While waiting for several books on yard design and operations to come in the mail, worked up a plan fitting into the space I have coming available soon. So here it is for everbody to look over. Welcome suggestions, ideas, pointing out errors, ect.
Area available along wall is 19’, planned benchwork to be 24" to 30" deep. Room is 8’ across.
Thanks for looking!
It looks like you have a good start there. I am not a prototype modeler so I would have to check the books to be sure also, but like I said, it looks good to me from what I remember being in the reference material I have.
O:
It looks like a great yard, actually. You seem to have thought of everything, although somebody with more skill than I have might point stuff out. But it looks like you have everything there. What’s that short stub track at upper right, though? Switcher pocket? Place to store MW equipment?
I don’t think you need those books on yard design!
I especially like the switcher pocket, and the extra crossover so the switcher can get at a newly-arrived (or about to depart) train on the A/D track closest to the classification stubs without a switchback move.
The extra length of the bottommost track is the logical place to park stored engines. That way, you can have two ‘first in/first out’ caboose tracks.
All in all, a very operable plan. I hope I can do as well in about the same amount of space but with a busy passenger station included.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
A very workable plan. Here are suggestions for “improvement.”
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Simplify the trackage where the yard lead and A/D tracks meet. The ladder track should have a “straight” shot toward the main. Eliminate the cross-over joining the two A/D tracks and join them with a single, right-handed turnout from the inside (from the perspective of the operator/aisle space) A/D track. Use a double-slip switch where the inside A/D track meets the ladder track. Keep the locomotive pocket.
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Have service tracks for the engines. Get rid of the large three-track locomotive-shop building (not an effective use of space) and model a two-track, engine-service area there (fuel, sand, etc.) Locos can also be stored there between use. Move the inside third track a little further away from the other two tracks and place an open-sided structure over it for making minor locomotive repairs.
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Add some yard-related facilities that will mostly be universal “industries.” (A.) Add a spur for delivering products needed for locomotive servicing and repair. (B.) Make one of the two double-ended spurs you designated for caboose and locomotive storage (you won’t need locomotive storage there if you follow suggestion 2) into a weight-scale track. (C.) Add a couple of spurs at the left end of the yard for (i) car cleaning and (ii) car repair.
Mark
Thanks for the replys!
Mark, great ideas, appreciate the help and suggestions. Wasn’t shure about the double slip working. Using RTS for the track plan and its not in Atlas’s track products. May be a good reason to try building own trackwork. Never stop learning new things in this hobby do you! LOL
Thanks again.
Use the 12 degree crossing to simulate the DS in the RTS program if you are using #4 turnouts. Peco makes a nice DS. Whatever DS you get, get most of the turnouts for the yard throat and leads so you can lay it out full size before you comit to fastening things down. The DS also has to match the turnouts. If you use #6 TOs, use a #6 DS. Same with #4s. I am using the Peco 12 degree DS which matches up to #4 TOs.
Couple of things off the cuff…
The drill track should be “functionally” isolated from the rest of the service tracks. Right off the bat their are quite a few moves that will interrupt a continuous flow of classification.
An example being getting a road locomotive from the A/D tracks to servicing. As it is a road loco has to make 3 or 4 moves to get serviced and in the process it needs to travel on the drill track, through the caboose/loco tracks and finally to the service area.
I’d flip loco servicing and storage to the North side of the drill that way locos can go straight from the A/D tracks to the servicing area without fouling the drill.
Ideally the only loco ever on the drill should be the switcher classifying cars.
Good suggestions all. Will work on plan as time permits this week and see what can be done to make changes. Thanks everbody for the help!
You bring up a pretty solid point. And it’s been a flaw in my yard design also, i.e. having the engine servicing area in a place where the engines entering and exiting would interfere with any sort of yard switching. And it’s an issue I’ve seen on a great many model railroads.
yup, that was my comment as well. A switcher drilling a train blocks almost everything. Likewise moving a loco and or caboose to/from the appropriate tracks clogs up the classification job.
The problem is Zepher is how do you fix it?
