Bigkid,
That is an excellent concept, and the ideas you shared to indicate logging and mining in the area are great. There is another I want to use. Since I worked at the power station near Thomas, back in the '90s, and worked at other power stations dating back to the mid '70s, I want to include that. Originally that power station was built near the Laurel Run Mining Company in the '60s, which was owned by Virginia Power also. By the time I got there the right type of coal, low carbon I believe, was mined out, and they were hauling coal in by rail and truck from Maryland. The coal was dumped with the rotating car dump mechanisms. Too bad I don't have room for one of those. The real thing is cool to watch. But I do plan to put in some suggestion of the power station and of course, there is a destination for coal hoppers.
I have partly solved the dilemma of trying to run large locomotives in a small space, by selling two of them, and investing the proceeds into smaller locomotives and GarGraves track and Ross switches. I still have one left that can run on 054 that I am going to keep.
Please clue me in to anything you post about your layout planning, and thank you very much for your comments.
