A new layout!

[jward]

regarding operation....

roger, you and so many others seems to be fixated on  a yard and local freight centered form of operation. this is not the only form of prototypical operation, and there are other forms of operation that don't involve excessive paperwork like train orders, waybills, etc.

consider a heavily travelled mainline such as the northeast corridor. you'd have multiple tracks, and with most trains scheduled you'd know where each train should go without a consist. the line could be divided into various sections, each controlled by a tower operator who controlled that particular section. the tower operators would coordinate with each other to get the trains over the road. there would be a hierarchy of different types of trains as to which ones had priority. express trains would be top dog, followed by commuter trains, mail (freight) trains, general freight trains, with the local freight and work trains at the bottom of the list. at a station, only certain trains would stop, and they'd have to be routed on a track with a boarding platform. individual operators would be scored based upon their efficiency in moving the traffic through their section with a minimum of delays.

an optional working signal system would greatly add to the realism here,

[wiley209]

Yeah, working signals would be a pretty good idea. As for how I model my railroad, it's because in my area, the freight trains passing through are local, so I mostly base my freight trains off that, except the real freights where I live are CSX, and I model the BNSF Railway. Plus, since I use 18"-radius curves on my layout (due to space reasons), local freights are easier to model, along with passenger trains with 72-scale-foot rolling stock (like the old Athearn, Con-Cor, Life-Like and TYCO 72-foot Amtrak cars), although while those cars may not be that prototypical, I prefer to have a more prototypical locomotive pull the cars (like an Amtrak F40PH or P42 Genesis diesel.)