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My layout is around-the-room with 24" depth [fascia to wall]. It is 44" high with 41" under-table clearance. A center peninsula is 36" across with access to both sides. I am 5' 10" tall. I have a duckunder to get inside the layout, and I use a medical examination stool to roll through the opening. I installed metal grab bars on both sides of the duckunder to get back to a standing position. I am 74 years old, and this has worked fine for me. I can also roll the stool
If you have access to a woodworking shop, it is easy to make your own risers from foam. Then you can build them to any grade or width you need. I made my own from [pink] foam.
If I hadn't finished the back, I'd wake up some night at 3:00 a.m. and not be able to go back to sleep thinking about it. I'd probably get out of bed and go fix it.
Not on my layout. Nor in the local yard.
My experience has been that plastic MTL wheels roll much better than the FVM metal wheels; I have been converting to Fox Valley Models wheelsets but the trains have gotten shorter. This is on code 80 N scale track. I also had to discard a couple of turnouts where the metal wheels would derail, but not the plastic. That said, I like the metal wheels and will probably continue to change over to them. Sound has not been a noticeable factor, nor has track cleaning.
You may need to replace the spring wire on the Tortoise. It may be too flexible. I have had to replace the wire for some turnouts.
I grew up during WWII when there were no metal toys available, so my first train set was made of cardboard with wood wheels and axles. The sets came flat and you punched them out of the cardboard sheet, folded the parts, and inserted the tabs in slots. It even had cardboard track with wood ties. Unfortunately I wore it out, running it on the living room carpet. We didn't have electricity, but after the war my parents got me a Marx wind-up lithographed tin train. It disappeared when my folks moved
Odd. We drive 300 miles to KC for good train shops and great train shows. Wichita shows don't seem to have much for the last few years.
I've never understood the business of building handlaid turnouts, unless it is the challenge. The ones I've seen have been ugly and unreliable. Maybe they have not been typical. With the variety of commercial turnouts available, I'll use my time building items that are not available.
The local US highway is 44' wide since they added the latest emergency strips. However, on my layout, highways are 28' wide. That doesn't leave much passing room for two 14' trailers, but it "looks better" than a wider road. I have a 4' gravel shoulder on each side.