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@@mpeterll Oh trust me I am doing that!, and getting somewhat inspired by your designs as techniques. Really love your handmade trackwork too, Its also great to see the progress on your personal layout Must dash, as you say, i have some catching up to do!,😀

Thank-you for the compliments

Interesting idea, except that the "Grande Pacific" is a conglomeration of many other railroads. I think it will be better to pick one railroad that actually worked this area.

@@mpeterll yes, much more feasible.

Yes there is a lot of track on the main level (which is at the ideal height for intensive operation). The upper level will have a far lower track density.

With JMRI or another similar software program you might be able to set it all up to be automated. Switching and all. The computer programming side of model railroading has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 10 years. Writing all the scripts for JMRI is the hard part to get the timing right where all the trains stop at the correct place. Very possible to automate the whole thing.

Yes it's a private layout (and yes it's currently being built). I suspect that once knowledge of its existence gets out, he will have the makings of a local club because of the intense prototypical operation that the plan will support.

Awesome. I'd recommend contacting me at least a year before you are ready for the design as I have a significant backlog of layout designs in the queue, which is getting longer all the time.

Thank-you for your comments. Actually, I came to like the revised layout better. Although it took a while to get there, we ended up with a better use of the space. It became practical to nest the helixes one within the other (quite a saving with a 36" minimum mainline radius), and we were also able to restore the passenger terminal. Although we only have 4 "runs" on each deck instead of 6, they are all long straight runs - which we only had two of before, and that makes all the difference. With the interchange section across the aisle adding industrial spaces, the remaining industries were able to share a section with the paper mill complex. Although the earlier plan had its good points, all things considered, I thing the later one is an improvement even if it were not forced by the space considerations.

I always consider the electrical ramifications (and a whole lot of other things that are not readily apparent) while designing a layout.

@@mpeterll Showing an example of how you do the DCC wiring and block separation for any of the reverse loops in any of your designs would make a great video.

@@donaldshroyer8633 Hold onto that thought. There is one in the pipeline.

@@mpeterll I agree, the electrical considerations for track power would be fascinating. While DCC is king today in the future I really think Dead Rail Operation will come on strong. With advances in battery technology driven by products in numerous fields and the use of Bluetooth receivers the days of track power problems will become a thing of the past. But for that to happen one of the locomotive manufacturers will need to jump into the market place. The other thing is how do you charge the batteries and how long will they provide sufficient power. If they can handle a two hour operating session I would think that would be enough to start. Charging could be either on a short section of powered track or possibly by wireless charging as used by some cell phones today. Such systems are in use today by some adventurous model railroaders. Plus they would be a real boon to the individuals that have difficulty getting the red electricicles to go down the red wire. The green to go down the green etc. 🙄🙄 Like me.

@@mpetersen6 My thoughts are that the ideal situation would be for an on-board rechargeable battery, a function to indicate the current battery level, and the ability to charge through the rails. Then, for ultimate realism staging yards and locomotive service tracks should be powered so that once a locomotive has finished its run, it needs to go for "servicing" in the engine terminal. Then a battery doesn't have to last a full session, but just one run over the whole length of the layout. If a locomotive is used for a shorter run, then simply topping the battery off for a few minutes should be enough for the next run. If the battery is located in the tender, then bigger tenders could hold bigger batteries for a longer range - ultimate realism!

A lot.

Thank-you for the compliments.

The power cabinet is visible in some of he more recent installments of this layout build. There are four 5-A power boosters, each divided into several power districts.