Looking Forward

I still have work to do on the Frazier Borate mini-layout, and I'm about a year away from starting work on my next, larger layout, but I've been considering track plans for a possible, larger Lockwood & San Emigdio layout. I have potentially two walls in my garage, 15 feet on one side and 10 feet on the other.

Some of my givens and 'druthers:

• There's still a chance that in the next year I could change my mind and do an HO layout, but for sake of this discussion, I'm assuming On30. 
• The overall concept is a high desert narrow gauge common carrier railroad. Primarily built to serve mines, but with a few other industries. Era is the 1920s or maybe 30s.
• I'll mostly be operating common Bachmann On30 locomotives. I have a couple of 2-6-0s and an outside frame 4-4-0 (though I would happily trade the outside frame 4-4-0 for an inside frame). I don't feel any compelling need to run anything larger. The engines I have will run on 18 inch radius curves. If I can go with a larger radius, so much the better, but I can live with 18.
• While I'd love to be able to say I'm all about prototype operation, the reality is that I'm usually happy just watching trains run, rather than doing a lot of switching. Really, I'm more interested in layout construction than operation. A continuous running option would be desirable, but not absolutely necessary.
• I am more interested in scenery, including both countryside and towns, than in a lot of track.
• I like taking pictures of the layout, so I'll want to have multiple locations and angles for photography.
• One of my regrets with the Frazier Borate is that I didn't end up with any bridges. I don't want to make the same mistake the next time.
• In general, I haven't been bold enough about using the vertical dimension. On the next layout I want more deep canyons and high mountains, and track on different levels.

With those points in mind, here's a draft plan for an L&SE layout with about a 50-foot mainline run, and a short "branch" to a mining area. It's a continuous lap with two passing sidings, so I can run two trains in opposing directions. The maximum grade as drawn is about 2 percent on the main, and 3 percent on the mine spur. Not all the yard and spur tracks are drawn in yet (they'd probably change anyway) and locations of towns and industries are approximate.

The 15 foot side would use existing bench work from my old Bakersfield & Ventura H.O. layout. It's currently being used as a storage shelf, but once it's cleared off I could get to laying track pretty quickly. The other side would require new benchwork.

Both sidings are about 6 feet long, which would hold a 2-6-0 and about 8 freight cars. That seems like plenty for a layout this size. The minimum radius is 24 inches, so it will accommodate just about any On30 equipment.

Since drawing this, I've been thinking it might make more sense to swap the locations of the Harris Mill and the cattle pen. The mill would be built on a hillside, with the spur off the upper level track running into or behind the building at the higher end. Ore would be deposited there, and gravity fed down and toward the front of the building.

If I'm in the mood for switching, a Shay or Porter could be kept busy shuttling full cars of ore from an ore dump on the Stauffer branch to the mill, and empties back, as well as cars of supplies from the interchange track at Lockwood to Stauffer.

I've indicated possible curved trestles at each end. There could be some smaller bridges elsewhere.

Here's a redraw, with the radius on the right end reduced from 24" to 21". The proportions feel better to me somehow, though that's just the trackplan -- I'm not sure the difference would be noticeable in the built layout. I've also switched the mill and the cattle pen.

One more version. I pulled Lockwood Yard to the left and shortened it to introduce more of a gap between it and Stauffer, and filled in a few more details.