I’m making a push to formalize the track plan sufficiently to explain it to others. Farmington became the starting point. I had worked out Farmington on the floor and now transferring those thoughts into the 2D plan.

Here are the druthers for my version of Farmington

• Upper, Middle & Lower Yards – The upper yards is the north portion of Farmington, the primary transfer yard which mostly transferred lumber and cordwood from the SR&RL to the MEC. The middle yard does not seem to have a clear purpose. I think of it as overflow and coal transfer to SR&RL cars. The lower yards is the location of the depot, MEC freight house and transfer sheds, and the SR&RL turntable.
• MEC Depot (can be 1/2 against backdrop)
• MEC Freight house and transfer shed for LCL freight (I presume that much SR&RL outbound wood products became LCL freight on MEC)
• SR&RL Passenger Canopy
• SR&RL Turntable
• MEC track in such a way it can be operated. The hope is to operate the MEC during an operating session.
• Sufficient room behind the SR&RL tracks for scenery and structures that give the impression of the hill and town of Farmington behind.
• Prototype track layout capable of simulating SR&RL operations. I presume there were time when the SR&RL switcher, a freight train, and a passenger train were all in Farmington at one time. This means there needs to be sufficient room to get the freight out of the way for the passenger train to the depot and out again.
• I would like 10 car freight trains to Farmington, so one siding must handle such sized trains and other track might need to handle additional cars while other are at the transfer tracks. A five foot siding could hold 10 cars without engine. I think it is acceptable to think the engine could be at the turntable or on another track.
• SR&RL coal dock/trestle upper yard.
• Russel box shop

Reviewing the design

The design captures most of my desires. Here are a few points in review.

• Aisle is mostly 3′ or more wide. That is minimum as operators will be passing each other, and I will be sitting at the modeling bench working on my computer and models.
• Compromise – The SR&RL turntable does not quite meet the 3′ aisle width. As such teh last 4-6 inches of scenery will fold down (even under the turntable). Thus when not operated I’ll fold that down and under the layout, and turn the Turntable to the side (or remove it too). In this way, I’ll not hit it while working around the model bench (the bench is more of a long 32″ high counter)
• The MEC depot will probably get sliced in half
• The MEC freight house will be stubbed into the side backdrop
• 10 car trains will swamp the yard, but I think it will be manageable. Yard will fill when a train arrives, but if it takes 10 cars away immediately, the switcher can take over an deliver all of the cars as required. 30 cars a day into Farmington should make for good operations.
• 6-8 standard gauge cars can be moved around the yard. I might add a casset through the side drop, so the MEC can bring cars on and off the layout. The other option would be to have them come on/off the layout same as the prototype.
• The MEC track is compromised to make it operable. I think operation would be more fun than seeing exact prototype scenery. I think crews will love switching with the larger standard gauge cars and locomotive (4-6-0 or 2-8-0 or 2-6-0).

Overall, I’m sufficiently satisfied that a workable Farmington Yard can be built in my slim space. At a future time, I’ll add more detail such as buildings and trees to the design.