WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build

[nachoman]

Russ, that's a good point. The intention all along was to detail the buildings to a high degree, modeled after what I have seen in the industrial areas near work. Those places are just cluttered with all manner of stuff, old pipe, old machines, pallets stacked 30 high and tipping over, barrels, containers, tanks, tin, pipe racks and shelving, on and on. I agree with you that this will focus attention away from the track/benchwork and more on the trains and structures.

Here in phoenix, everything is on a right-angle grid. Streets almost always intersect each other at 90 degrees, buildings line up to the streets, and the railroads follow the same straight line pattern - with one exception. One rail line runs about 45 degrees to the main city grid. I don't know how Houston is, but if I modeled Phoenix, it would look wrong if the tracks did not parallel the edge of the layout. The rail line goes a long way almost perfectly in a straight line. Many other cities I have been to have similar arrangements. Buildings parallel the railroad tracks. If the track was at an angle to the layout edge, that would mean background buildings would have to intersect the backdrop at an angle, and after a long run of straight track, the buildings would be getting rather thin the more I think about it, I think you are better off having the track parallel the layout edge. I would try to get rid of the S curves, though, and do similar to example #2 above. The biggest drawback I see is streets that intersect the tracks at 90 degrees also intersect the backdrop at 90 degrees. If the street met the backdrop at an angle, the "end of the road" is easier to hide.