I liked Iain Rice’s layout and scheme for starting and finishing sections. Actually, it’s pretty much how I planned my Redwood Empire only I’ll be using 30" by 12 sections for each phase. But I like the constant action of the layout. Lots to do at each location. Four people could operate and never have to leave where they are standing (more or less.)
Second place is the Yosemite Valley going through the dam. But I would have liked more switching. But the scenery has the potential to make it all worthwhile–a man after my heart.
I just got mine so I really haven’t had much of a chance to read it through yet. I do like Iain Rice’s layout designs and look forward to reading his article. Iain’s ideas are always “sweeping” and he seems to have rhyme and reason to what he is doing. This makes for both great visual effect and interest to his layout designs.
While I love the new Sunset Valley, and David Barrow’s combination of fidelity to prototype and domino construction, my nod goes to Jack Burgess and the Exchequer Dam/Yosemite Valley layout. I like the concentration on a couple of specific scenes, rather than trying to cram the entire railroad into a broom closet. It also mirrors my occasional interest in recreating the rail operations of the Six Companies during the construction of the Hoover Dam. Jack gets around the shortcomings of the latter by sustaining the traffic of the rest of the railroad - passengers, logs and freight - all in a reasonable space, without looking crowded, and operable by a lone wolf.
I really enjoyed Chuck Hitchcock’s article. Even though I’m not a Santa Fe fan,
I was captivated by his earlier passenger oriented layout. His new switching layout is equally as fascinating.