Agreed
As has been noted, itās a space compromise needed for mrr. We donāt have the luxury of placing things lengthwise along the benchwork, we have to stack the components from front edge to the backdrop in order to fit the entire thing on the layout.
Itās the same thing with towns along the line or switching layouts where the common design is to place spurs all along a runaround in order to cram them into the available length of bench work. In reality, most spurs come right off of the mainline and the runaround is standing alone maybe half a mile or a few miles away from the spurs.
We have to layer elements from the edge of the benchwork to the backdrop. That is a conceptual way of looking at it. The books may have stated it more abstractly and less anecdotally.
My HOn3 main yard is similar to yours except that the stub ended classification yard is on what amounts to a switchback. It isnāt built to completion yet, but the trains will come in from the right with the A&D tracks on the left and the classification yard on the right. The main line coming in from the mountains is behind the classification yard on the right, the A&D tracks are on the left in front with an āindustrialā area (it is a narrow gauge railroad so industrial is a bit of a stretch) behind them. Putting the yard on the right in front of the main line gave me more main line and I was able to incorporate a generous switching lead between the A&D/industrial tracks and the yard. Was there a prototype like this? I donāt know, but I think it will work. It takes up 30 feet of linear space, but keeps quite a bit of main line in that 30 feet. It also puts the yard within a very reachable distance as well as local switching.
i overlooked the section in Armstrongās book where he discussed hump yards. He has a large diagram showing a yard with both east and west: receiving yard, classsification tracks and departure track and states that itās typically impractical on a model layout.
but he does describe a hump yard suitable on a layout arranged as a wye with a common receiving yard and stub-ended classification tracks. The longer classification tracks are used as departure tracks.
Neal, nice looking yard. Well done.
Regards, Chris
One important factor in respect to model railroad yards not mentioned here (unless I missed it) is you have to consider the length (I.e. the number of cars) of your normal trains you want to run on the layout. 20ā yards are great, but if you normally run 12 car trains then 15ā-20ā is a bit overkill. I think your overall available space dictates your track plan, which dictates your average train length. From there you can consider how long a yard you need. Just my thoughts.
Regards, Chris
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I touched on this a little in my posts. I run long trains, I designed my layout for long trains, partly at the expense of building more different āfeaturesā. My main interest is 1950ās Class 1 mainline operations.
My trains are typically in the 40 car range, still selectively compressed from the 70-100 car trains common in my era and region. My one visible yard, and all my staging tracks are in the 20ā and longer range.
Sheldon
someone else pointed this out. my longest yard tracks are 92 and 84" which i plan to use as departure tracks for trains to staging. arrival track needs similar length. my locals just need ~6 cars
Or bulldozed.
it was replaced with an Apex Automated Switching sytem
And it is no longer a hump yard.
Mini-hump - still uses gravity, just more slowly. Donāt you remember the video from the beginning of this thread?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u42WhNPUkGw&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD
Slower than the Carly Simon ketchup commercial, though. The sedate-looking action has been sped up 2x, too.
They noted that a similar arrangement will be put in at Willard and Hamlet, so even slow itās a perceived improvement on flat switching.
A hillbilly hump.
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Pretty common term for a hump yard that loses its retarders and becomes a steep ladder.
I do, however as far as the railroad is concerned it isnāt a hump yard. Regardless of what a YouTuber calls it.
then what is the technical term for what it is
Hemidemisemihump yard?
Someone pointed out in the comments that Cumberland could handle 3000 cars per day as a full hump yard. I wonder what the Apexicized version manages?
More efficient how?
Iām guessing $$$$
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