Choices of Towns Part 1

Model Railroads are always about choices.  Selective compression is not a question of if but of how much and where we compress.  The first choice in compression is what to include and what to leave out.  The list should include 5 towns.  The first 3 are the easy ones for me.

Manassas
Strasburg
Harrisonburg

The next two are going to be more complicated.

Prototype Choices and Balance

The reality check that comes with layout planning is sometimes hard food to digest especially when you have a wide area of interest and dreams of empire.  Shoehorning O Scale into a 20 by 20 area is difficult at best and almost impossible at worst.  Previous posts were focused on City Point as a prototype but this proved to have issues due to the limited time frame and the lack of sidings for switching.  Numerous operating sessions have convinced me that it is a combination of running and switching will hold the interest.  In previous posts and on other forums the B-Line of the Southern or the Manassas Gap RR keeps coming up as one of my circles of interest. 

The strength of the B Line is that is its minimal changes from the 1850s to the 1990s.  My space will allow 4 to 5 switching points or towns with connecting track.  Interchange tracks allow movement of cars on and off the line.  In earlier periods when the connecting lines of the N&W, B&O and C&W were not there then the interchange tracks will become team tracks.  Buildings will be built on foam core bases and made removable to change eras.  The only real issue will be the track work.  More modern track work uses points and this may be a compromise I will just have to accept.  The other item that will probably be an anomaly for the ACW era is the connection to Harrisonburg.   This will allow the layout to function in full form through any era.

Next Post will deal with the towns or switching points that I want to focus upon.  If you have any suggestions please let me know.