I am trying to fine tune my plans for a layout and was wondering if I sould have a staging yard. My space is limited so putting one in would be a chalenge, but I do not want to skimp on operation.
Alex in the sooner state[4:-)]
I think the addition of a staging yard or yards adds so much to the operation of a model railroad that I voted for necessary. I didn’t use to believe this, but running my railroad with any staging convinced me.
Staging yards give you the ability to simulate “The rest of the world” Trains move out of staging onto the modeled part of your railroad, do their work, whether that’s switching cars at modeled industries or highballing across the layout, and then exit into staging. They can spend as much or as little time on the railroad as you want. The point is they have someplace to come from and someplace to go to.
Staging also gives you a place other than on the layout proper to store trains. It doesn’t take long, especially with a small or medium sized layout to fill the passing sidings, yard tracks and industry tracks with trains and rolling stock which can make it very hard and a lot less fun to run trains. Physically moving locomotives and rolling stock on and off the railroad is one answer but it’s not much fun and there is always the possibility of breaking something.
Staging doesn’t have to take a lot of space. Stub ended staging can be quite narrow (depends on how many tracks you want or need) and long enough to hold your normal length train plus the length of the ladder tracks.
Hope this helps,
Tom Watkins
As in so many things, it depends on what you are trying to accomplish and how much room you have to do it in. I have some on my current layout because I like to run trains on the mainline, but if I was modeling a shortline I might not need them.
Enjoy
Paul
I believe it is so necessary that I even included it on a small 3’-6" by 5’-6" N scale layout which is currently in storage. It wasn’t much, just a one-track siding long enough to hold a complete train, but having it enabled me to place one train into “orbital” operation (i.e. traversing the continuous-run loop) while letting me operate the mine turn in an out-an-back fashion, proceeding from the staging track to the mine and then back, all while dealing with the “mainline traffic”.
At the very least, this track gave me a hidden place to physically swap out equipment, which was excellent during the train shows to which I took the layout. So, I hope you will consider adding at least one full train-length siding somwhere, and make sure it is accessible. If you can manage more, then do add them; I recently spent a LOT of time trying to design my stacked staging yards in such a way that I could get six tracks instead of five in each, while still being able to access them. Was it critical to get that sixth track? No, not strictly, but when I begin operating I’m sure I’ll come up with a schedule which calls for six through trains in each direction, just because I’ve got the space for them.
Check out some English model raliroad layouts. The staging and fiddle yards take up more space than the “modeled” area. Railway Modeler is an awesome magazine for those who don’t have alot of space. It’s interesting to see just how different modeling is done in England. The more I see of English model railroading the more I like their ideas and approach to operations.
Avondaleguy has a good idea.
I have a similar design planned for my layout. Two 12’ long shelves 12" wide as part of a bookshelf that should be able to handle 6 HO scale tracks each.
I’m also lucky enough to have enough space on the benchwork to allow a 2 track staging yard under the scenery to allow for an interchange with another railroad as well as the MEC branchline I’m in the process of building.
Gordon
although i don’t have a layout yet i’ve seen some yards and think its the coolest thing. i thought it was pretty stupid to have but a lot of the action on railroads happens there and it just seems exciting to have something like that. i plan on having a small 4x8 layout and i’m thinking about having just 2 main lines and then 1-2 industries and the just one big yard. i don’t know yet but i think if you are going to have a larger layout and want to have realism in it you should have a yard or something similar to that. just adds to the layout and makes it look a lot better.
I consider staging to be essential, in all but the largest of railroad empires, allowing you to model ‘the rest of the network’.
this allows you to store trains offscene so you can add a bit of variety to the stock running around the layout.
Heres a link to the ‘fiddle yards’ on my OO British outline North Eastern Railway layout.
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/jon-grant/aah
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/jon-grant/aai
The 10 tracks in each yard are mounted on a sliding bench to save space and cost of installing 9 points/switches.
Hope this helps
Jon
Ok, now I have another question. Should I build a british style shelf layout with stub ended fiddle yards or a dog bone type plan with a through staging yard ? Thanks
Alex in the sooner state
Guys,
Because of the room size and the way the layout is configured I was forced to put the staging tracks under the layout. One is under the yard, the other is at the other end of the layout under the mainline. I can access thaem through doors in the facia board, but boy are they a pain.
I’m going to have a yard on my layout. It’s a must have for me, I’d to do like switching in addition to my continues run.
I’m in the process of designing a new layout that will definately include staging. On my current layout, i have no staging and I sure wish I did. Hope this helps you.
Noah[:P][:)][(-D][(-D][:P][:P]
I have a number of 3 ft ‘cassettes’ made of pink foam that can be fitted to the stub sidings. Using 3 pieces of foam glued together to make a U section holder for track that is strong and light. I have a rerailer track in each cassete. This is an easy way to remove, reverse, change and store trains and put them back in service without manhandling. and it doesn’t use up valuable layout space. You only need the room for one cassette, the others are stored on shelves.
Even if I had room for staging, I would use it to make more layout! All I need is a few lines for storage.
My interchange is planned as a removable shelf that the trains will run onto, and from. I too consider the “rest of the world” essential, and so try to arrange some way to get there. [8D]
To be precise, I would say that staging is “strongly preferred.” It depends a lot on the type of layout and the configuration of the room you have to work with.
My layout is in the process of being rebuilt and the new version will feature a pair of tracks for staging and fiddling. The layout sections are typically 24" deep and I split one of these into a 6" section for staging and an 18" section for operation using a low backdrop. Reducing the depth of one section to 18" doesn’t affect the operating potential if long, narrow structures are used.
Charles
Hillsburgh Ontario
I didn’t vote. up until this point I didn’t need staging. But after reading a few articles in MR I’m leaning in the direction of staging. Now you’ve got me thinking. I do need staging, I just don’t know where I’m going to lead it in or where I’m going to find the real estate, This could be interesting. But i’m at the stage that I will need staging.
Now where did I put that chain saw?
I am putting in two lines of staging on the outside edge of my U shaped layout behind buildings or a low background. I am not planning on main line operation mostly industrial switching, interchange switching and yard breakdown.
Staging is absolutely ESSENTIAL for “good operation” on a model RR. YOu can run trains all day long just fine without it, but if you want to “operate”, you have to have staging. None of us (not even the Chicago MSI) have the room to model an entire railroad system, so we all need staging to represent “the rest of the world”. Staging can be as simple as one double-ended siding that ducks behind a backdrop, or it can be a giant double-ended yard at each end of a point-to-point layout. Now that I’ve built a layout with staging, I’ll never build one without, because it gives the movement of my trains PURPOSE, by allowing me to model “the rest of the world” in a matter of feet.
I like Lightbender’s Cassette approach!
For those who don’t have space for a dedicated train-length stub yard, you could build instead a little stub siding out the front of your benchwork, looking like a sawtooth in plan, with a 3" wide shelf where the cassettes plug in. Your staging is in front of the fascia, in other words. You park a train, then pick up its cassette and store it below the layout, taking out another to plug in. The difficulty will be in securing the trains once cradled; perhaps some sort of foam-covered clamping sides would work. This probably isn’t a good idea for very long trains (in my case I want to run 8-9 foot long trains, about 25 cars in N-scale), but if your trains are four feet or under, maybe it makes sense.