt at variable terrain. I definitely want to get an idea of what it could look like, where the hills and valleys should be, how the roads and buildings might go, etc., before I start carving up a bunch of foam. People's minds work differently, so someone else might be able to get in there and "just do it." Personally I would never have the courage to tackle variable terrain without designing it in software first!
Finally n case you're curious about the changes I made, here's an early 2D version of the plan fitted into a ~12 x 18 space. Enjoy!!
