As a step toward designing a layout for passenger operations, I drew a schematic to show elements of a layout to model operations around Houston Union Station.
This is NOT a drawing of how to fit these elements into an particular size room, and certainly not 10 x 12 in HO, but a guide toward understanding what would help model the operations reasonably.
The schematic allows trains that leave the station toward the north to come back from the north, and the same for trains to points south. It allows trains from either direction to PASS the station wye and then BACK into the station, then leave going either north or south. It does this WITHOUT REQUIRING any “reverse loop” wiring because although trains go what appears to be a different direction north or south, they are actually continuing in a counterclockwise direction on a loop whose sides are pulled together dogbose style to resemble paired one-way mainlines.
I would like to discuss but it is 11PM and my first day as a student teacher starts tomorrow at 8AM so I need to quit for now.
I just finished designing my layout, and it is based on the MBTA commuter line. I have 4 different types of trains:
MBTA (Slow moving commuter train)
Guilford (freight)
Amtrack (express passenger train)
Subway (subway train on seperate tracks)
The MBTA trains go back and forth on the line, with two stub-ended stations at Boston and the end of the line. The guilford services trackside industries, having using the double tracks that the MBTA uses. The Amtrack comes screaming down the mainline, and all other trains have to yield to it. The subway is mainly to enhance the area outside of northstation than a operating line.
I hope this has given you some ideas to help you.
And by the way, the layout is 12x9 and HO in case you were wondering.
The most simple type of track plan for passenger operations in a room size layout is a dog bone using three walls. A four to six track through station can be in the center of the “bone” along your 12 foot wall. The wiring is simple as long as half your tracks are designated “east bound” and half designated “west bound” and you have no switches that can put an eastbound train on a west bound track. One trick is to have a mountain on one of your loops. Inside the tunnel you can have one or more sidings which can hide a train or two. On the other loop you can have a servicing yard.
Leighant’s track plan is excellent if you want to model a stub end station. It is a dogbone with a penninsula.
I edited my Sunday night schematic post to make it display the way I thought it should. Back in a day or two I hope with a room size plan polishing up (and squeezing down) some of the ideas from the schematic.
Texas Zephyr asked, “How is the railway express building served?”
I based my admittedly simplified prototype track diagram primarily on a Houston Belt and Terminal April 1974 Industry Locations by Zone Track Spot that identified and numbered each track on the railroad, diagrams in a 1982 employee timetable, and my own recollections and studies of passenger operations. I noticed that it did not show any trackage directly serving the REA and could not see how any would fit.
But I decided to do a little research, since it might have changed from the passenger service heyday to the time period of my track diagrams.
A Houston Belt & Terminal Maintenance Zone Chart dated December 1955 update to July 1959 shows the station platform tracks stub-ending at the station concourse but no spur directly adjacent to the Railway Express building.
Santa Fe in the Lone Star State vol.1 p.19 shows a 1960 view of the terminal throat that includes a roofed but unwalled structure on the NORTH side of the station platform tracks with express carts and wagons, the side away from REA building.
A view taken from the top floor of Union Station, possibly in the 1940s judging from the appearance of automobiles, steam locomotives and mostly heavyweight passenger railcars, shows no trackage visible adjacent to the REA building on the south side of the terminal, only the yard throat and platform track ladder. On the north side is the roofed shelter with baggage and express carts and a baggage car and express box spotted nearby. The view is on the cover of Gulf Coast Railroading the publication of the Gulf Coast Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, June 1981.
A Sanborn’s Insurance map updated to about 1950 labels that structure on the north side of the terminal as “Mail Shed”. That Sanborn’s map shows no track directly serving the express building on the south side of the terminal.
MR has quite a few layout plans that feature passenger train operation. One that is well suited to passenger operation is “Class I for One Man” – a room size around the wall plan with a major passenger station. John Armstrong designed quite a number of these plans for MR too; most are bigger than your dimensions (in HO) but some would fit.
If you’re committed to HO, go with it. If you’re still in the planning stage, you should consider N scale (as several other contributors have suggested.) You’ll be able to fit in longer passenger trains and also use a radius that will accomodate the longer cars better.
FOUR WORDS:
Staten Island Rapid Transit - The small line owned by a big railroad. Passenger ops consisted of Interurban transit cars and special passenger movements with big B&O power. Freight was also run by the B&O with a fleet of trusty Alco S-2s. It offers an urban setting but isn’t daunting like modeling a major city would be! check out: http://www.nycsubway.org/nyc/sirt/sirt-trackmap.html
On the above passenger layout for a 10 x 12 foot room in N scale…
Operation of full-length passenger cars, especially BACKING into a station, means 18” radius curves in N scale. At that radius, the extra length that turnouts use relative to simple curves will make an wye arrangement almost four feet across. Add about six inches of length to allow the north leg coming off the northbound track to cross the southbound track. If both legs had come off the same mainline, we could have saved about 6 inches in the width across the wye-- but would require “reversing switch” wiring. Straightening out the north leg to allow the freight house lead to cross it without a specially-built curved crossing will add another 5 inches or so. All told, the wye in N scale is 4 feet 4 inches wide from the far end of the north leg turnout to the far end of the south end turnout.
