Obviously open staging is ideal, but if it must be hidden; what’s the minimum clearance between the staging and track level above? I know the answer is “as much as you can get” but I’m interested in real world layouts with close clearance.
Sheldon, if I’m not mistake, it looks like your new layout will have a number of hidden staging tracks. What clearance are you planning?
Ray
I would say you answered your question. I’ve done a lower level staging following the outside walls and around a loop to the lower level , I think I ended up with 18" or so.
Ray,
A great deal of my staging will not have anything above it, but will be “behind” the back drop.
One dead end staging yard will be mostly “off stage” in my workshop area.
Another will be a in a loop (not a reversing loop) under other trackage and scenery. The loop will have about 8-10 inches of clearance but will be accessable from the center of the loop under the layout.
Another will be covered with removable structures and behind trees.
Another will have an aisle, but the aisle will be covered with removable urban scene liftouts. That one will be accessable from under the layout even with the scenery liftouts in place and have about 6" of space with the modules in place.
Keep in mind, all my staging is “drive thru” or “back in and drive out”. I don’t do any fiddle yard work in staging.
I’m getting the room ready now, in between a suddenly busy work schedule.
Sheldon
[quote user=“wickman”]
I would say you answered your question. I’ve done a lower level staging following the outside walls and around a loop to the lower level , I think I ended up with 18" or so.
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Unfortunately I haven’t answered my question. 18 inches plus is obviously a no-brainer. I’m interested in folks that have had to deal with much closer clearances.
Ray
Sheldon, thanks for the input. Really looking forward to seeing your layout progress.
Ray
Maybe I should also explain that I will be using mostly hard shell type scenery construction the the layout will largely be hollow underneath to allow reasonable access to all hidden trackage.
I’m not into the stacks of foam thing. No foam will be used, It will be plywood, 1x lumber, screen and plaster, etc.
Sheldon
How about 7" above top of rails, which is what I just measured as the clearance needed for me to lift a piece of rolling stock over another?
I expect this will work for a “small” number of tracks. As the number grows, you have to start allowing for a sight line to see what you’re doing. And allow for your big fat arms.
This looks like another example of you building a mock up to see what works for YOU.
Anyway, I’d call that 7" a starting minimum.
Ed
Most of my staging tracks are visible, although in the photo below, some of it looks darker than it really is…
Two tracks on the lowest level, about 8.5’ long, another two tracks (in the shadows) about 6’ long.
Above that, five tracks, all around 8’ long.
…and above all of those, another level, with seven tracks between 7’ and 9’ in length, and another two, yet to be added, about 4’ in length (for locos and cabooses)…
Also on the upper level of the layout are these two tracks…
…each around 6’ long and not normally visible, with another 7’ for each, on a shelf in my workshop…
.JPG)
No mystery, and no confusion, since I’m the sole operator.
Wayne
Yes, In my case, I only need access if something comes off the rails or stops running.
Sheldon
I mean, if you want to be technical, you could get away with 3.5 inches, maybe less. (I have bridges that leave only 2.5 or so inches clearance) Is it convienent if anything goes wrong? No! But I’ve learned that sometimes the unconventional will suprise you.
JDawg beat me to it. I have a stub ended staging yard, not under the layout, but as one layer of some storage shelves I built for the usual basement stuff (holiday decor, etc.) The original section has enough clearance the reach in an nudge a locomotive that doesn’t want to move. Not enough room to fiddle with cars, but I don’t use it as a fiddle yard either. When I extended it a couple years ago, the new section is just tall enough to clear the rolling stock. With just straight flex track, I’m fairly confident I won’t have a derailement. If something doesn’t want to run, I’ll just roll the trains out that are in front of it so I can reach it. Only had to do that once in 3(?) years, so not really an inconvenience.
Now that I said it, watch my luck change! [(-D]
If you don’t have to reach in and deal with “things” on interior tracks, I suppose the vertical clearance could be lessened. Worst case is you have to take everything off, for the tracks blocking the access. IF that is very occasional, I can see how a person might decide to lower the headroom.
Ed
I have a dogbone layout with loop staging yards and I stacked them to save room but only allowed about 5 inches between levels. Big mistake. If there is a problem such as a derailment on the lower level, it’s almost impossible to fix without removing the entire train. I’m looking at ways of relocating one or the other so that they are no longer stacked. The problem is my operating scheme calls for a reversing section on both staging yards and it’s hard to figure out where to put the loop. One option I’ve looked at is one John Armstrong suggested in his layout design book which is to have trains go around the loop and then back into stub end tracks. Whatever I come up with is going to require major surgery. I would suggest you maximize the clearance between levels. You won’t regret it.
On my last layout, the 6 track lower level staging ended up at 13 inches to the bottom of the upper level. It would have been nicer to have more clearance, but the track/turnouts were solid, and I had it well lit (clear Christmas tree lights). So I had very little problem with it over the 12 year life of the layout.
I built my first staging too nicely. It wasn’t totally hidden, but it was behind a long row of structures. I ballasted the tracks and put some light scenic cover between them. But, it was nice enough that I didn’t really use it for staging.
I am building new covered staging, now delayed by moving and other upheavals. It is covered with thin sheets of foam poster board, which may or may not have some scenery on top of it. The idea is to let me easily remove a section or two of the cover to fix derailments. It’s 4 tracks of staging, so the sections of poster board are only about a foot wide and two feet long.
double stacked staging
That’s what I should have opted for. Since I have a relatively short distance between towns, in order to get more separation, I would either need much steeper grades or have the track at my depots on a grade. As it was, I kept my max grade at 1.75% which is good operationally but doesn’t create enough separation between staging loops. One idea I just had was to make half the upper loop a flip up section on a piano hinge. I’m thinking out loud. Don’t know how practical that would be.
I’m planning for about 8 inches of clearance, railhead to railhead. May need to rethink that a bit…
I have 8 3/4" headroom from rail head to the underside of the wood as there’s 2 1/2" of framing in the front. Total train clearance is just under 12"
[quote user=“Colorado Ray”]
My new layout has only 5" clearance. It’s not enough, obviously, but it made the entire build a lot more tidy and manageable in the space I have. The key was to craft lifout panels above it, embankments of the railroad above it. If things go wrong, I can reach in without lifting the panels but not far, and not practically. So, I would simply lift out a panel covering about 100 sq in, or two panels if needs be, and fix what I need to. All it costs me to do this is removing the bits of ground foam ‘bushes’ that hid the seams running along the roadbed, and then restoring them once again when I have replaced the panel.