How many industries can be placed on a 4 x 8-foot layout?

[Terry Toenges]

Those Sanborn maps are pretty cool. I like that you can enlarge them to see details easier.

[jward]

I don't know how this will reproduce in this form, but this Sanborn map is a view of some long-gone very compact street running switching trackage in my hometown, reminiscent of the 4x8 under discussion. The T&NO comes in from the left. It crosses the vertically running MP several times. The T&NO was in this location at least 20 years before the MP arrived.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4014nm.g033751952/?sp=9&st=image&r=0.346,0.184,0.575,0.669,0

Looking at this map raises some questions. There has to be an interesting story here. My understanding is that the later railroad to arrive must pay for any necessary junctions to the existing railroad, and for a tower to control things if necessary. Could the T&NO have purposely added more industrial spurs in order to increase the cost of the MoPac coming to town? How was the issue of T&NO fouling the MP line to serve these industries handled? Did they have to get permission to foul the MP? Or were speed low enough and traffic light enough that visual right of way would suffice?

[wjstix]

I'd show images of my layout but, after looking through Sheldon's layout, I'm too embarrassed to show my behemoth, and it's nowhere near completion.

Don't worry about that, most of us have layouts that are far from complete. Besides, the best time to think about things like this are early on, while it's easier to change.

As far as the layout, the balance between track and scenery / structures is going to be different for each person. However, in my experience, many folks (me included) have a tendency to try to cram in too much. I think it was John Armstrong who said something like 'put in the amount of track you think is right, then take out 1/3 of it - that will end up being closer to the ideal'. Leaving some room for scenery does a lot to open up a layout, even if it's just a hill or a small pond.

For industries, sometimes it works better to have one larger industry that realistically could receive 3-4-5 cars, then have several small industries that each get one car. Maybe even an industry that has two separate tracks on each side of the building, one for things it's receiving and one for finished products it's shipping out. A furniture factory that has one area for receiving flat cars with lumber, and another area for loading boxcars with finished chairs and tables maybe.

[trainman203]

I don't know how this will reproduce in this form, but this Sanborn map is a view of some long-gone very compact street running switching trackage in my hometown, reminiscent of the 4x8 under discussion. The T&NO comes in from the left. It crosses the vertically running MP several times. The T&NO was in this location at least 20 years before the MP arrived.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4014nm.g033751952/?sp=9&st=image&r=0.346,0.184,0.575,0.669,0

Looking at this map raises some questions. There has to be an interesting story here. My understanding is that the later railroad to arrive must pay for any necessary junctions to the existing railroad, and for a tower to control things if necessary. Could the T&NO have purposely added more industrial spurs in order to increase the cost of the MoPac coming to town? How was the issue of T&NO fouling the MP line to serve these industries handled? Did they have to get permission to foul the MP? Or were speed low enough and traffic light enough that visual right of way would suffice?

I would have no idea about the business dimensions of these two railroads crossing each each other so many times within a few hundred feet.

However, there was definitely no tower at that location at that location with that street running track, I never saw anything move on it during the day.  I found out later on with the MP only switched it at night to avoid any auto traffic.  But I have to say, this was a pretty small town and I don't remember ever seeing anything approaching heavy traffic on that street as many times as I rode my bicycle up and down that street.  We were never able to talk to anyone on the T&NO about that location, but I remember seeing a box car at that oil dealer only a couple of times and a only couple of boxcars on the one that curved way to the right after the crossing the MP.  There's a more detailed map of everything to the right that I need to find, should've posted it before.

Also, these tracks here were dead end switching trackage with engines only moving one or two cars at a time, there were no actual train movements with cabooses at this location.

I did a very long, detailed narrative about this spur and the Missouri Pacific in my town in general on another forum a couple of years ago. I could post the link to it here if anyone is interested.