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[quote user="onempo"] The reach isn't too bad if you treat it as an island with walk-around space on all sides.  The pop-up hatches are in good locations, but the one at the end of the yards didn't work out.  We had the bench height set at 30", but it's too hard for me to get under it anymore, so I just increased the height to 36" (and bought a reclining mechanics creeper to roll under it).  Time will tell if the new height causes reach problems. We closely followed the plan in putting the track up, but then had to modify the tracks to accommodate scenery.  The worst scenery problems were between the upper mountain loop and the reversing loop around the yard.  Building to the plan had a steep mountain jutting out of flat lands which was very unrealistic.  When I moved it into its second home, I substituted a curved masonite wall between the loops to separate the scenes, and put photo backdrops on each side (mountains on the rural side and an industrial scene on the yard side).  The 3 tracks looping around the yard are supposed to be hidden under the city of Philadelphia.  By the time you give those tracks enough vertical clearance, you get city streets about 50 scale feet higher than the yard below.  It's a long trip down to the passenger platforms from the station!  After the main line loops around the city, it goes up a very steep grade and over the yard throat to get into the mountains.  That track is sandwiched between 2 flat tracks, so you have to build a long, skinny viaduct, and when you put a bridge over the yard throat, the free span needed is too long to be realistic.  The space for the Schuylkill River is too narrow, and the dock feature doesn't work, so I pulled it out.  Instead of a river, the space is now a "wind gap" with a highway running through. With 3 grand daughters, 2 nieces, and 2 nephews, so far there isn't a model railroader in the bunch.  We'll see if that changes in time.  For now, I'm on my own! <div style="clear:both;"> </div> [/quote] Thank you for sharing your experiences with this layout.
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