Input needed on a planned staging yard

[Edmunds]

Hi all!

Your input appreciated on the attached plan for a lower lever staging yard. The grey area is the available space use of which I am trying to maximize. The layout have built so far can take rather short trains, so the staging yard is also planned for many short trains.

... link to the page with a picture

Shoot! :)

Thank you,

/Edmunds

[Anonymous]

I dont know about you but those switches are going to be a PAIN. It would take you all day to deploy a train out of that yard.

Keeping track of all of those points is going to have me running from the house screaming for versed.

I will say that trackwork is pretty brave for what you are trying to do with it.

Staging yards are supposed to be simple arent they?

[BlueHillsCPR]

thats pretty intense alright.

 

[SpaceMouse]

With 8 double slips, that Fast Tracks Jig should be looking mighty good about now.

[concretelackey]

My thoughts- drop almost all the double slips, add a single double slip where the 2 yards meet at the upper left as well as another main leading out (same corner) with a crossover for escape.

[Don Z]

Edmunds,

I would eliminate the row of double slips. The only thing they accomplish is to shorten the staging tracks leading to the right. I drew through the elimination suggestion in red:

Don Z. 

[dehusman]

You will regret building that plan every operating session.

The key to staging is simplicity.  Lose all the double slips.  Keep the ladders very simple.  Keep the switches as close to the front or edge as you can for maintenance.

Dave H.

[MisterBeasley]

What era are you running, and how long are your cars and engines?

If you're running modern era, then you can get away with bringing a train in, running the engines around to the other end, and bringing it out again.  Any other time and you've got to deal with getting the caboose around.  If this is a lower-level without much access, that could be a problem.  Steam engines need to be rotated, too.

Likewise, running passenger trains will also have direction issues, with boat-tail observation cars and head-end baggage cars to contend with.

I would save all those double-slips for something like a large passenger terminal, when the trackwork can be appreciated and even used effectively.  Staging should be simple.  Maybe even use 3-way turnouts to get longer sidings.  If you can't put a whole train on a siding, it's too short for staging.

[B&Le]

That looks very complex, I think it would take a long time to get a train out. But its your railroad.

[Jake1210]

You will regret building that plan every operating session.

The key to staging is simplicity.  Lose all the double slips.  Keep the ladders very simple.  Keep the switches as close to the front or edge as you can for maintenance.

Dave H.

 

Or have no ladders at all. Use a traverser table(s). I am using two 6' 6" 5 track ones on my layout, and they give me 52' of storage/staging (The middle track isn't used as it is a dispatch/through track)

 

My staging yard:

And it only takes up 4" of aisle space when used. (Will not be the case on one with more tracks) Which is never for a very long time anyway.

[loathar]

I can't see any practical reason for all the double slips.

[Edmunds]

Guys, this was the type of feedback I was hopping for!
Thank you all.

Now some questions on your answers.

I have often heard the term escape track, but have never understood the meaning of it in full. Could you please explain? It is either my english or understanding trains, or both ...

Difficulty to access is, true. I will try to re-design in a way all the turnouts come by the left-bottom edge. Thank you dehusman. A very valuable advice.

MisterBeasley - I'm running 1950-1960, Europe, so I could accept either way of caboose thing. I'm thinking, though cabooses are fun to have and I would like to be able to use them. I will definitely use some steam locos, so turning them around is of high importance. Potentially, passenger trains are also suggesting a problem. Was thinking of double-ended at some point in time, but maybe I'm wrong (two locos with two or three short cars in the middle?) or never get there. I am planning for a turntable somewhere on the upper level, but hiding something like this in the lower seems strange. What are the other solutions real railroads use?

Jake1210 - I have considered the idea of a traverser table and four inches of isle space is no problem at all. The problem is, that most of the times, I will be running the trains short-handed, so I would like to automate as much as possible and I think of a traverser table as something quite difficult to make automatic (not impossible, of course). One of the reasons I have posted my draft for the staging yard is because I thought automating all of those three ways and double-slips will be a night mare to say the least and the most expensive project I have had with the MR so far to say the least.

SpaceMouse - I'm not into hand-laid track. Not yet, at least. Maybe my next layout. But this will/would hurt the wallet badly as it is. True.

Using a computer, which I have learned by now, is also, why I am not too concerned about "getting a train out" to take too long time. A route in the software will align the necessary switches automatically.

The initial idea for the double-slip madness was to allow two or even three engines work at the staging at the same time - a switcher and inbound and outbound trains. This would be lots of gaps and detection - I know.

Is the downloadable MRR brochure on designing Helix and Staging any good?

And once again, thank you all, highly appreciated.

/Edmunds

[tgindy]

I would highly suggest the recent "How To Build Realistc Layouts - Freight Yards" and to start with Byron Henderson's 6-page article, "A baker's dozen yard ideas for design and operation."  You can't beat the advice in this special issue for the price.

$7.95 USD => https://secure.kalmbach.com/offer/Default.aspx?c=IF77M3

P.S.:  The PDF download you mentioned would be helpful if you are looking to incorporate both helix and staging elements to gain vertical elevation, perhaps say 12-15 inches, between two or more levels of a multi-level layout.

[bogp40]

Split the lead or double track the lead down to staging. This will create a shorter ladder on each and longer storage. Try to keep it as simple as possible, Murphy will surely show up on any type of hidden trackage.

[Anonymous]

Edmunds,

First you need to determine how you plan to "operate" your staging yard.

1. Parking yard.  Just bring a train in; park it; and then bring the same train out later.
2. "Fiddle" yard.  That is, bring a train in; manually (by hand) add and remove cars; then take the new consist out later.
3. Switching yard.  That is, rearrange cars using a loco just like a real or visible yard.

Each of these scenarios call for a different design to function properly.  Or you may want to incorporate more than one concept into your staging area:  A "parking" area and a "fiddle" area.  A parking area does not need a lot of access but a fiddle area does.

An "escape" track is just a design that allows an engine to "escape" from a train after it has brought the train in engine first.  Typically this might be a crossover at the end of a single ended yard that would allow the engine to move to an adjacent track and back out.  Large passenger station designs are good examples of this.

Good Luck,
-John