Chicago, Chicago, that toddling town

A stand-alone layout using Free-MoN:

Or, if we go all out with terminals:  (Parts of these terminals can be used or not in one place or another. The essential thing is to be able to turn engines and store a train while engine is being turned.)

On 10.10.13

This trackplan with end pieces can stand alone .

This skinny freight and passenger terminal has most of the features I could ever want on my end pieces.  I could take small portions of this to build a few end pieces all different.  Alternatively, if one can move a free-moN module fast enough in a non-pressure situation (home), you could use the same module for different terminals during operations - particularly one-man operations.

The Ship Channel Mod Evolves

Here is the latest with Google Earth used for the ships only:

Change in Track Plan

I worked out a system for analyzing operations on my track plan that I will detail in another post.  The point is that I quickly found nearly insurrmountable difficulties with my track plan.  Here is the new track plan:

Using Paint.NET Layers

Here is a track plan drawn with a broad brush for the actual railroad tracks at and near the Houston ship channel, a track lover's paradise - not to mention a ship modeler's paradise:

Tank car loading requires an even number of tracks; hence, a slight change frees one turnout that I placed in mainline to lead to junkyard perhaps.