What should the space be between the tracks in a freight yard?
I also would like to know how does a train on a turntable get power from the main line through to the roundhouse.
thanks billy
The routable get the power from the Bus wire which send power to the track of mainline and stuff also. Here’s Diagram, a bit rough but you should get the point. 
This is how I’ve always done yard track spacing. Put down one track in about the middle of the yard. Now put down two more tracks, one on either side. Get three boxcars and put one on each track, side by side. Reach down from above and try lift out the middle car without touching the other two cars. Keep moving the outer tracks out until you can do this with equal clearance on both sides. Once you can get the middle car without touching the other two, stop and measure the distance between tracks. You now have the perfect yard track spacing for your size hands, which is the most important measurement of all. You’ll be using the old 0-5-0 switcher in the yard a lot more than you think and it it’s really annoying when you knock over about 15 cars while trying to move one car. [:)]
Thanks for the great tip, nice and simple.
[#ditto]
That’s the same way I plan out my sidings and stub tracks if they’re going to be close.
Another thing to consider (especially if you are into operations) is the ability to read the car numbers on the sides of cars in the yard. This will be a function of how close your yard is to eye level and how far back from the front edge of the layout the yard tracks are.
-George
With my classification yard I used a spacing of 13 feet. With the prototype you wouldn’t go along and read car numbers. You can read the first car and know which cut it is.
This is what my class yard looks:
You see the car card piles for each class track at the board below.
Wolfgang