I came up with an interesting (to me at least) idea… When you design your yards, why not run a second ladder the otherway? This would absorb much of the “scenery” (or “wasted”) space, and possibly double your yard capacity.
If my description isn’t clear, I’ll come up with a picture to show it off…
I think I know what your talking about. Basiclly a second ladder would start at the top of the first, going the oposite direction. A lot of large yards have that for east-west or inbound-outbound trains.
Like this?
Link to pic: http://hometown.aol.com/ohiorailroader/ladder.jpg
I whipped this up pretty quickly in Photoshop.
It is an interesting idea and has been used as the basis of small switching trackplans for years as a way to maximize switching, operations, and car capacity in a limited space. One variation is to have one ladder track on the diagonal and to have the other ladder track be the one parallel to the edge with its classification tracks on the diagonal. Carstens track planning book has an interesting variation on this idea for 4x8 sheet of plwood to get a point to point layout with a turntable as well.
Enjoy
Paul
That’s what I was thinking of, OHRRer. (I hope you don’t mind me abbreviating your name.)
OK, thought it was. And no, I don’t mind at all, lol.
If I had built 2 4’ long or 6’ long modules, instead of a single 4’, I probably would have built a yard using that design.
If you’re not forced to conserve space (such as with a samll modular layout) the double yard ladder arrangement doesn’t really gain you anything, at least for a classification yard. Having ladders in opposing directions introduces the need for extra runaround moves either when classifying or retrieving cars from the body tracks, delaying the working of trains. Since yards can become bottlenecks anyway, creating more work usually isn’t adviseable (which is why there are very few prototype yards designed this way). Broadly speaking, most prototype yards are double ended with mirror-image ladders at opposite ends.
On the other hand, if you like the arrangement for your own layout and are having fun with it, more power to you![:D]
Instead of running a ladder the other way from your yard, consider using the space for an engine service area. It won;t use up the space in the same way but will provide visitors something to look at.
I came up with an interesting (to me at least) idea… When you design your yards, why not run a second ladder the otherway? This would absorb much of the “scenery” (or “wasted”) space, and possibly double your yard capacity.
If my description isn’t clear, I’ll come up with a picture to show it off…
I think I know what your talking about. Basiclly a second ladder would start at the top of the first, going the oposite direction. A lot of large yards have that for east-west or inbound-outbound trains.
Like this?
Link to pic: http://hometown.aol.com/ohiorailroader/ladder.jpg
I whipped this up pretty quickly in Photoshop.
It is an interesting idea and has been used as the basis of small switching trackplans for years as a way to maximize switching, operations, and car capacity in a limited space. One variation is to have one ladder track on the diagonal and to have the other ladder track be the one parallel to the edge with its classification tracks on the diagonal. Carstens track planning book has an interesting variation on this idea for 4x8 sheet of plwood to get a point to point layout with a turntable as well.
Enjoy
Paul
That’s what I was thinking of, OHRRer. (I hope you don’t mind me abbreviating your name.)
OK, thought it was. And no, I don’t mind at all, lol.
If I had built 2 4’ long or 6’ long modules, instead of a single 4’, I probably would have built a yard using that design.
If you’re not forced to conserve space (such as with a samll modular layout) the double yard ladder arrangement doesn’t really gain you anything, at least for a classification yard. Having ladders in opposing directions introduces the need for extra runaround moves either when classifying or retrieving cars from the body tracks, delaying the working of trains. Since yards can become bottlenecks anyway, creating more work usually isn’t adviseable (which is why there are very few prototype yards designed this way). Broadly speaking, most prototype yards are double ended with mirror-image ladders at opposite ends.
On the other hand, if you like the arrangement for your own layout and are having fun with it, more power to you![:D]
Instead of running a ladder the other way from your yard, consider using the space for an engine service area. It won;t use up the space in the same way but will provide visitors something to look at.
