One of the most common questions operators ask on a layout is "Where am I?" The builder forgets that he knows where every town is in relation to every other point on the railroad, but it may not be terribly obvious to a visiting operator.
This is a sample of one of the town schematics I'm making for each town on the layout. I'm still tweaking these - but this is the one that's mounted in front of Everett. Note the direction arrows on the "station sign" - as you look at the layout "North" is always to your right. It also shows the names of the tracks, the car capacity, and the locations and names of the various industries, along with any specific car spots within that industry. Ultimately these will also include street names for grade crossings, and trackside facilities like water towers, stations, and the like.
The various spots represent different doors or loading/unloading equipment. The waybill specifies the specific spot the customer wants the car. Makes switching much more interesting than simply shoving all the inbound cars into one track.
