New with many questions

Hi all!
So I have taken on an ambitious build. I'm new to model railroading having been recently introduced to it buy my father in law. I've been building models and dioramas as well as sculpting my own garage kits for over 20 years but am finding that model railroads bring all my favorite aspects under one roof. So my build is of my work place. I work at a zoo and have wanted to build it to scale for quite some time. I will be adding a lot of stuff to it that currently doesn't exist in real life including a Disneyland style railroad that goes around the perimeter. The zoo has a 22 inch gauge train around some parts but since I'm working with z scale I clearly can't use that for this train.
The layout base is going to be in z scale (why else would I be here lol) and is about 10' x 10'.
I have many questions but will only ask you guys a few to start with. I'm not in any rush and since I am a detail oriented person I want to get this all right. First of all are there any good tutorials on line explaining the best way to design a layout for mobility? This way I can start a design split it up and finish the different pieces individually? Is there a good way of calculating supply needs such as track requirements etc. I have used a program but it was pretty confusing even for a computer savvy person like myself. Electrical... I know that's an entire world in itself but any direction for planning and setup would be much appreciated. Ok I'm done for now thank you to anyone who gives this post a look.

Welcome to Z! It sounds like an ambitious and fun project! I would recommend going with a module type construction. By using 1 x 4s and polystyrene foam (the pink and blue stuff at hardware stores), you can create a very rigid, yet light weight frame. You can see how I did my frame in this photo:



For track, you may want to look at Rokuhan. It is easy to work with, especially if you are beginner. It really solves the issues of wiring as it is all a plug and play system.

There is not a lot of commercial products available for a Zoo. Luetke has a few kits for circuses that could carry over. I think you are going to have a lot of fun scratch building! The Columbus Zoo operates a steam train around their perimeter. Märklin offers a steam loco that may fit the bill with old time passenger coaches. It was first released as the Casey Jones, but has since been rereleased this year under a new road name.

Rob

Justin,
Welcome to Z scale. A lot of questions and let me see if I can help. I had a 10' x 10' layout as a kid. A single layout that size is just too awkward: you use only the outer 2 feet or so because of the issues with getting to the center. What I would suggest, particularly if you want mobility, is to look into the Z-bend track module standard (www.zbendtrack.com/). There are a lot of images here under NTS (National Train Show) of Z-bend track layouts.
To get some good info on the details of layout and construction, I'd suggest a site of one of our Z scale detail types David K. Smith: jamesriverbranch.net.
I'd also suggest you look into some of the railroad CAD programs. They make it easy to experiment with layout ideas. I'm using 3rdPlanit myself. These programs will also provide a parts list.
As for electrical, I could go on for pages, but you probably such get into the layout design going and your goals for it before discussing electrical.
Hope this helps,
Mark

Rob and Mark,
Thank you so much for the info. It was all very helpful.

A thread w/some info: www.zcentralstation.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=18&id=15181&Itemid=212 .

Lots of layout designing software out there, but with 20+ years (and probably just about as many different software tools) under my modelling belt, I find that Any Rail is the one that I'm finally comfortable with - and so far, I haven't found anything it won't do that I need, including Rokuhan track library, printable parts list, and 1:1 scale track plan printout. I believe there's a free trial version available.

Your project sounds great - IMHO you picked the right scale, so happy modelling!