Steven, thank you for the feedback and I will most definitely follow your guidance. As for the term "track plan," moving forward, I will assume "design vs plan." Have a great day.
The track plans aren't presented as a catalog to be selected from and built. It's extremely unlikely that anyone looking to build a layout for themselves would find a track plan perfectly suited to their operating style, choice of prototype, and building space. Rather, they're presented to provide ideas and inspiration to modelers looking to plan their own layouts. The skills, knowledge, and expertise needed to transform a track plan into a working layout is supplied by the modeler. You might find it useful to look over our Beginners page and sign up for our Basic TRAINing e-mail series, which will get you started in the hobby with basic info about track, scenery, wiring, etc. Find it on our website: http://mrr.trains.com/beginners
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
In reviewing the track plans, it appears that there are no details, specific to the length of track used or how to build upper/lower levels, etc. please advise on he best manner to transfer a picture of the layout to actual track,etc.