A Toughie

[Brakie]

Guys,I am helping a very good friend design a N Scale layout on a 36" x72" hollow core door and as of now we are stumped and need help.
The wants.

1.A small 3-4 track yard.

2.A Small town area with 2-3 industries.

3.A power plant /mine loads in/empties out.

The first two is the easy part #3 is where we are stumped.

The givens.He would like not to have any steep grades and prefers to have no grades.

My thoughts is to have a Mountain on one end with the mine at one end and the power plant at the other with the main line passing behind the mountain while 2 hidden tracks connect the power plant and mine.
Any suggestions,ideas or plans is quite welcome.

 

[SpaceMouse]

Of course, you can use the scenic divider down the center and have a scene split.

Side A Yard
Side B Power Plant and coal mine.

Side A Yard and Mine
Side B Power Plant

Side A Yard and Plant
Side B Mine

 

[dthurman]

MR had an article/layout build with that idea Chip, it was a Conrail based layout, though a hair bigger, it did work. I would have to dig for that issue and date.

 

[hminky]

A scenic divider down the center improves most possibilities

The track going diagnally across the middle is a loads-in/empties-out track. That is 4x8 in HO.

I have a web article about operating the loads-in/empties-out at:

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/4x8/operation/lilo/

Thank you if you visit
Harold

 

[Brakie]

Well,a view block will play a major roll in the mine/power plant loads in empties out..
It just dawn on to me that Ron is really after a mini Clinchfield layout. I am sure the older N scalers will recall that MR project layout from 78..A great layout..