Howdy to all.

It has been awhile for any work on the layout,, I have been dabbling with ESU lok sound and my Proto Throttle,, which is too cool!! But I digress.

I am wanting to add more switching to my layout,, put stay prototypical at the same time. The industries would be prototypical for the late 70's thru early 80's. I am wanting to have a continuous running also. At home the layout would not be put together in a prototype fashion,, but at shows prototype fidelity would be a priority.

Here is the space I have available in my garage for layout set up.

You can see that I am trying to bend the yard around that pain in rear offset. The yard on the other end will be no problem.

So here on the options as I see it,,

1. and 2. We have cardigan north and south. North a big bunch of nothing,, just track going to duluth/superior. South we have more possibilities. Various industries,, plus the R.I. at Inver grove. 
3. and 4. You have the Minnesota Transfer south and north of New Brighton,, I google earthed the area,,looks like the MT had work to do in Fridley Mn on the north and industries southward to include just south of New Brighton.
5. There is the Soo westbound,, to include Shoreham and Humbolt yards. And I am sure there were industries somewhere.

After rereading this,, it would seem that New Brighton northward would be the thing to do. Thoughts?

I would like to find homes for my freight car fleet,,,, Covered hoppers ( to include, grain, plastics,cement, flour), gons, tank cars,, coil cars. I think I have the box cars covered with the Arden Hills area. With Bell Pole in New Brighton I have a home for flats, centerbeams and bulkhead cars.

In the original thread the idea was thrown out of the elevator district of Hiawatha Ave in South Minneapolis. That is an idea that I am toying with. Grain, flour and a scrap dealer. I googled earthed the area, looks pretty cool. In the prototype world it does not "work". But hey,,more switching is a great thing. With the gazillion covered hoppers that I have,, it would give them a home. While looking at google earth, there is yard for the cars to be switched in the right order for the industries. Looks like present day,, the train travels southbound then the power cuts off, running around the train to sort the cars. Working the industries, then gathering the return train then traveling back north.

 After thinking about it and taking some more measurements, I decided to just build a section to fit the space and not use a plain rectangle. After drawing that, and drawing track center lines,, it worked out nice. The radius on the curves in the yard will be about 22" on the south end ( which is the top in the drawing) and about 36" on the north end ( bottom of the section)
 
     There are 5 tracks at Cardigan. But just 3 true yard tracks. Right to left: 1.Main track 1 2. Main track 2 3. 94 1/2" 4. 74" 5. 63 1/2". Those are in the clear measurements without fouling the other tracks.

     Over at New Brighton there are 5 tracks as well. From right to left: 1. Is the Bell Pole industry track 2. Main 3. 94" 4. 74" 5. 63 1/2". Once again those are in the clear measurements.

     Radius of the corner sections are 22" per FreemoN standards.

     The space from corner to corner is 13' 1 3/4". That is the room that I have avaible for the new industrial area, either Hiawatha Ave or something else.

     To be clear the tracks in bold lines are set in stone, those are the existing sections.

     Thoughts, Ideas?

Any ideas would be welcome. As from before,, I can build anything,, just need a plan. 
So plan away, thank you in advance for the help.
Laters, Wyatt