Hello all!
I am currently designing a layout for the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad. It will reside in the basement of my future home (currently under construction). The dimensions of the basement are 24' wide by 42' long. The steps come down from the middle of the house 19' back from the front wall, and end on a landing that will allow you to turn either to the front of the house (the layout room) or to the back of the house (utilities acces). Here is a link to the first (very rough) draft of the layout:
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu163/Wee_Ply_34/NHIRRLayoutb.jpg
The prototype runs as follows: New Hope is the North-eastern point of the short line, traveling through the beautiful scenery of Bucks County, in Penssylvania. The terminus for the NH&I RR is in Warminster (just south of Ivyland) where the line connects to the outside world via SEPTA's R2 line, which the NH&I receives its interchange freight from CSX through (as far as I know, it arrives late at night, when SEPTA shuts down commuter traffic, between 12:30am and 4 am) [I am still in the research phase on the exact details of when interchange traffic occurs]
The prototype has only three diesel locomotives, a single working steam engine (several other steam engines in pieces and different stages of "restoration." The passenger portion uses the Diesels in the colder months and the steam for the rest of the year.
The passenger portion is a tourist attraction that runs from New Hope to Lahaska on the prototype, but I have extended service on a daily basis to Warminster (for more "playability"). I plan on making Lahaska a flag stop as well as the one in Rushland. The prototype also has 25 grade crossings Between New Hope and Warminster Stations, I have attempted to limit the number on the layout to keep from driving everyone crazy with blowing the whistle... I purposely drew the tracks in oversized on this, mainly because I couldn't find my HO track template. This way I know that I'll have some room to work with and not have to worry about whether or not everything will fit the way I drew it.
My layout, only depicts trackage as far as Warminster station for the moment. Once we (my fiancee and I) move into the house and see what the storage situation is, I will then start planning for points south of Warminster.
The stations listed are in the order they appear on the prototype. I have omitted a few stations, but incorporated all trackage into the plan. The only change to trackage is the storage track that was at Wycomd is now at the south end of Lahaska, and it uses a line of trees as a view block in order to have it descend underneath the layout for access to storage/staging/continuous run (which will be built at a later date).
I am asking for suggestions as to better the track plan...(i.e.: benchwork, track arrangement) I am still working on revising on my own, but would like some outside input as to what can be done to improve it. I thank you in advance!
Sam