This could be a switching layout featuring a number of separate businesses, a shortline with a variety of freight or a layout based around a small industry (e.g. a logging line).
Using a threeway switch and a double slip helps squeeze as much as possible into this rather small space. There are spotting locations for 3 or 4 industries (depending on how you develop the buildings) and the track to the left of the plan can lead to a hidden staging area if space allows.
The opportunity is also there for the inside of the nearest building to be modelled, should you so desire.
A dual gauge layout from the master of micro-layouts, Carl Arendt.
Set in a busy industrial district, it models the interchange between a narrow and standard gauge line, with plenty of dual gauge track to keep it compact. One of the benefits of keeping your layout this small is the amount of detail you can add to each scene - in this case the crane is crying out to be motorised in some way.
After choosing to model in HO scale with an American theme - specifically a logging line in the late 1920’s - I started putting some ideas together for the layout. The space I had available was 9′6″ by 6′6″ and it just so happens that this plan fits that space perfectly!
There are my usual double slips and a three way point to allow me to cram in as much trackwork as possible in a very small area, but the part of this plan that I am happiest with is the helix connecting both the logging branch and the short line to the one fiddle yard.
Very clever use of a double slip, sector plate and a turnout gives you a lot of work to do in a small area.
Another clever plan by Michael Denny gives you a lot of switching to be done in a very small area.