Freelance 2012

[faraway]

... I actually don't see that many paved-over industrial areas, especially around railroad tracks. Here are some examples:
...
I'm inclined to say you've got things more or less right the way you have them -- a lot of the parking and roadway area in my photos is just packed dirt.

That is very helpful. I have been caught by the all paved yard of General Mill. It is a very dense industry from US standards. The photos you appended show more the usual distribution of paved roads, dirt and buildings on an industry property. With that in mind I will cut back on the paved part and therefor "street running" on my layout and restrict paved roads and tracks to crossings as shown on the photo of the cheese factory.

This is the current "all paved" version.


ps. Yes, I stay in general in the south west area between Texas and California. This mill was not planned but after four warehouses in a row set flat to the backdrop something had to happen to break that boring string of structures without ruining the track track plan optimized for long tracks.