OP can build a 14 x 6 around the room layout. No need for a J shape. Office furniture fits nicely under 48 inch high layout shelves, since a desk is only 30 inches tall. It also leaves room for storage on the desk, probably even a monitor. 18 inch deep shelves will provide plenty of elbow room too. Only a liftout section that will be needed to enter the room will be the complex part.
If you settle on freelancing, there is no need to worry about the paint scheme. Just use a curved bladed hobby knife to gently scrape off the ERIE herald and lettering. Touching up with black dabs of paint where needed, or even a fine Sharpie pen, should be a sinch.
When buying rolling stock, look at how fine the little grab iron ladders and foot stirrups are. The finer they are, the more expensive the model. Your reefer looks nice. Also do research to ensure you do not buy rolling stock that is earlier or past your era, if you care about being that precise. You can generally keep your purchases in line with your era by checking the build date on the side of the model…blt- or bld- or NEW- should be in the fine lettering somewhere on the side of all rolling stock, including your reefer.
Athearn in an old name in US Model Railroading. They still exist today making good quality products. The kits are no longer made. The “blue boxes” are easy to build “shake the box” kits. They are considered good, but not up to the latest standards in detail and somewhat generic in that many are not a truly accurate representation of any particular protoype manufactures car (although most are close). Even today they are the majority of cars on many layouts. One aspect of the hobby, that some enjoy, is detailing equipment. Athearns have been the starting point for many accurate well detailed models.
One thing to consider is couplers. I am not familar with their newer kits (I switched to N scale before 1970, and didn’t buy any Athearn kits after the mid 1980’s) but know the older ones came with X2F couplers. You will want to equip everything with Kadee couplers. The Athearn cars are easy to convert.
Thanks guys… I’ll get one to see what they actually like. Regarding couplers, been reading up on Kadee but can I have experienced views on which to go for. cheers Mike
interesting idea but if I go for a continuous run set at 48" high boards will mean that they will cross the window aperture and block out the light so I have to stick to an end to end layout which is no issue as that’s the type of operation that interests me the most.
Im really enjoying the research side… although plenty of opportunity to go off on a tangent! Regarding the lettering on the side of cars… What do the rest mean? I assume that in addition to the build date it includes the unladen weight and capacity?