Nick

As far as I know, Athearn GP7/9 never did go to scale width hood until the Genesis models. 

For railroads in Kansas City, the West Bottoms area is really interesting, so is the Fairfax Industrial Area/Quindaro Yard.  Most of this is UP but all railroads ran in the area.

If thinking about more of a switching layout rather than a roundy layout, have you considered modelling a terminal association railroad?  In Wichita, the terminal association is supported by all the railroads in town and has a dedicated crew (train and rail maintenance).  However, the motive power is supplied by the owning railroads depending on how much of the traffic they generated for the terminal in the previous year.  If the ratio is 50% UP, 30% BN and 20% ATSF, the following year UP would provide motive power for 6 months of the year, BN power for 4 months and SF for 2 months.  A lot of times the power donated to the terminal is older power which makes for interesting viewing.  Much larger terminal railroads may justify their own dedicated locomotives.  BTW, back in the day, when Wichita had a railroad depot downtown, it was run by the terminal association, meaning that any passenger cars being moved were moved by terminal crews.

Regards,

Nick

I agree that in general the Midwest portion of America is flat and boring, I should know having been stuck in this region for 25 years now.  There are, however, small pockets of respite from the depressing monotony.  
 

I suggest the ATSF branch to Sun City, Kansas as an example.  It is closed now but served a gypsum mine.  Trains ran to Medicine Lodge which is still active with a short line serving the town.  Google gypsum hills region of Kansas to get an idea of the geography.  
 

Another option would be the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific lines that ran through the Flint Hills region just east of Wichita.  BN ran through Augusta, Beaumont and on east while UP ran through El Dorado on out to Yates Center.  A small section of the UP line from Wichita to El Dorado is still active, passing by my house before going through Greenwich, Benton and Towanda and terminating in a small yard in El Dorado.

There are other examples but hopefully this gives a couple of options.

Nick

Great photos!

I remember you saying you operate your points manually, and I assume these are electrofrog points like your other layouts, in which case the frogs are unpowered?  Assuming this is the case, how well does the 48DS run on DC through these points?  Any issue due to the short wheelbase?

Thanks!

What are the overall dimensions of your layout (including traverser area), and what are the dimensions of the scenic area?  Looks like a great little layout with plenty of visual interest.

Thanks!

Nick

Which scale are we talking here? 

I would like a 48DS in OO scale.  Yes it is done in O scale, but not in OO, at least not RTR.

Interesting, I spend quite a bit of time round the corner from this yard area when I go to witness testing at NTS Fullerton which is on Valencia Drive, just north and west of this yard.  The main line runs in front of the NTS facility, am always hearing the trains go past there.  I went to lunch one time and saw this small yrd so drove around the area to see if there were any interesting buildings or industries, but didn't take any photos.  If I go back anytime soon and you are still working on this plan I can grab some shots for you, though I am not sure when the next time I will be there is right now.

Cheers

Nick

Very nice layout! What is the size of the main scenic section and the fiddle yard/cement plant portion?

Thanks

Nick

If set in the 60's/70's, wouldn't the warehouses be run down and empty, lovely decaying hulks? I didn't think the loft conversion thing hit until the 80's/90's?

This layout looks great, very good atmosphere. Any chance of seeing some overview shots of the layout once in a while to see how the overall look is changing? A lot of times people post detail shots of areas they are working on but I really enjoy seeing the overall scene to see it develop from bare boards to a finished work of art

Thanks!

Nick