That line to your house would be a god awful bear.... The grades are going to be redonculous. It seems to gain (Hard to know for sure, not seeing a distance Scale anywhere on this freakin thing. Hate the new G-Maps) something like 1000 feet in I would guess less then a few miles? If you were gonna put a switch back anywhere, that would be where I would suggest it.... Least likely place you're going to have a load to boot. After that though, your line to your house is ok under the guise of pure fantasy, but I hope you're rich in your fantasy because even running a Shay on Switch Backs, you're gonna eat tons of Water and fuel every day going back and forth over that.
I measured the section that looked like it had the steepest clime (the app has a ruler tool) and took a fairly good estimation of the gain in elevation. The grade was something like 12% to 14%. Redonculous be correct. lol As for how rich I am, well...
On that note, I would probably suggest 3ft 6Inch for this. Gets you the most bang for your buck as far as haulage over distance is concerned. The issues with 2ft Gauges is that the wheels are so small that it takes you forever to get anywhere. This looks to be something on the order of 10-20 miles from one end to the other? If thats the case, in 2ft gauge you're looking at "See you next Tuesday Honey!" as you putter down your mountain..... 2Ft guage is best for doing crazy things in very very short spaces (Not to say people didn't do it anyway, but this is your fantasy, do you want to be home every night or not?).
Bigger wheels? Maybe? *shrug* I chose 2ft 3in because... Well let me explain it like this. Part of this fantasy involves a custom steam locomotive design, which is a modified version of Talyllyn's "Edward Thomas". Plus, since the gauge is halfway between 2ft and 2ft 6in, I would only have to regauge a preexisting locomotive or rail car by three inches, instead of six inches. I have considered 3ft gauge, but that gauge is
everywhere! Kind of takes away from the uniqueness (but that's just me). (BTW, it's 22 miles long.)
Clarksville:
Is this a historic Rail line? Or a "I won the lotto guys!" Fantasy? If its the former, move into the city and find a nice old Rustic Clapboard Station to drop in downtown somewhere with a street on the former R.O.W. where it used to run further East.... If its the latter, well, do whatever you want, up to and including Neon Light "Eat at Joe's!" signs and put em anywhere....
This is a "I won the lotto guys!" fantasy. There has been a line in the area that went from Combs to Cass. It would probably make more sense to lay track where that line went, but most of the right-of-way has been turned into dirt roads, which have a surprising amount of ATV traffic.
Neon lights? I like it! lol
Horse-Head Lake Campground.... That looks like an AWESOME Spot for at least a Wye and a siding or a runaround. Short Excursions to scenic areas are milk and honey to touristy railroads. After that lakes are good for Lumber (Logs float remember).
That actually would make more sense to stop at Horsehead (which I had never even thought of). The only problem is, well, Horsehead Lake isn't exactly what most would call a "beautiful lake". It's a fairly nice looking lake, but not exactly someplace you would want to end the line at.
How did you know about the backup logging-- wait, never mind.
North of Horsehead Lake....
-Switch backs.... They seem like a good idea now.... HOOO BOY are you gonna get tired of seeing the approaches to that stretch though when you get there.... Expensive Steel Bridge Horse Tracks were even preferred over Switchbacks....
-My suggestion would be to use the walls of that Canyon North of the Lake to gain altitude. Thats what a Narrow gauge line would do.... LOTS of opportunities for awesome bridges/trestles too. Them Switchbacks! Makes me Cringe lookin at em!
Yeah, I'm not even sure why I even switched (no pun intended) to using a switchback. You're right, bridges/trestles would make more sense.
Yarbough Gap.
I would seriously investigate the path of HWY 103 North of that gap vs your proposed Route. It might make more sense to follow the road then to blaze your own trail, and lots of opportunities for Road Side Tracking Camera Positions. Might also give you an excellent opportunity for over and under passes, and as railroaders we like seeing meets of any kind right? Trees and shrubs do get boring after awhile and this is fantasy ya?
Well, it takes looking at the surrounding area from 103 to understand why I didn't choose following 103 in the first place. There's not a lot of space between the road and the properties along the road. Plus when you go down the hill, there's a shear drop on one side of the road and a cliff on the other. (Hard to tell from a bird's eye view.) But I suppose there could be a few places the line could criss-cross 103.
Next. Why not run it to Oark? You'll have to cross that crick a bunch, but so what? It looks like you're pretty much at the highest point of that little canyon there already, after that all you gotta do is keep going forward.... theres a nice little (I'm guessing) Swampy maybe(?) area there between Wa****a Creek and 103..... Perfect spot for little trestles and things I'd bet.... After that just follow 103 up to just before the meet with the 215, and turn right into Oark. Seems pretty straight forward the whole way being ~1000 Feet (Yea, this Topo Map isn't great with 200 Ft increments, but whatever).
The area between the crick and 103 is mostly forest and open field, actually.
It's not so much getting to Oark, it's more of getting
into Oark. The original plan was to end the line near or at the Oark General Store (which, BTW, is the oldest continually operating store, now a restaurant, in Arkansas, so it gets a lot of tourism). But since there's hardly any practical way of getting into Oark without people having to walk a considerable distance, I decided to shorten the line.
You could also put a Wye out there where 103 meets 215 and go straight out to Yale..... That whole path along the Mulberry river seems pretty flat from what I'm seeing (I'm sure their would be some grading, but there is a reason why Railroads followed rivers anywhere they could).... After that you could keep going West to Cass and say you meet up with NS there or something? If you could get that as a DEM I would have a field day with it.... lol.
I have actually seriously considered that because of the large amounts of tourism in that direction, but there's a problem with following the Mulberry River. Legally,
no one can build
anything within a certain distance of the river. There are quite a few places that I would be infringing on the legal distance. And I might be able to get away with crossing the river once,
maybe twice, but not the number of times I would have to cross the river.
NS? What'chu talking about, son? It's all UP out here!

But on a more serious note, I think I'd have to go a lot further than Cass to run across another railroad. lol
P.S. I think you could arguably call this a "Protolanced" route if you do in fact use DEM.
DEM is a serious consideration. But for now, I think I'll sadly have to settle for "potential future protolanced railroad" for now. lol
P.S. Your feedback has really helped me out with this! Thanks!