The continuous paired-mainline oval of the layout is designed for one-way right-hand running. The track toward the outside of the layout runs counterclockwise, representing northbound. The track toward the inside is clockwise, southbound. Passenger trains entering the station go PAST the wye, then BACK into the terminal.
Here is a photo taken aboard the Santa Fe/ Amtrak “Super Chief” in 1973, looking back toward the engines as the train backs around the wye into Houston Union Station.
A train can reverse from north to south and vice-versa by going through the wye but it is going in a different direction on a different one-way track. Therefore the polarity of the track does not have to change.
The wye takes up 2 feet of the room length from the far mainline to the yard throat, where passenger platform tracks can begin to diverge. I estimated that allowance for good-length long distance passenger trains would not leave room for an aisle arou
Pick up a copy of Passenger Terminals and Trains, written in the early 1920s as I recall. I have a copy at the other apartment and will try to remember to look up the author (last name started with an “S” I think). There is at least one stub-end plan in the book which could fit along two walls of your space and shows facilities for all aspects of passenger operation. Depending on where your door is, you perhaps could helix up to a second level and a second stub or even a return loop for out-and-back running. I would think even full-length passenger cars could take a 36" radius curve and certainly would make it on 42" radius. That’s a 6-7 ft. diameter and eats most of the internal space, but the terminal, itself, might extend only 30-36 inches from the wall, which gives 24 inches or more of aisle at the narrowest point, with the running portion of the road above your head.
I assume what you have is a spare bedroom. One possibility you might not have explored is stealing the space in the closet, either by tunneling the wall or removing portions of it entirely.
If you want more operation and are wedded to HO, you might consider modeling an “Old West” or “Civil War” theme, which use smaller engines and equipment (or HOn3, which is smaller still). I have seen nice Old West layouts in as little as 5’ by 9’, and I would suspect a Civil War layout featuring troop movements would be a real kick in the pants.
The book cited by “nobullchitbids” is
Droege, John A. Passenger Terminals and Trains originally published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1916. Republished by Kalmbach, Milwaukee, 1969 with a special introduction by George W. Hilton.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No.68-58723.
I don’t believe fleduc ever gave us any details about where the door or doors are in his 10’ x 12’ room. That can make a lot of difference in what can fit.
If the entry door is pretty much in one corner, it allows us to use a lot of the room, with turnback curves or reverse loops taking the layout into the other three corners, and most of the long wall that includes the corner door. Situations A and B.
A door in the middle of one of the long 12’ sides of the room allows the railroad to enter all four corners of the room. Situation C. If the door does not open inward, a duckunder or lift-up section could also be used.
A door in the middle of the shorter 10’ wall would be a problem for an HO passenger layout. A turnback curve with 24" radius curves to handle HO passengeer equipment would take more than four feet of width. It would not fit on either side of the middle-of-the-wall door. It would have to be set back loosing the use of part of the length of the room. Morever, another turnback curve could not be placed on the mirror image other side of the room because it would not leave enough clearance for an aisle. There turns out to be no place for a dogbone turnback curve or reverse loop on the second long wall of the room if such a curve is placed on the other side.
It becomes even more complicated if a pathway must be maintained through the room to a closet or to another room.
My problem train room.
If you are still looking, I’d recommend either of the following that I have considered for passenger/freight operations in N-Scale :
Cajon Pass, Salt Lake & Santa Fe from Linn Wescott’s 101 Track Plan (it is plan # 86). You have to scale it from HO to N but it will definitely fit easily into your area.
Valley Western from May 1975 Model Railroader. It is an N-Scale layout designed for 6 x 9 so it could be easily expanded. I almost used it for my current N-Scale layout since I have a 13 x 14 area. I am using the original Sunset Valley designed by Bruce Chubb.
Sorry I’m late with my input but I only found your question while searching for some info on yards.
If you interested in either of my recommendations and you can’t find them, just let me know and I’ll send you a copy.
You could include two seperate cities with a mainline that goes around the layout for passengers, and freight trains and streetcars on the city streets, and there could be an interchange where the freight cars from the city are set out for the mainline between the two cities
That’s because it isn’t there anymore. Look at the date of that post. That was back before they re-designed the website.
Now:
*go to the main Trains.com page.
*In the right side column, about the center of the page is a box labled “Trains.com Resources”.
*Inside that box is the “Index of Magazines”.
*From that page one will have to select the big link in the center of the page. I have no idea why they don’t eliminate that page unless it is switching servers or something.
Now you are in the old pages so find the “For Trackplan” on the left side.
Ha, how funny. This must have been one of SpaceMouse’s earlier posts. It has been inspirational seeing a Hogwart’s newbie become a person of good reputation.
Both this and the prior post makes me wonder if I should go back and change things that I have posted in error or have change through the years. I’ve always left them because I thought if I changed them people would think I was trying to hide or deny I had been wrong. But if someone doesn’t notice the date or finish reading the thread (because someone usually corrects you), it could be a source of misinformation… Hmmm.
For anyone interested in looking at Passenger Terminals and Trains, Google Books has the full book available since it’s now out of copyright. You can look at it page by page on the site or download it as a PDF.
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