Kind of difficult to develop a layout idea without knowing how much space you will be able to dedicate to your layout. Until you have that figured out, make use of the time to think (and write down) your list of features you´d like to incorporate in it. The experts in here call it "druthers", which you can later on match to your "givens", i.e. space, scale etc. Make that list as comprehensive as possible. This will help you to design your layout, but be prepared to take a few items off the list, when you know the space you have.
Your approach is different from mine. You're looking for a layout plan that you want to adapt to be a plausible "stage" on which your Daylight can perform. I would look at the territory where the Daylights ran, choose some favorite scenes & locations, and then develop a track plan that incorporates those favorite places in miniature. Some candidates would be L. A. Union Passenger Terminal (with opportunities to showcase U.P., Santa Fe, and other S.P. trains); the Santa Susanna rocks; San Luis Obispo and the northbound grade out of town; agricultural areas like Gilroy; San Jose; and San Francisco. You may have other favorites. Depending on space, you probably can't fit all your favorites into the layout, so then you'll have to pick and choose what's most important to you, and what will fit into that (currently unknown) space. You've already said you plan on having broad curves, and that's a good mindset to start with.
Great idea ACY, I designed a plan to fill a 12 X 20 room based upon a much compressed Watsonville Junction and yard including a portion of the Santa Cruz Branch so as to include the multitude of packing districts which are my main interest, stagging would be vital for such a layout to simulate Santa Cruz, San Jose & San Luis Obispo and permit the appearence of run through traffic , I left modeling about that time due to Air Force obligations and the layout was stillborn, however with my recent retirement, i've been aquiring specific HO scale SP models of the transation period and have more space available then my orginal design, so who knows what the future holds.
Dave
BHBUSAFI'm still trying to plan a layout that will comfortably run my GS-4-driven Daylight Express and I've narrowed it down to #66 in the 103 Realistic Track Plans, the problem is I have no idea how much space I'm actually going to have.
Since not everyone has that book, but many may have the magazine that layout came from (or as subscribers can find it on-line here in the database), you will help others to help you by identifying the track plan more fully -- such as the name of the layout, the designer, and the citation for the magazine where it was first published.
As far as designing a layout for an as-yet-unknown space, I personally wouldn’t spend much time on detailed CAD work if I were you. The realities of the overall size of the space and its arrangement (aspect ratio, location of room entrance, doors, windows, and other obstructions, etc.) will be the most constraining factor in the design.
Best of luck.
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