Modeling southern Ontario, the auto industry is going to play a big part in my plans. I'm in aquire mode now for racks and 86' boxcars, but when the time comes that tutorial should come in pretty handy. My plant will be based on the GM facility in Oshawa, ON., which is (was) two assembly plants on one site. I don't intend to copy it, but more like use it as a guide and since I'm in the 'Shwa every weekend, why not make use of it. One thing I like about the Oshawa plant is the rail corridor along the west side of the facility which is where the parts cars go and acts as terminal trackage used by both CN and CP.
Emphasis will be on the autoparts delivery buildings, the assembly plant and yards for CN and CP, not interested in modeling a loading area as that will require a boatload of cars from the late 1980's that aren't available and would be too costly if they were. I think I'll be loading the racks at the backdrop so as to avoid this cost. I haven't decided if I'll be modeling a GM or Ford facility (Chrysler over my dead body), though GM seems likely unless the Atlas folks come out with a Ford from my era.
With many trains on both roads making lifts and set-offs at the yards, this will be a focal point on the layout and I'll likely not have to worry much about cleaning track! My plans are not to base the layout on the auto industry, but there is/was so much of it in Ontario that it's kinda hard to avoid.
