Daydreaming - The ROCK v2.0

Today, I found myself daydreaming of the ROCK v2.0.  If I ever rebuilt, what do I like from my current layout that I would want to do again and/or make better?

No, I'm not going to tear down the railroad and start again.  Although, my wife did see me with drawings today.  She gave me the skunk eye asking "are you..."  No!  Just thinking....that's all!

So, I came to the conclusion the parts I like best of the existing layout are the sand operations.  I also love working the yard and running locals.  The through freights and passenger operations are ok, but not a necessity.

So, what would I model?

I would model about a 16 mile section of the ROCK Peru, IL > LaSalle > Utica > Ottawa (and maybe up to Marseilles, IL).

The layout would be housed in a room similar in size to the current layout.  There would be much more distance between towns.  The scenery would be heavily forested with some sections of the Illinois River visible in the foreground.  There would also be a few areas of farmland.  Much of the area surrounding the ROCK in this region is wooded though.

The industries on the layout would be:

Peru
Peru Power & Water
Maze Lumber

LaSalle 
Westclox (love the large Westclox plant)
Alpha Cement (possibility)
Spiller & Spiller (possibility)

Utica
Belrose Silica
Philadelphia Quartz

Ottawa
Ottawa Silica (very large facility)
LOF Glass (large facility)
Wedron Sand (trucks sand to the yard to load in hoppers)
Hartley Oil

The mix of industries would give me a good balance of traffic.  I would model the yard in Ottawa as my main terminal.

Trains/Jobs Operated
#118 LaSalle Local (based out of Ottawa Yard (works Peru to Utica)
#217 Ottawa Sand Local (would switch everything in Ottawa and manage Ottawa yard)
Various run-through trains

In Ottawa, the crew would build up outbound trains to Chicago and Silvis that would be "operated" during the night.  Arrivals from both locations would also arrive during the night hours.

I would design the layout to be double track as the ROCK was originally.  The tracks would be in a loop with a four track staging yard.  Various trains could be run through out the session to throw a wrench in the local crews plans.

I would get rid of the car cards & waybills and use printed switchlists.

I believe it would provide for a few hours of operations with a crew size of 2 to 3 people.  I think it would work out well.

So, just some thoughts.  I figured while I was thinking about it, I would document it on the blog.