The information from Lionel display layouts, with accessories, etc. may be helpful. But only a few of their track plans would be close to what you have or need. Display layouts usually have a couple of loops with trains running in loops and will quickly get boring for a long term home layout. Each layout has to be conceived individually by the builder and the designing of a layout for lots of accessories is different from one for other purposes. My layout was designed with as much track and as many switches as possible as it an operating purposed layout. Therefore I have limited space for operating accessories, too much track and 31 switches. It turned out the original train board had lots of space and areas for accessories and has many. The new train board had space for only two accessories as I placed the tracks too close together to leave space for some smaller accessories.
It helps to have a plans purposed for how the operating accessories will be used. An example is my log loader located at my mountain and it can load logs to a log dumping car. The log dumping car then be moved to the saw mill and the logs can be dumped to feed the saw mill which makes them disappear and reappear as sawed lumber. An other example is the coal mine, also located at the mountain, which can dump coal into a coal dumping car. I just dump the coal into a Lionel tray but if had a working coaling tower at the round house that could accept the coal and elevate it in tower, it could then dump coal into a coal tender.
The photo below shows an overhead view of layouts boards, where most of my operating accessories can be seen. They layout maybe can better be viewed if you click on it and to make a layout larger.
Main Board at Top 11ft – 2 in X 5ft - 9in, New board 7ft – 6 in X 4ft – 7 in
L shape layout legs Top 11ft – 2in and total leg to right 12ft – 3 in
The layout accessories, from the left upper corner, are listed next.
Homemade Gray and red manual operated gantry crane, Lionel 445 Operating Switch Tower, homemade turntable with control knob left of the LW transformer on control board, Revell Goodyear Blimp with rotating lighted sign, non operating Marx water tower, Bachmann 1975 Coaling Tower that does not have coal loading or unloading at this time, Lionel 192 Operating Control Tower, Gantry Crane Lionel 12834 installed with tracks with controls left of TT control, AF 379 Oil Drum loader, Lionel 362 Barrel Loader, Lionel 3562 milk car unloading platform, Lionel 3656 cattle coral that loads and accepts cow from cattle car, Lionel 464 Lumber or Saw Mill, Operating Gate Man Lionel 145, gray and orange Lionel 6-12703 Ice Station, Log Loader, 6-12774 with homemade automation at mountain with gray roof, behind Ferris wheel, Kitbashed Bachmann 1975 to Coal Mine and Coal loading facility, with the two roofs and brown walls at mountain.
On the new train board, to the far right is a homemade Ice Skating froze pond with operating ice skaters, and to the left is another Lionel 3562 Milk Car Unloading platform. The Lionel 3562 Milk Cars and unloading platform are by far the most popular with all the kids that visit the layout.
I also have two lighted working signal bridges, two Lionel 199 Microwave flashing towers, two working Lionel 494 Rotary Beacons, AF 772 water tower and homemade water tower with flashing red lights and an Colber Oil Derrick Tower with bubbling lighted tube, four Marx 416 Flood light towers. Two of my building with open windows have working Lionel whistles for coal tenders, a American Flyer 762 Whistle Billboard and two Bachmann Shell Oil tanks with working Diesel horns and two control panels that have operating buttons on each end to work the horns and whistles. These work for all trains and I do not work any of the coat tenders or engines with whistles or horn from track voltage. I tried to place items close to where the would be located in the real railroad era of steam locos.
You can see why I now could call my layout an operating and accessories 027 Postwar Toy train layout
Hope this write up gives you some ideas.
Charlie
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