Alright, I’ve decided to rip up the old shelf layout and to build my original plan. However, my space has changed. I now have a 12’x8’ space. Can anyone help me shrink the plan to that size? I could do it myself, I just want to see other’s variations of it. Thanks!
http://s57.photobucket.com/albums/g239/DerrickKM/?action=view¤t=newtrackplan.jpg
What are your givens and druthers? What is important to you? What is the purpose of your layout?
Answer those questions and then we take out what is least important.
Well, I definetly want 22" radius curves (that’s what this is designed for). I am torn between the yard at the top or an intermodal yard, actually, leaning more towards intermodal. I’d like to not use a ton of turn outs because I am on a limited budget. The amount shown on the plan is fine. I’d like to run 6 car lengths pulled by a switcher or a 6 axle diesel. The industry on the bottom has to stay. The purpose is to really switch some industries and have that intermodal yard up top (anyone want to redesign the yard into and intermodal terminal?) that’s just about it.
Either way, start your AD track on the end and start your yard ladder on the extreme left of the top. Your yard lead can turn around the end.
Yeah, flip that upper yard so the stub ends are at the right. As it stands now, you’ll be able to pull maybe 2 cars out of the yard tracks at a time.
Maybe you want to do that to make switching more complex, but I think you’d get frustrated with that track arrangement pretty quickly.
How about combining the yard and the intermodal terminal together ? Are you limit on the depth of your shelf ? Here’s a design I did for my layout that might give you some ideas.
If you ignore the wider parallel traces at the top and the bottom (they are the parallel mainline), you are left with a yard in the middle (5 tracks made up of a 3-way switch and 2 turnouts) that takes up 12" of depth. Below that is a two track intermodal loading area with space between the two tracks and the main yard for trucks to drive through. The three tracks above the yard serve as an engine serviciign area. To the right (where the 3 tracks end) is a Walthers Diesel shop (pretty large in size) and the two tracks to the left go to a sanding, fueling and watering area. There are a number of variations you could take from this.
One advantage of the 3 way witches is that they take up less linear space, 12" less when using #6s. This can be a lot for many layouts. Likewise the crossing in the engine servicing area is a double slip switch. Again my goal was to maximize space, though they are more expensive.