I am starting my yard and i have all my tracks spaced 2 1/2" from center to center .but it still seems real close maybe a 1/2 " space betwine cars that are side by side .that seems real close to me but i am new to yard thing so i thought i would ask some of you .
i have 2 A/D tracks and 3 class tracks 1 run around + 3 loco survsing and a caboose track
so what track spaceing do you guys use ? or do you think 2 1/2 " center to center is good ?
You don’t say what scale, but in any scale its good practice to make the spacing wide enough so you can pluck a car from a middle track without disturbing the cars on either side.
i am sorry its HO scale
On either side of my main I have 19’ to the A/D and the Passenger station siding., then 24’ from the passenger track to the house track for head end cars. On the other side I have 16 ft. between the A/D and the first classification track. Then 3 more class tracks at 13 ft. centers.
Also note that you may want to be able to read the reporting marks if you intend to get into switching.
Have fun
Well remember that 0.5" is about 3.5 HO scale feet. So prototypically it is fine. I normally run many tracks at 2 and 2.25" separation. Since it is a yard, if you want finger space to pick up the cars you might need a bit more. Also, as someone else mentioned, if you want to look down and actually be able to read the numbers on the side of the car you might need some more space (especially since light can’t get down a tight space so easily either). I think our club ran the main yard at 2.75" separation just for those reasons.
On your layout it sounds like it would be plenty of space. If you would to check out my yard. My web site is http://waltersrails.tripod.com/ if that doesn’t work e-mail me and i could help u out more. waltersrails@yahoo.com .
Your web site doesn’t exist. [:(]
Sorry my wed site is http://ztrainman.tripod.com/
I think 2-1/2" is a pretty wide spacing for yard tracks in HO scale. That’s a little over 18 feet part in scale, while prototype yard tracks are usually less than 16 feet apart. In my book, “The Model Railroader’s Guide to Freight Yards,” I show an example of an HO yard with tracks on scale 14-foot centers, which is about 1.9". There’s adequate clearance and you can get more tracks into a given width. Thirteen-foot centers would be fine for straight tracks.
Don’t be misled about being able to read car numbers in the middle of a yard. You don’t need to do that any more than than they do on the real thing. The important thing is to use paper work or car cards that show the order in which cars stand on the track. If there’s a mistake in a list of some cards get out of order, use a switch engine to pull the track and see how the cars really stand. That’s what a real yard crew would do.
So long,
Andy
I use 2" for yard spacing. That’s about 14 1/2 scale feet. It also works well enough on my 30 inch and larger radius curves, but I do have to watch for sideswiping on the curved yard tracks with long passenger cars.
I had a large yard with tracks on 1 3/4 " centers. It worked well for over 30 years. My current yard is built with 2" centers so there is less chance of pinning cars on adjacent tracks in a slight derailment. If need be, cars can be picked up by the roof edges. I find my operators recognize many cars just by looking at the roof. That’s real on-the-job concentration!
Andy’s right: Prototype railroads use as little as 16 feet of separation on mains, 13 feet in yards. The only problem you might have is on curves – because prototype curves are flatter, their centers can be closer together. You did not mention what length of equipment you were running or if you had any curved yards. Sharp curves – say in the 24" to 28" range – may require as much as 2.5 inches of separation.
i am trying to stay in the late 70s so any car you might find on the rails at that time but no passinger cars
Yard track spacing is generally not a problem with straight, stub end, yard tracks. What is the recommended spacing for paralllel curved tracks?
ok guys thank you for all your replys and good info. i’ll just keep pressing on as the idea i get is that 2 1/2" spaceing is ok