At the club I belong to,we’ve decided to completely redesign our train yard as trying to correct obvious design flaws one by one looks like an endless venture.So we are going to tear it down completely and start with a clean slate.We’ve redesigned a part of the layout lately so that we have good flexibility to adapt to almost any yard design,in some cases with temporary trackage.
Now we are discussing,kind of brainstorming,to try to figure out what would be the best design for a great operating yard.I’m wondering if someone on this forum could help us by suggesting such a plan.We’d like to have an A/d track or two,a runaround track for a switcher,a service track also would be nice,along as as many storage/assembly tracks as possible.
We are working in “N” scale and our future yard will be 12 ft. long by 3 ft. wide and we already have planned a roundhouse/turntable assy. outside this area so that this area is completely clear(and flat) for the yard.Comments welcomed and appreciated.Thanks.
Look up some back issues of MR for articles by Dave Barrow on Yard throats. It sounds like you are on the right track (no pun intended, eh?) One thought …you mentioned a runaround track beside the ladder track, how about adding a third at one end of the yard for a FIFO caboose track… In the olden days (50’s-60’s) the conductor (my stepdad was a 22 year cond’r on SP) was assigned a particular caboose and when he came in from a run it was tacked onto one end of a string of them. As each train crew came in it was repeated to the point that when he came up for another run his caboose was ready at the end of rhe string. Anyway, if you put it at the end away from the engine service, that will provide for some action and will differentiate one end of the yard from the other, eh?
Sounds like a nice sized space for N. You should be able to get quite a bit into that space. What is the rest of the layout like? Is this a terminal end to your railroad, or will you be wanting to represent trains going in both directions? Is this 3’ wide section against a wall or out in the open with access from both sides? If it is a peninsula, maybe a view block down the center, with arrival and departure tracks on one side, and classification tracks on the other. Both could be double ended, connected by a curve on the end. Something like this:
I recall a site called “The Ten Commandments of Yard Design” or some such, but haven’t been able to find it. Maybe you’ll have better luck. I think it was hosted by a veteranerian on a vets website, but can’t seem to find it now.
