The last 2 years have seen a growth in my interest in operating as the driving force of my next layout. Most of my regular operating has come from Keith Stillman's Easton & Potomac. This layout packs an incredible amount operation in a tight space. The layout is freelance 1925 with mostly 2-8-0 and 4-6-0 locomotives and 36 ft freight cars. The cars look good on his 24" radius. It keeps a crew of 8 busy and the lunch beforehand is always delicious.
Several attempts to draw up a suitable track plan for a Civil War era layout have ended in doubts about the viability of the project. The original goal was a City Point layout for the USMRR. Bernie's original chapter in his Mid-Size layout book raised interest of this line as a 'doable' prototype. The real challenge is that the trains are run as an out and back with no real spotting of cars on sidings. All the switching is done in the City Point yard area. I plan to give another attempt to come up with a plan and visualize the operations flow. A more generic discussion of scale doubts follows
The doubts right now are the combination of two factors.
The first is the compressing of O scale in my space that gives enough operation to keep 2 to 4 operators busy. My original view was that early O scale would afford more moderate 30 to36 inches in radius. My recent thinking is that this needs to be 40 to 45 inch radius This changes the dynamic of the layout to a loop in my modest 13 by 20 space with another wall of 16 feet in length. The challenge here is fitting in mainline operations. Really I am down to a switching operation. The question here is that enough operation.
The second item is the issue of motive power availability in O Scale. There are few choices in this niche hobby. The next loco in 2012 is the Yonah. SMR makes a great product and I wish that I had bought several of them earlier. My only one is a 3 rail Texas that is undergoing conversion to 2 rail. The trouble is that any layout will require 8 to 10 locomotives to have a full roster. The time and cost is gives one pause, but more so the availability of the locomotives. Am I willing to switch to HO and use Bachmann 4-4-0. Reliability of so small of a loco is one that makes me wonder.
Enough musing for now
