Initial Layout Idea

Over the past few weeks since I have decided on NS - Illinois Division as the subject of my future model railroad I have been using google maps to view the line from Kansas City, through the St. Yard, over the Mississippi River via the Merchants Bridge, The National Railway Equipment facility in southern Illinois, "A League of Their Own" Stadium in Huntingburg, IN, and finally into a yard in Louisville, KY.  Narrowing it down from a 500 mile trip to something for a model is going to take a bit of time, but time for planning is what I have an abundance of right now.

Not knowing where, but knowing what I want for a house is at least a bit of something to work off of for making the plans for my layout.  With a standard basement in the midwest being around 28' x 50', I have started my plans for my model with constraints of 20' x 25'.

Here is the layout information that I have so far:

Era: Modern, continually updating it to reflect current equipment

Room Size: 20' x 25' (these numbers will change based on future house)

Control System: Digitrax DCC also using JMRI for control and Android based throttles

Average Train Length: Planning on train lengths around 9 feet (24 cars with 3 - 4 Locos)

Minimum Radius: 18" on Helix (where the coal branch with connect to the mainline.

Turnouts: I plan to use #10 turnouts exclusively on the mainline and will be building all of them with a FastTracks assembly fixture. I also own a #5 turnout assembly fixture and may purchase a #7 to use for some of the industrial sidings it will depend on how the layout comes together.

On my current layout we are using mostly Tortoise machines and I have not decided yet wether I will continue to use machines or switch to manual ground throws.  With the number of turnouts I am sure to have the cost of Tortoise machines may be a hard number to swallow.

Construction Method Plan: Current plan is to build the layout in modules that I will be able to move  (I doubt the house I get in 5 years will be the same house I have in 30).  The current plan is to have the depth of most of the modules at 18" and no more than 8' in length.  The plan I currently have sketched out for bench work includes 2 peninsulas that have a sort of bubble on the end to allow for a larger radius turn that would need to be built as either one piece or two splitting directly down the center.  Because I do expect to have to move this layout at some point, I will be experimenting with some leg work that would easily allow me to mount the second level (coal branch) as well.  I have a few ideas, but they could potentially get very difficult to implement in curved corners, although I have not settled specifically on curved corners yet, so it might not matter.