Further Refinements...

I'm beginning to realize that there is only so much you can fit on a 32"x48" board. I was hoping to start right away with T-TRAK modules, but I thought a small board with a continuous run on it might be a nice experiment to start with. So I'm really interested in a make-believe trolley/tram route through a southwest portion of Rochester, Minnesota.

The yellow shows the where the trolley/tram line would be in real life...if it really existed:

Here my current the any-rail layout plan (32"x48"). The blue line approximates the yellow line in the image above.

And I've managed to group the pieces better so it's easier to see the individual components I'll need:

So, based on the pieces needed, I then needed to look at the different sets that Tomix offers its Wide Tram Track with (the pieces are not really available individually, you need to get them in sets with different combinations of pieces in them). I created a Google Documents spreadsheet. On the right are 3 columns...the total individual pieces based on the total quantity of sets I would buy, the total individual pieces I need for the layout, and the last column tells me if I have enough of a given type. If it is a negative number in the last column, I have more than enough. That way I can tinker with different "Total QTY Needed" amounts to see if I can satisfy the last column and spend the least amount of money.

Yet another refinement to the layout plan...

Previously, I had come up with this layout. But I didn't like the blue tram track section to the left of the Plummer House/Pill Hill, as it is more curved in real life (well, minus the imaginary tram line).

See the frontage road kind of curves around it:

So I played around and came up with this:

Update...

I've been playing around layout software and have decided for the time being make a 48"x32" layout for now. Here are the images of where I currently am at.

Here's an aerial view of the location to be modeled:

The blue lines is where the imaginary tram lines

would go. The dotted line is a tunnel underneath Pill Hill.

Using AnyRail software, the blue (Tomix Wide Tram Track) is the tram line

that attempts to follow the imaginary lines I put in the maps above...

Here's another view, but with Pill Hill showing

where the tunnel would be.

Concept for the layout...

Here is how I imagine the layout to cover Rochester, Minnesota. We don't really have a trolly/tram, but what the heck...in the orange that would be the trolley/tram line I'd model. And the black line is the freight/passenger train...trying to follow (for the most part) existing rail lines through the city.

I plan on following the N-scale T-TRAK modular model railroad standard as much as possible. I want to put the historic Plummer House on a combo "corner and straight" T-TRAK module. I'd somehow try and blend the track into street tram-like going down a portion of Memorial Parkway.

Here's a Google Map centered on the historic Plummer House. It sits on a hill which drops down onto Memorial Parkway (just below 11th street). Memorial Parkway is a boulevard with trees in the middle. The Plummer House should prove interesting to model in card stock.