Im in the process of planing my layout its going to be 8x8 shelf layout shelf width from 36 in to 20in possibly
Transition era
Double main line
i have 3 or 4 different passenger car sets that i want to run
My question is where should the coach yard be?
i plan to have 1 possibly 2 small stations on the layout
thanks in advance
What scale? O, S, HO or N (to name a few) will need very different arrangements. How long are the passenger car trains? That’s probably going to be the single biggest factor in deciding where you can put staging. Also, is this a continuous loop or point-to-point layout. If it’s a loop, you can bring the trains on anywhere. For a point-to-point, you need to consider staging at both ends.
The 36-inch width could be a problem. Most of us try to keep the maximum “reach distance” under 30 inches. Scenery can go further back, but only if it doesn’t need to be “maintained.”
Small stations look kind of silly with long passenger trains, by the way. You may want to think about longer platforms. The building itself doesn’t have to be big, but a 6-car set of heavyweights pulling up at an 8-inch station platform makes you wonder how the rest of the passengers get off.
Andy Sperandeo did a neat shelf layout plan based on New Orleans’ union depot a few years ago that you might want to track down. I believe it was in his book on passenger train operations.Something along those lines might work for you.
I assume that you are modeling HO scale. I would have staging tracks at each end of a point to point layout. One other question I would ask is the length of your passenger car sets. You might have to have 2 tracks per set. Also, I would be concerned about the overall length of your mainline including the staging tracks on an 8 x 8 layout. Good luck. I am modeling the N&W and Southern Railway during the 1950’s. I plan to have point to point layout with staging tracks at each end. The mainline run will be about 150 feet not including the staging tracks.
I am assuming you are talking N scale. I am new at this, but it came down to wants desires and needs.
Some of those were being able to pull off the mains and onto the siding and rest at a station. Keeping the mains open. But in doing so, those turnouts take up needed space. By at least one car. So having an Arrival / Departure area was fine, since my layout is larger than most.
Also I wanted to have a yard lead long enough to help / cheat and have even longer lines of liners.
And I wanted to be able to pull of the mains and go straight to the Yard lead.
I also wanted a train/liner to be able to pull off to the A/D track and then have access to pick up some freight also, then pull out again. Or to have a train pull in… detach for the arrival… and hook up to another set of liners… and take off again.
Now thats not to say I got all this… but in some cases I had to settle for one side.
I was warned by a friend saying the shorter the turnouts… the more problems you might have with liners going over short turnouts. So… I went and bought the longest turnouts as possible.
Then again take into consideration the turnouts can cause a derailment… so I placed re-railers here and there… after/before the turnouts to aid in keep the liners on track. Then again… the re-railers should have some function other than that in terms of having actual roads where the turnouts are.
But in short… to answer your question… I would say… no mater what… if N Scale… having a nice station and a yard… you would need a minimum of four feet. I guess it also depends on how long you want to run the liners. But just guessing… even with a four feet designated area… a minimum of four f
i am running ho scale sorry i forgot to put that in there and i am running a continous loop
My dimensions are bit different than yours, but I’m also in HO and this is what I ended up doing.
(Yeah, I know the tracks don’t connect, but this is for planning purposes only.) The vertical rectangle at the bottom is my original Phase 1 layout, 5 feet by 12 feet. The horizontal part at the top is Phase 2, 19 feet long by 2 1/2 wide, with a bubble at the left side for the loop.
I wanted something like staging, but I don’t have the space for hidden tracks, and I didn’t want to go with a helix. So, I built the 4-track, double-ended staging yard at the top. This could be hidden, if desired, but I chose to leave it open. I have a number of tall buildings that will go in front of the yard, partially hiding it from view.
Any of the tracks can function as either storage or through tracks. The front one will have a passenger station and platforms. There is a reverse loop shown in the upper left, and the original Phase 1 section has another reverse loop which I didn’t bother to diagram. The loops face in opposite directions, so I can turn a train and bring it into the big yard from either direction.
Here’s one more shot.
I know in the very early stages I actually lined up some cars and rails. I just had to see it. On paper yes… but its still nice to see it.
For me… I’m a person that has to see it.
I wanted to actually see how much room even the rails took.
I guess the one thing you have to take into consideration. Liners take up space.
Keith
Keith that looks good looking forward to more progress
Thank you to everybody who has replied
As for staging should my coach staging be beside my freight yard or off to its self or near my car shop?
What do you think the word “staging” means in the context of model railroading?
Do you understand the difference between a coach yard and staging tracks?
Stein
I’m not sure we’re all talking about the same thing here. In general, true staging is not part of the “visible” layout, although it may actually be on the same level, in the same room etc. True staging has no purpose other than to hold trains before they are “introduced” to the layout and after they “depart” for the Mysterious East, the Deep South, the Wild West or the Frozen North.
That’s not to say that you can’t put scenery on and around the tracks that you use for staging. If you do, though, there are those who will say it’s now a yard, not staging. By this definition, the “staging yard” that I described above is not staging at all, although I might use it that way operationally.
It sounds like you might actually be thinking about what the prototype would call a “coach yard.” If you really are interested in passenger operations, this might be something to consider in your plans. There might be a “car wash” to spiff up the exteriors. (Walthers makes these.) There would likely be a commisary where the diners would be refreshed, too. Along with this, consider some sort of depot for express freight, like Railway Express, that would be carried as “head end” traffic on fast passenger trains.
I mean coach yard excuse the terminolgy
Let me restate my question
where should my coach yard be ?
Close to the big city passenger station where most of your passenger trains starts their run, ends their run, or drops off or picks up a significant number of passenger cars.
If you are interested in modeling prototypical passenger train operations, have a look at Tony Koester’s book “Realistic Model Railroad Operations”. It (among other things) describe passenger and head end express goods/mail handling at a passenger station (Argentine Passenger Depot) at one of Chuck Hitchcock’s former layouts.
If you are not interested in prototype-similar operations, just stick a couple of single ended tracks somewhere on your layout, and declare that to be the coach yard.
Stein