A plan with all the the major elements saved.

I will bring a enlarged copy to the club and hope to discuss the various aspects of this plan with the members, but I will give a heads up here for all those who read the blog. There is a straight through mainline, except for the passing track in Northdale, for the ore mine. There is also a passing track between Northdale and Lincoln.
The logging line stands alone from the mainline and only connects to Miller. Lakeview is a branchline only town with its own passing track and switching lead. A train leaving here will bypass Lincoln and back into Miller, which is also a branch line only town. Freights from here will back onto the mainline, west of Lincoln and return to Elsewhere.
 The coal mine turnouts will be easier to reach as they will be move closer to the front edge. The elevation difference between the lower and upper mainline are just enough to keep the parallel main lines separate.
The only 2 industries lost are Hay Co. and the Ortona freight house.

Maybe a better place for the sawmill.

Moving the sawmill on to the logging branch keeps the logging line isolated from the mainline. This will also reduce the traffic on the back side of Lincoln. The sawmill will now only be serviced by the branch line.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

It seems if we do change Lincoln's location, the plan Northdale 2 is the go to design, not that it is set in stone, but rather a good starting plan. A few members have indicated that they will miss the branch line however. There is a lot to consider about a project this large. It is a good start to have picked a basic plan and any updates will refer to this plan.

With a branch line in mind, we could swap the turntable location, in Oxford, to the siding in Miller, connect the sidings to Allen lumber, making it part of the sawmill complex, and Buckley Mills to the Miller passing track (reducing the load of switching in Lincoln) and put O King Coal and City Services in Oxford. This would establish a branch line which would start in Elsewhere, service some industries in Herons Landing, Jutland, Lakeview, Miller and Oxford and then return to Elsewhere. We could also locate the gravel dock in Lakeview and make Lakeview a branch line only town. This would recreate branch line operations in full. We could make a mainline bypass track in Lakeview.   Adding the branch line back in makes this move more appealing in my humble opinion.

At the end of the session, Peter pointed out that there is only 1 of the 3 branchline trains left. WHAT? With cars like the sawdust cars and the gravel hoppers, and special caboose, only switched on the branchline and these trains always returning to Elsewhere intact, where did they go? I will rebuild the other 2 trains and see what happened to all the designated cars.

Playing with paper cutouts.

Simple way to go. Cut off Lincoln from Miller. Cut out the sawmill, spin it around and add it to the back of Lincoln. Then join it into a revised Wye area.

This plan has grown on me. I  would change the Wye area to have a port like the plan with Lakeview in it, but the gravel dock would come off the lower  mainline. The branch line would have to go under the upper mainline to enable the Elsewhere to Ortona branch freight to operate properly. You gain about 30 feet of mainline with this plan.

Northdale2

I think this is better

The hump is gone. Forgot to include the passing siding at Oxford. This plan extends the mainline about 70 feet, but eliminates the branch. The ore train and logging trains still operate as usual.

Tuesday's gab fest.

First of all the members all wish Glen a speedy recovery.
Many member stayed in the lounge discussing our voltage drop (or as it turns out, our over voltage) problems, and or thoughts and ideas about moving Lincoln. We will have to take a night and test all the boosters and power supplies.
On the Lincoln move, I heard, double deck the island (We may be able to separate most of the logging line above the tracks to and from Lincoln), run a double decked peninsula out from the Wellington loop (This would be an obstruction to following your train and the loss of an open viewing area),
Make the new Lakeview area (see the plan below) a large port, and let's try to save more of the industries.
The plan below (which we will call the Northdale plan, for those wishing to comment) has a small bump out for La France and the Coal Mine and it may not cause flow problems, and uses the space of the old Wye to our advantage. It includes the Ore mine, the gravel dock, City Services, the Pier, and Harbour Freight. At the Lincoln end a passing track was added for the saw mill, Ol King Coal, the old Ortona turntable and engine house, a passing track for the logging branch and more aisle space behind Lincoln.

Decision-making

We now have 4 plans, Mike's plan , Another plan without Ortona, Don's plan, and Revised Plan.

Remember this is not to say we are doing any of these, just which 1 should we concentrate on!

First, do you like Mike's plan better than the other 3?
Second, if not which of the other 3 do you like best?

As a note when replying , you could say I like the revised plan but not the Northdale part, or any comments at all, JUST REPLY PLEASE!
I just want to know which way to continue.

My thoughts.
They all give a longer run to and from Lincoln. They all retain the logging line, the ore run, but maybe not the ore mine, and the coal train. They all maintain the follow your train operation. They all increase the length of the mainline.

Mike's plan retains more industries, and has the longest mainline.

The other 3 (without Ortona) open up the area nicely, but loose some industries. The crossing seems to be better than the Wye.

Revised plan

After some thought about Don's plan, I moved it out 22 inches from the wall  made the logging loop into a switch back along the back wall , forgot that it needs to be a passing track not a single track, move the mainline leaving Lincoln closer to Allen lumber (which could be part of the sawmill complex), and extended the access aisle along the new mainline. The inbound mainline curves had their radius increased. Also tried moving the curves in Northdale out to allow for the coal mine and ore mine to be located behind them.

Don's plan

All of the plans to move Lincoln were reviewed by the membership at length. Much discussion ensued with many good suggestions being offered. Everyone wanted the Ortona extension removed. Most liked the open plan, the 1 that removed all of the old Lincoln peninsula. Concerns over the reach to the logging loop area, was expressed by many. Length of passing sidings was a concern.

There seemed to be a consensus on the following: passing sidings should conform to those in Elsewhere, or about 7 feet, we need better access to the back of the new Lincoln, a better swing bridge to get to the island is needed.

Two ideas for a new plan were suggested, move Lincoln 18 inches away from the wall for access to the back side, and make the crossing join the island before Northdale.

Comments: the engine house corner of Lincoln will have to be cut off.

The old tail of the Wye can be for the ore train, but there is no room for the mine. The logging loop has a larger radius than needed.