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I get the feeling you haven't read John Armstrong's book on "Track Planning for Realistic Operations." If you have read it, re-read it a couple of more times. One thing John A recommends is not to do the same thing twice. His example of his thinking is "yards;" he recommends one yard per layout, I will leave it up to you to read this book. DCC will simplify and speed up your wiring. The Zephyr is 2.5 amps, but you can break your layout down into power districts (recommended for a larger layout) and purchase another booster, to increase your power needs. Another book to read is "The Big Book of DCC;" this is simply the best book on DCC out there. Staging looks just like yards (some will scenic them, others not) but they aren't yards. The classic illustration is to forks together and the end of the handles with the tines of the forks facing out. Each tine of the fork is track for a "staged" train. Again read John A. Simply put, you can't have too much staging. Some people use staging as their "yard". In other words, when the train comes out, it is treated as a train that just left the yard. Given the width of your benchwork, your yards won't be large - but I wouldn't worry too much about that. With lots of switching at industries the need for lots of switching in a yard can decrease. And a small yard used well, can have a higher output than you might imagine. Some recommend the yard be next to staging. That way a train can come out of staging to the yard (as though it were made up in that yard) and forwarded on. Cheers.
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