Planning my end to end Dockside OO

[joshv8]

For anyone who followed my posts on our 8x4 roundy round it was a great introduction back to the hobby and a lot of fun with the kids. However the size is a problem as it has to be put up and taken down and I find my imagination is not what it once was, and while running trains in a loop around a room is one thing, in front on you at a table gets a bit repetitive.

I decided I wanted to build an end to end that can be joined to later to extend as wanted. Ive drawn a basic plan of two separate boards at 1200 × 750 giving me a joined length of 2400. I can easily sit these in a rack for storage. And conveniently Ive got a few boards in that size that was used to crate my Jaguar 3.8 for shipping from down south.

The idea is to have a passing through outer branch line with a shunt and siding that leads to a factory and the dock area. The far end will have a traversing crane and plan to dock a steamer there with a tug docked up the other end. This is a basic plan and more buildings/ industries would follow. Ive tried to keep some curvature to the plan for realism.
I was really looking to hand lay this track however admittedly am really struggling with Templot. I succeed at making a section but struggle with shaping areas of track and joining things. I may have to plan and build points and just lay something like c&l flex track in between.
I would be interested in peoples thoughts and advice on building your own track. Im pretty much ready to take the plunge and order what I need and get this ball rolling.
Hopefully this is of interest to a few people.
Cheers,
Josh

[BrightonMan]

Nice plan, lots of potential there.