layout plan

Welcome to Trainboard, Zachary.
You've taken some good first steps in your layout designing by letting us know about your space, era, RR setting, and industries. Please tell us a little more about some of your other preferences.

When you daydream about a perfect evening spent "playing trains" or working on your RR, what do you see yourself doing?

Structures?
Some people enjoy building RR and industrial type structures, so their layouts are designed with lots of spaces to put those super-detailed structures (often near specific sidings or yards), but less emphasis is put on the scenery between those structures or industries and they may prefer to spend more of their evening working on the structures than on running any trains next to those structures, so their layouts often have a simple, bare-bones track plan.

Scenery?
Others are into scenery and running trains through a well-crafted landscape (forests, prairies, mountains, rivers, deserts, seasides) that faithfully represents some favorite locale, but they may prefer building fewer structures or doing less switching, so they prefer layouts with lots of mainline running through gorgeous landscapes instead of past lots of sidings or structures.

Operations?
Still others may be into any of the numerous types of model RR operations.
Some like to run trains continuously (put them on the mainline and watch them loop continuously around the layout without a lot of fiddling with turnouts or switching cars) so they tend to have fewer sidings and yards.
Others would rather have a long mainline run from one place on the layout to another (put together a unit train or transfer job at one spot on the layout, and run it from one end of the track to the other or from one yard or industry to another yard or industry with just a minimum of switching at either end of the run), so their layouts may have more switching opportunities at either end of a long mainline and fewer along the way.
Others want to do classification yard switching (breaking down arriving trains and building up other trains for departure) so having a big classification yard and staging are important to them but they are comfortable modeling fewer industrial sidings on their layout at either end of their mainline or spread out all along their mainline.

Still others prefer switching industries along their mainline, but aren't particularly interested in classification yard switching, so at one end of their layouts they may have a simple fiddle yard where they set up trains by hand, the middle of their layout has lots of industries and interchanges along their mainline where they can pick up and set out cars, and the other end of the layout has a basic staging yard and/or somewhere they can reverse directions and have their train work its way back to the other end of the layout.

Some people would rather work lots of industrial switching but not much mainline switching, so their layouts have many industries but short (or no) mainlines.

Trainroom Characteristics?
It would also be very helpful if you could post (or describe) the floor plan--location of doors, closets, windows, light switches, etc that will have an effect on where in the 8 by 16to18 foot space you might place your layout.

Benchwork Characteristics?
How do you feel about duck-unders, double decks, helixes?
Do you want an island layout with access from all sides, or are you comfortable with an around the room shelf against (at least) one wall.

Everyone's idea of the perfect layout is unique to that person. Think about the various characteristics mentioned above and let us know the top 3 or 4 you find most appealing and any you'd rather avoid. That way, the suggestions we offer can help you move toward what YOU want for your layout.

Layout design is a process that has LOTS of starts, stops, and re-starts. Hang in there. Most of your hundreds of revisions will move you closer to your ultimate goal (and those that don't will at least let you re-start in a better direction).

 

Is this picture (found through a google search) a scene you would like to model on your layout?
I think someone on Trainboard has posted a tutorial about modeling Mormon Rock in the background of their layout, but I couldn't find the thread in a quick search of a couple forums. Maybe someone else will be able to provide you a link.