Staging: Think about it now or.....

[shortliner]

Gary ...
With a yard at either end of your industrial district, I believe you've got the "Beyond the Basement" interchange covered! Let's not get caught up in the "hidden" v "out in the open" debate ... the main tenet is interchange, however you choose to accomplish it. Besides, doesn't the Galveston Branch join your industrial district at or near one of the yards? Huh, huh? Of course ...! No need to try to cram track between the backdrop and the wall in "no access-land"! Keep on wiring ... you've got it all covered!

Thanks for keeping me sane, biL. I was just about to start cutting into sheetrock.

The Galveston branch could come off of one of the interchangesas you suggest. But, food for thought - on the middle wall, the "old" mainline exiting the middle yard is being converted into a long spur - was going to put a grain elevator there. It would be possible to extend that spur and let that be the Galveston branch, and just partially hide the track behind trees and houses near the peninsula. I think it would add operational interest in that any cars arriving from the SP or SF and destined for Galveston would be moved to the middle yard and held until a train was made up, then it could head off down the Galveston branch. Now, the track would only be around 12 feet long, but a fairly short train could actually travel a ways before stopping, hidden behind the houses and trees. Thinking... it isn't so much the actual Galveston branch track that appeals to me, it is the yardwork that would be necessary to assemble that train as cars came from the interchanges or from the layout industries. It just sounds like a really good idea.

Hmmm.... I could cut a hole in the wall at the peninsula per DocWayne's suggestion awhile back. Then the Galveston train could pass through the wall and "dissappear, albeit appearring on the other side... still partially hidden by trees and houses.

Gary - You can also have a short track disappearing behind trees, and still make up the Galveston job, just as you describe, then leave it on the track for departure late in the evening when you are off-shift. When you sign on again that train is now the cars that have been delivered from Galveston for sorting and forwarding to other destinations. No costly trackage, no holes in the wall, no extra turnouts and simply a short length of track needed. OTOH you could do it exactly as described, but the "re-appearing" train is now an inbound from N'Orleans or Houston.