One person suggested moving the locomotive servicing area north or to the other side of the main-- I don’t know if that’s a good idea for several reasons:
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The locomotive servicing area is typically a focal point for many layouts. It’s where you display your power. [:)] And moving it away from the viewer (if that’s indeed the case) sorta takes away from visual appeal of that part of the layout.
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Moving it to the other side of the main would also cause some potential traffic concerns with the main itself as engines are brought back & forth across the main from/to the servicing area to the arrival/departure tracks.
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From a realism/safety standpoint I’m not sure a railroad would want personnel to have to repeatedly cross the main (walking or running! [:D]) in order to get from the yard complex to the engine servicing area.
This is a pretty nice yard design! Good job!
What (imo) is good…
- Trains can arrive/depart the A/D tracks without fouling the drill track
- The A/D tracks and body track lengths appear to be compatible with each other.
- Caboose track.
What (imo) could be improved (suggestions brought to you free and they may well be worth what they cost you)…
The drill track has no direct access to the main track. This means any train hitting the yard to do a block swap has to use one of the A/D tracks. Not a big deal if the yard is lightly utilized or trains don’t block swap there (only are created or terminate).
Is there a need for a run-around track? (only if cars will be delivered to the engine facility (diesel, sand, parts, etc). The track next to the caboose track could serve that purpose.
Someone else mentioned that a 3 stall engine house seems a bit large. I’d second that notion. Two stalls and some external service stuff might be better.
Wouild the complexity of the A/D tracks/drill track/crossover to main be significantly reduced if the caboose track were moved left and the main line crossover were moved right? Would this end up allowing another crossover providing drill track access to the main track?
How are you envisioning the use of the pocket track?
- If it’s to hold the switch engine then its unnecessary (the switcher can hide in the drill track).
- If it’s a place for eastbound (to the right) engines to cut off before moving to the engine facility they would need to back out of the pocket beyond the 1st drill track crossover, then move foward onto the drill track, then back down either the runaround or the yard ladder, then foward again to the engine facility. In this case it might be easier to just pull the engine foward onto the drill track.
- If it’s a place for an engine (or caboose) to be cut off so a block swap can be performed then it wouild seem more worthwhile. I’ve fo
I wouldn’t. Yes, clogging will be a prob;em. But, at any given tiime, only one swticher will be drilling. It;s small enough area that 2 engines moving is a problem (from having worked an operations seesion with a similar design) The way around is for the switcher to wait for the engine to clear the switch then start working. But if he;s the only op, he has to park the engine anyway. If there’s two, the other g
UPDATE
First off, Thanks to everybody for suggestions, ideas, and kind words.
I haven’t been doing this long enough to get into actual operations and ideas from people that have been there-done that, are really eye opening. It is a great deal of help.
Anyway, downloaded XTrkCad, ( What a learning curve on that! ), and took another shot at the yard plan. Hopefully you can see it, like to never got anything that was uploadable. May have to download to your computer and use another picture program to see it very well.
The first design was better, more straight forward. You are trying to do too much in too little space. Just replace the diesel shop with two tracks and have a fuel rack and sand tower between them.
Dave H.
I agree. The servicing area of the yard has the complexity of a “division point” type of yard, but the small number of classification tracks doesn’t IMO, balance out that large servicing area.
To me the original plan represented a nice solid, in-between division point type of yard, that wouldn’t break-down and assemble each and every train that passes through but only select trains that have cars that would be going to the various industries represented by the rest of the layout.
If you must have a rip track, make one track in the engine facility the rip track and make the engine facility only one track. Put the tracks on 3 or 4 inch centers to make it look right. If you have to have a scale track put the scale on on the of the two “caboose” tracks.
Dave H.
MichaelWinicki, dehusman Are you looking at the same plan as I’am?
Basically cleaned up the drill lead switches, done away with loco shop and made minor repair and fuel island to right side of plan. Keeps locos from running thur yard.
May be good idea on weight track, just redo the waycar trackage and add it to them.
Area that was loco shop in 1st plan was made into extra storage, special cars, MOW equipment, ect.
Also think RIP track would work better closer to yard area instead of in loco fuel and repair area.
Again, everybody, Thanks for input.
Yep. First plan was better.
Dave H.