Young Kyle’s thread on roosters got me thinking yet again about adding staging to my layout. When I returned as a participating member of the hobby I never realized how far it had come as far as the sheer amount of loco’s, rolling stock and other products now available. I thought that the equipment I would end up with would easily fit in all the sidings or yards I would have, just like it did in my youth. The thought of having staging never entered into the picture. Now as I am drawn to all these loco’s and rolling stock from railroads all over the world I realized I need more parking.
It will be easy for me to add under bench staging under my 18’ x 6’ bench and provide a way for the trains to get down there. I got lucky in the fact I am able to correct the “lack of parking” problem without bringing out the demo tools.
So has anyone else added staging after the fact and how did you do it?
Staging was always planed for on my layout. However, I would suggest if your going to put it under the bench work, either put it on a roll out shelf; or, allow plenty enough room to have good access. This is where trains would come from and go to, so being able to use the five fingered switcher with ease is what you will need>
After 10 years back in the hobby, I’m finally adding staging. I’m doing it by expanding my layout, so I don’t have to deal with grades. My previous attempt at staging ended in “failure,” because it came out looking too nice and it ended up being active track. This time, it’s single-ended (no running through the yard!) and I’m going to devise some sort of scenic cover.
The track is all pinned in place and connected. The lift-off section back to the main layout is complete. I don’t have all the feeders installed yet, but it’s functional now until a rail joiner comes loose or something. Over the weekend, I filled the staging yard with trains from the layout and cleaned all the layout tracks, sidings and all, with my CMX machine.
Do you know what I learned? I learned I should have built more staging.
EDIT: I took a picture. The staging is the 4 tracks on the right. The additional track will extend beyond the staging (when the wife goes to visit her parents at Thanksgiving) and can serve as an additional track if needed. They all come together at the top and curve over across the bridge to the upper left.
I was an avid reader of Model Railroader magazine since the early 1970’s. As I read the layout articles illustrating home layouts, especially in the early 1980’s, I noticed a strong trend in layout design which included staging, so that entire trains could be stored “off stage” and ran across the open modeled portion of the layout and back into staging, thus simulating real railroad operations in a limited amount of space.
Having devoured many articles, by the time I was ready to design and build my first layout (in a 20x20’ garage), I knew I wanted to build some kind of staging into the track plan. The one I came up with for that space was an HO 16x19’ hollow L with a track scematic of a tear drop return loop at each end with single track mainline, one passing siding and a sizable yard. Each of the return loops had three tracks at 28, 30.5 and 33 inch radius, so two entire trains could be stored at each end in the loops, similar to what I saw in Eric Broomans track plan the Utah Belt. Train length storage capacity was modest at about 13 to 15 feet long - HO.
I have always designed in staging from the start and was the case with my second layout and my current layout under construction, which is very modest in size (around the wall 10 x 18’). Here are a few progress photo’s:
Track being installed in staging during the summer July/August last summer; the re-railer tracks are there to help catch any errant wheels and try to keep everything on the track as trains travel in and out - all standard turnouts are #6 and curved ar #8, with switch machines installed:
My first standard gauge staging was designed into the layout as part of the backside hidden half of a folded dogbone. There is HOn3 on top of all this, which was built first. I planned for access to construct it to gurantee there would be enough to operate and maintain it. That sorta worked, but all I had were essentially 2 sidings back under there.
Later I acquired more real estate in the neighboring utility room. First was a 5 track stub ended yard that came off the back of the folded dogbone. This was getting somewhere. Although short tracks, all were in the open and could be worked easily. It also allowed space for HO and HOn3 programming tracks, plus a small workbench. The original yard went as far as the skeletonized door frame.
Later, I added the second half of this staging area by extending the tracks further along the wall, then cutting back through it to join up again with the back of the original dogbone. I now have one main and six yard tracks. Train lengths approach 14 feet using these tracks, but I still have one siding further along that can hold a train that is close to 20 feet long. This pic is from when I was installing the L-girders for the Crater Lake extension of the Cascade Branch. You can see way down at the end where it curves back through the wall.
I’ve planned from the beginning for staging in the last 2 layouts I designed (first one never got built beyond the initial 8x12 section that would have become a small portion of the full basement layout, which had staging underneath), and in teh last it never got to the hidden stage, as what I did was put the staging as the farthest back tracks under the slopign ceiling, the idea was to have removable backdrop sections in front of it so the trains would remain hidden yet if there was a problem I could eaisly pull out a section of backdrop (I was planning to hold it in place with magnets) to gain access. The part of the layotu in front of the staging tracks was the operating yard, so there would be no tall structures in the way.
For my now being designed full basement layout (different basement from the first one), I can use some ‘overflow’ space in the laundry area, so the staging yard will be located. This will also be a double deck layout, so there will be an upper and lower staging yard, but at the staging yard are will be the bigegst vertical seperation - the lower level staging will be at the lowest height,a dn the upper level staging will be at the highest level, so access will be mre than adequate.
I am in the process of adding more staging. And it has taken 3 different designs to accomplish it. The first two were to go through a wall into another room. Neither was really a good idea. The I came up with a easy idea - create a lift out section and with it go out the doorway into the hall and follow the wall for 5 feet and curve into an open walkin closet that used to be a stairwell. The plan creates 250 inches of staging area and a 60 inch passing track on the trip out of the room to the closet. Plus I can add a metal frame bridge on the lift out section and created the illusion of a major river.
LIOUN builded his layout with substantial staging areas. The whole bottom deck was supposed to be staging, thus it only had a few inches clearance to the middle deck. But then the layout was morphed from a commuter railroad operating out of Penn Station to a 100% subway layout. The staging yards were torn out and a new subway mane lion was put in place. The staging was built before the middle level was built, reworking after the layout was built was more difficult.
