Still waiting

Hello everyone,

There's nothing to report on the construction of the layout yet. I'm still a few weeks away from (hopefully) moving into the new house.

In the meantime I've been brainstorming and daydreaming quite a bit about CR&E Version Two.

Tonight some of my thoughts were about Lewisburg Yard. The main issue was whether to build a stub-ended yard like I did on Version One, with improvements of course, or to build a double-ended yard. I'm leaning toward stub-ended classification tracks dead-ending into the wall, but with double-ended arrival/departure tracks.

The thing is I want Lewisburg to be a busy place as it was, with a full-time yardmaster, but I don't want it to take up a massive amount of space. Right now I'm looking at it taking up an 11.5 foot long wall, as well as another few feet along the 23 foot long wall in the room I'm hoping to build the railroad in.

My thoughts are that most of the time a double-ended yard is switched from one end primarily anyway, at least on layouts I've operated on. So is the double-ending an unnecessary expense (more switches) and dedication of space (a ladder will take up about four feet or so) for what I want to do? Is the added flexibility worth the space and expense?

I need to consult with my Terminal Trainmaster before I build the thing.

I'll keep you all posted!