Re-Routing, or, Evolution Redux

So here I thought I had everything figured out, once again.

Working with the layout footprint I had most recently settled on, I set about refining my track plan. For the most part it came together pretty clearly. But there was one hitch.

The ideal benchwork outline would have been the one I first arrived at when I decided to abandon the original configuration of the four sections I made:

But since that didn't fit the allotted space, I had to tweak it. I thought the new configuration was going to work: 

But as I began working out in earnest details of the offset section (upper left corner in the above diagram), it became clear that things were not going to pull together.

One reason for this was that I was getting stubborn about wanting to use curves larger than 18-inch radius for the main line. Having initially resolved to do that, I found it nigh impossible to back away from that decision. And as a result, the track that bends around the inside aisle way took up lots of space, and things just didn't work properly.

So it was back to step 1, or, since I am working with the sections I have already built, I guess you could say, Step 1.5.

I spent most of yesterday evening first trying to make the above concept work, then doodling when I couldn't get it to my satisfaction. I went to bed, still pondering.

At about 1:30 in the morning I woke up. Suddenly, an inspiration seized me.

I sketched out an alternative arrangement of the sections. It looked like this:

Then, I thought, I could build a final additional section to create a connecting stretch of track that would permit continuous running. 

There was another possibility along these lines: Putting the two "B" sections against each other 4-foot-side to 4-foot side. That would have created a 4-by-6 foot base that could accommodate a full oval loop, with track then branching off of it onto the "A" sections. But  then the arrangement would be 10 feet wide, with the big base 4-feet deep, requiring access from all sides. The only way that would fit in the layout space, there would have been no possible access to the back side of the 4-foot-wide segment.

But if I butt them together 3-foot side to 3-foot side, as above, that creates a 3-by-8 foot base. I don't need to accommodate a full loop now (although it might be possible with some added benchwork on the inside corners between the A and B sections, which I'll get to in the fullness of time), because suddenly, I can do a full "around the walls" style. The new 1-foot-wide section can be built in such a way as to make for a not-too--difficult duckunder. 

And finally, this one fits nicely in the same footprint in the room as the previous "final" approach. 

Note that the "B" sections have easy access from all sides, that the closet to the right remains accessible, and that the bookshelves are accessible as well ("Thank you!" says DairyStateMom.) 

I've already started sketching out a new approach to the plan using this arrangement. I'm seeing on the combined "B" sections staging on the lower level and a pretty substantial station/yard/engine terminal scene above the staging (mind you, for a small railroad, not a Class 1). The track plan will basically be a twice-around, with track going from the staging area at either end, then looping around the "A" sections and the new 8-by-1-foot section to ascend to either end of the "B" section centerpiece. This next design is going to be a starting point: it, too, has a 3-by-8-foot focal area (the right-hand portion of the plan) with staging beneath it (that's where I got the idea). But the remainder will be quite different, although the broad twice-around schematic remains:

Additional details and ideas are likely to come from these next two, although my space is smaller than either of them:

So now it's back to drawing the plan all over, nearly from scratch. 

OK, am I really finished this part now?