Him has little staging now, but him did build some 'pockets" in the back of the lower level to lay-up five trains that are not in service.
Initialy I didn’t have planned staging for my layout in Nscale, I planned the railroad years ago and only for some changes the basic concept remain the same, but operations has give me more and more interest in the late years, Model Railroad Planning and Tony Koester review in MR are sure the input to this interest.
After some great disaster in my life about work and private life, I have the chance to just beginning the new construction of my layout in an expanded space, I have used this move to make a modification in my track plan for include staging.
Staging allow me to run more train on my double track main and a better use of the fastclock ( one day in three hours).
The whole walk around design along the walls and peninsula was revised.
In fact not really it’s always a walk around track plan but I displaced the benchwork from one wall and use the full lenght against the wall for staging, it’s a eight tracks staging whith a entry in north and one in south.
The general map of the layout, The Maclau River RR is a fast line running along and in the hills of the Maclau valley, it’s a point to point road inspired by the N&W starting at Norfolk and going to Cincinati; this allow me to run C&O and N&W train on the line.
One drawback of staging is the need of more locomotives and a lot of cars to generate the whole traffic and I admit I have not take care about that.
Wow Jim, that looks pretty darn good. The re-railers are a good idea. How do the trains get to the upper level? Any photo’s?
I have been doing a little reading when I need a break from the bathroom reno. It is now gutted down to the studs.[tup]
So more questions for you all. Is going to code 100 track a good idea for hidden staging? Does anyone else use re-railers in staging? How have you designed the length of the staging tracks inconjunction with train length? One train per track or trains lined up behind one another? I think having the latter would be a pain. The train I would want would always be the one boxed in.[(-D]
Any other things I am not thinking of?
I think I will suspend the staging below the bench on the outside of the legs to start. It should take me a long time to fill five 40’ long staging tracks. I can always build more towards the centre if need be.
Thanks for the kind words. I began work in Feb/Mar of this year but progress has been a bit slow Aug/Sep/Oct and finally getting the 2nd level going. Here are some photo’s of the opposite side. The tracks just go around in a no-lix, with a grade of about 2.8% up from each side going around. So the layout is simply a twice around the room - I didn’t want a simple giant circle but wanted the ability to store up to 10 full trains in storage. A yard is planned for above with a TOFC ramp, a few industries, etc.
Code 100 makes total sense for staging because you are more concerned with reliability and yes, less cost, in a place were appearance is of much less importance.
In my case, I only have a small town house with a relatively tiny space of 10x18’ so I made staging tracks as long as possible in the small space - they are designed to hold entire trains, one per track. I should be able to hold 25 to 30 car coal trains for example, fairly long for such a small layout.
The re-railers are there as a small measure for fault tolerance, to hopefully keep trains on the rails, if a wheel comes off, they will hopefully re-rail cars. Not perfect but access is limited with minimal overhead clearance.
Forty feet … those are real long staging tracks! I had to be creative just to squeeze in staging capacities ranging from 13 to 22 feet! Small but all I have to work with right now.
I’ve built a small staging yard under my benchwork. It comes off of the main classification yard (on the other side of my narrow room). It only has 4 tracks but I made sure to keep the one on the aisle a fiddle track so operators will be able to 0-5-0 build a train during a session. It’s only partially hidden. (bend over and look and it’s no longer hidden It only has about 7" of hand space but works. I have an 8’ by 17.5 ft. room so no other space available. I’d love to have more staging tracks but the fiddle track will have to do.
I wanted to use rerailers as much as possible but my mainline runs behind the staging tracks and might one day be sceniced minimally so didn’t want to make the staging yard look unprototypical. If I could get permission to use the hallway with a removable cart my staging could expand but…
I would think adding hidden staging to a finished layout would have a certain “building a ship in a bottle” element of difficulty without at least some serious surgery to the layout.
I agree with Jim Fitch and others that re-railers on every track save a lot of grief both for visible and hidden staging. Indeed I have seen staging yards that go further than Jim and have re-railers at both ends for the same track.
It is not uncommon at some layouts to hear the telltale sounds of derailed wheels bumping along … and then the sound goes away: the re-railer doings its job. Indeed it almost seems like the advent of staging yards has given the good old reliable Atlas re-railer a new lease on life, but having said that an Atlas re-railer is unforgiving if you have gotten lax about droopy coupler pins.
Lighting can be needed even if the staging is passive, and leave a little head room (or rather hand and arm room) to deal with the inevitable. Including track cleaning.
One local modeler used code 100 Peco turnouts in his hidden staging and mounted the switch machines on the table top rather than underneath for easier service and replacement. That makes sense to me. And his hidden staging was “hidden” behind an easily removable panel.
My layout is in N scale and the current hidden staging is on the main layout. The longest of the tne tracks is ten feet. It will be hidden from the front of the layout by a five inch high divider just beind the intermodal yard. I would love to put another hidden staging under the layout and am wondering how others have done it. If I can do it, I will have over thirty feet of stagine area.
It may not be clear from my photo’s above, but there are two re-railers on each of my staging tracks, one on each end of the straight section - so at both ends for the same track. I would have placed them further toward each end, but the track is curved at the extreme ends.
Yes, most of my switch machines for staging are above table - again, not concerned with cosmetics. I’m using a combination of Atlas and Peco above table, and a few switchmasters and Peco below table too.
It only has about 7" of hand space but works. I have an 8’ by 17.5 ft. room so no other space available. I’d love to have more staging tracks but the fiddle track will have to do.