Like this?
Hey, it worked! Lol.
Maybe I should explain why I laid it out the way I did, because it might change again by the next time I post. I didn't want to segregate trains to one side of the or the other, so I made sure that both lines travel through each side of the layout. I figure this gives interest as you might have more than one thing to look at simultaneously. I also shifted some better features to the shorter line, recognizing the larger loop as a feature all it's own.
The sidings will most likely be doubled so we can operate different engines at will. The coal breaker is the 'regional interest' piece, and I'm thinking of doing a mine shaft with HO scale cars and track.
Note that the trolley is laid out so that it services the neighborhoods, downtown, and the work force. This is probably as close as the layout gets to being a 'working' model, a decision that I am still debating if I should expand on or not. For example, the engine that will pass the coal breaker has nowhere to actually take the coal, and it's the same engine that services the downtown passenger station, so realism is out the window.
I have decided to not have any elevated track or grades, but rather to raise the areas inside the return loops and around them with foam board. The back of the platform will most likely be against walls on both sides, so houses and buildings will be staged for effect rather than for realism. For example, houses will all face the operator and not be arranged like in a typical neighborhood, where you would see the back side of the next row of houses. I also plan to moderately step the foam like stadium seating. This does two things; one it shows off all of the models (not just the front row and the roof tops of the ones behind), and two, it serves to partially hide the track running along the back where it gets doubled and tripled up, again adding interest.
At this point I do not have any junctions between the two lines so it would be impossible to swap engines from line to line by way of rail. I am not sure if the plan will stay this way. I have played around with adding a junction but this creates a long stretch of straight track along the front edge of the layout, something I do not want to do. This would serve to create a dead space right where people see the layout first. I think you're better off with dead space to the rear, as your scenery will serve to block full vision of it - the trolley line screws that up enough already. Enough so in fact that I am thinking of putting the trolley on it's own transformer and having it cross both lines at multiple points, in that you would actually have to operate it rather than just be able to let it run like the two main loops. As the trolley is the shortest car on the shortest line, this might no be a bad idea and would make it more of a working model. I think much more enjoyable as well.
I'm going to finalize the plan in a couple weeks, and then whats on the paper is what gets built. If I had more room I would actually perfer to run two trolleys so that the entire layout was serviced, but how big am I going to make the thing? I would guess the layout as pictured to be roughly 15x10 with a depth of just over 60 inches. If you wanted to fit it on a 15x8, you could just eliminate the industrial section and close the gap on the return loops.
