Loop Layout with Penisula

Give him 24 hours, and Bruce will work miracles! He took the ideas we toss back and forth Sunday and last night sent me the first draft of a loop layout with a small peninsula for the coal mine in Herminie.

Loop Layout v.3

The basic idea is instead of having two offline staging yards to feed trains, use a section of track to hand stage the trains that will come on and off the layout - this is at the bottom of the image where the duckunder entrance is to the room. Next, simulate the train traveling from town to town by covering the loop 2-3 times before stopping. There are several spurs in both Irwin and East McKeesport for servicing industries and I still have a nice passing siding/yard lead in East McKeesport but I wonder if we could fit one or two more tracks in the yard.

This is looking good.