I want to have a small yard to do some switching and was hoping to have a small engine facility. The area is approximately 10’ long x 15" wide. I’m modeling in HO.
In the picture below the far right is main line B it is glued to cork roadbed and is not a part of the main going to the yard.
The second track from the right is Main Line A. In this picure it is attached to the main at two points that are visible and two that are not. The track is temporarily being placed to get an idea of what I want. When I get it right I’ll glue flex track down.
In this picture the main is only connected at two points not visible in the picure
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What do I need to do to make one of these yards work. Or do I need to go back to square one?
I like the space and the size , but I would add a couple of switches off your main line and I would add three double ended tracks off of the secondary maine line but leave enough room between the secndary maine line and the 1st yard track to put in the engine service track , and then off of the 3rd yard track add a pair of long stubb iende tracks . With the secondary main line can be used as a yard lead and not interupt main line operations .
Is that also mainline on the far left? Would the second track from the left be your “A/D” (arrival/departure) track (siding for a train to pull off the main and “drop” the train)? If so (and this pertains to whatever design you settle on) you might want to have a “drill track” so that the yard switcher can work the ladder without going out onto the mainline. It looks like you have the start of one just right of the leftmost track “below” the crossover, but I can’t see if this wraps around the curve to provide enough length. The drill track needs to be long enough to hold as many cars + switcher that you want to work through your ladder.
In the bottom photo, you are left with a long stub end track that can’t get worked from the ladder. It could be a siding to an industry, but you didn’t leave any room for said building. I laid out a track like that on my last layout (just because there was room to put one there) and it never got any use!
I recommend Kalmback’s book “The Model Railroader’s Guide to Frieght Yards” by Andy Sperandeo as an awesome reference! Mine is pretty dog-eared already.
Oh, and if you’re thinking of using the cork roadbed under the yard tracks, don’t. I learned the hard way that it looks bad… plus the ballast got expensive. If I was doing it again, I’d ballast with dirt cause it’s free![swg]
I would suggest that you STOP right now. I know that is not what you want to hear but I agree with others that have already posted. You need to know what your yard is for and how yards operate before you commit to a specific configuration. If you don’t, you will be ripping the whole thing out and starting over in a year or two.
The books already suggested are good. Another source for yard design information is the Special Freight Yards Issue (June 1992) of the Layout Design Journal published by the NMRA Layout Design Special Interest Group (SIG). This “issue” is 88 pages and was long considered the bible of yard design.
I believe that memebership into the LD SIG is free but of course you have to purchase the issue of the Journal. I think their web site is: http://www.ldsig.org/
Pick up any or all of these books and spend some time digesting them and defining how your yard needs to operate before finalizing a design.
I appreciate all the advice. The track is just temporary and at this point I’ll stop as suggested and get the books on freight yards.
It’s just frustrating knowing you have a small area to work with and wanting to get the most out of it. At the same time I want the yard to function easily.
