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Just wanna toss a thread out and see what modelers on here are doing like era size and locality of thier current or planned layout
I'm currently building a 21'X8' double deck with staging in another room that is about 16'X5' local is freelanced from Rosehill Va. to Richmond Va. Basic loop with a grade up to second level that has a flood loader and a coal mine then a power plant on the lower lever with a few other industies NS is the primary road ( of course right ) with a small holding yard and engine service facility with an old concrete coaling tower operations are run through from staging ( about 6 trains ) 4 coal train movements and a local to and from with a few extra moves

thanks for a few minutes of your time to read this, hope to read some of yours   
Eric 

I am currently in the planning stages of a single level Welch, WV to Bluefield, WV themed layout. First, I must build an exterior building to house the 24'x46' peninsula style layout.  The timeframe will be up to 1991. Locomotives will still have the N&W and Southern paint schemes along with NS repaints. Power will include:
C30-7s, C36-7s, high nose and low nose SD40-2s, SD50s, SD60s, GP30s (only 2), GP40s and RP-E4D road slugs. I will be utilizing a "modeler's license" and run N&W SD35s and SD45s even though they were retired long before 1991. I always liked those units and thought what the hell, I'll run em! Freight cars will be according to what NS had on the system at the time.

The layout will be double tracked and have bracket type CPL signals. The layout will incorporate detection for realistic operations. The main theme is coal with many mine runs and shifters. Typical manifest trains and auto parts trains will run as well. Pushers for coal and grain trains will be required for the 1.5% grade towards the eastern terminating points. Train lengths will vary from 25 to 35 cars depending on the commodity.

I am currently designing said layout in AutoCad. Many drawings to be done: power, signal blocks, benchwork, etc. Track will be code 83 Walthers/Shinohara and operated via Digitrax DCC. Not much else to tell. Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Todd Arnett

Sounds sweet , p.s I meant to give an era and forgot !! It's all pretty much 1992 to present I want to run some 611 n 1218 trips   

Mine is 20by 10. I buy all the NS I can find at a good price from local old timers. I am currently getting ready to find a new home and the wife says the whole downstairs will be mine. I am modeling the NS line around Big Stone Gap ,VA.With my coal mines being the old Westmoreland CoalCompany where my Dad retired from. I am going to try and get someone to get me into the Andover Yard and get some pics to go by. Any help out there.

Mine is from 92 to present also

I've been working on the design of this layout for a few years now.  It is set in the fictional town of Jericho, Tennessee, near Johnson City.  It is the main classification terminal for an east/west coast-to-coast bridge route that includes Santa Fe, Rock Island, and my railroad (Charlotte & Western).  It has two mainlines, Memphis to Wilmington, NC, thorugh Nashville and Charlotte, and a north/south mainline between Birmingham, AL, and Richmond, VA, with trackage rights to Potomac Yard.  Jericho is about in the middle of both mainlines.

The layout itself models about 12 miles of the mainline around Jericho, and a coal branchline.  There are numerous staging tracks which hold trains that terminate at Jericho as well as pass through.  I'm still debating as to whether I'm going to make the yard a hump yard.  I'm modeling this in N scale, and I don't know if the cars will roll well enough.

The era is the early 1990s, and the C&W is a part of the North American Land Bridge.  The C&W is just beginning their Land Bridge business, and their clearances will not allow double stacks, so everything is single stack, although there are spine cars, since the Santa Fe and the C&W were pioneers in developing container traffic.  Containers arrive on the west coast, and at Wilmington, and are transported cross country, saving a trip through the Panama Canal.  This also allows container ships, that are too large to pass through the canal, to move their containers overland instead of around the tip of South America.

In addition to container traffic, there is seasonal grain, general merchandise, and auto traffic.  C&W has the contract to move Saturns from their brand new plant, near Nashville, to Memphis (to hand over to either Santa Fe or Frisco), Birmingham, Charlotte, and Richmond.  They also supply the plant with parts, some of which are manufactured right in Jericho.

About 55 miles west of Jericho is C&W's main coal terminal at Bean Station, TN.  From here, coal branches head north into southwestern Virginia and southern Kentucky.  Coal trains from Bean Station pass through Jericho on their way to the C&W coal piers at Wilmington, and power plants throughout the southeast.

The Charlotte & Western believes in getting the most from their investments, so they try to keep what power they have, running, instead of just buying the newest thing coming along.  Mainline power is a mix of EMD and GE 3,000HP B-B units.  Local power is also a mix of EMD and GE units in the 2,000HP range.  Older geeps are kept handy to supplement where needed.  Yard power is a mix of EMD switchers, with the newest 1,500HP units doing the majority of the heavy classifying.  Of course, since they have run-through arrangements with the Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Rock Island, and Frisco, their power will routinely be seen on mainline trains.

Attached is a PDF of my layout room.  It is the majority of the basement of a log house I have designed.  If I ever get the house, the layout is sure to follow . . . .

Badhorse79: you mentioned the 1218, I assume you already have a model of it, I was wondering how they run in ho scale, assuming again you run ho? I've seen a few models of them, always kinda wanted one but wasn't sure how well they did.

I do model HO yes and I Had the broadway limited one at one time when they first came out i also had a  J (also broadway) but I like em alot run smooth and the sound is nice ! However I had to move into a apartment after a divorce and sold alot of my collection to pay off some stuff ... It could pull the screws outta the layout   

Sounds awesome, just never had an engine of that size before, always was kinda leery of it. May have to look into getting one eventually. Ditto on the "forced downsizing ", not fun.

Modern Day Delmarva Secondary, as the Delmarva Central.  A Freelanced railroad that operates all lines on the Delmarva Peninsula, with the exception of the MDDE lines, and the Port Road Branch with the NS trackage rights into Baltimore.  I plan to model between Herrington, De. and Mount Holly, Md. (Salisbury) with an added Steel mill in Mt. Holly, and an Ethanol Plant in New Church, Va. everything else is going to be modeled as it is in real life.  I also plan to model the New River Secondary also.  I have a website, delcrr.webs.com, and I have a Facebook page, for the Delmarva Central.  As of right now I have 16' of modular steel mill, but I plan to model this as a double deck layout once I'm out of High School, and maybe college, get a job, and a house, so its a long way away........

NS in the mid to late 90's, but I am taking a modelers liscense for GP30's, GP35's and some SD45's. I just love those older EMD's.

I plan on having some serious intermodal, lots of coal (to an export facility ala Lambert's Point) and plenty of mixed freight, Interchanging with the UP and BNSF. The slab I have in the yard in 15.5 x 25, should be plenty of room.

I am getting close to the amount of $$ to build the building. It's such a long process. 

If any of you modern NS modelers are in need of 45 Walthers NS Bethgons (G87 class) with loads then send me a message.  I bought all of these on impulse several years ago before finally settling on a time frame and they are too new for me.

Regards,

Todd Arnett

Currently putting together a small shelf HO layout to maintain my modeling skills and stage different track arrangements, building arrangements, etc.  Hope to build a layout in the attic after it is HVAC'd.  I would like to do the SRR around 1980 from Greensboro's Pomona Yard to Linwood with branches of the K line, S line and old A&Y.