Hi all.
Quick bit of background. Currently have an N scale around the room in a small spare bedroom. Its devised as a point-to-point between north and south staging yards. I have one small classification yard on the mainline, where all through trains stop to drop off cars for the locals and pick up cars heading to industries/areas off-layout via staging. Locals run as turns, originating and concluding at this online classification yard.
By and large, it runs well with simple sequential trains using cc/wb, first coming from north staging, then south. Locals runs as needed, typically when there are 10 or 11 cars ready to go as this is my max passing siding length on the main. My session is thereby limited by the number of trains I can store in staging, which is 4 each direction max (plus 2 unit trains that purely run to the branchline coal mine with empties and return with loaded hoppers.)
There are of course a ton of things I would do differently if I redesigned my layout today. Which I can't bring myself to do, since I don't plan on being in my apartment more than another couple of years. Anyhow, my biggest regret is not having planned for staging earlier in the build, and not leaving myself a big spot in a corner of the room for a helix. My north and south stagings share a peninsula, and to get there the access tracks had to descend along the wall from the main deck and turn a 90 degree to pass under the shelf onto the peninsula. It works, but I'm limited in what I can do with them. I can only make my stub ends up to 15 cars long, and aisle width limits how many tracks wide I can go. But, it works. My biggest complaint is that most of my cars end up as through cars, ping-ponging from staging to staging is successive sessions awaiting their turn to be switched into an industry.
What I'd love to do is have a big division point yard, something with engine servicing facilities, maybe 8-10 class tracks to hold 20 cars apiece, and probably some industries along the back. I'm envisioning it being the division point further along the way from either of my staging yards, with those industries representing some of those current off-layout destinations. And I even have a place for such a yard: along two of the walls on a lower shelf below the main shelf.
The catch is, I've no room for a helix to drop down to a lower shelf. So I'm looking at a cassette transfer from the online staging yard to the division yard. Operationally, transfers from online staging to division yard would be done between sessions, as a way to cycle my cars off-layout during their waybill progression for a period of time, and to bring new cars onto the main layout after traveling to their off-layout destinations. Plus, there's still work to be done in the division yard, so it effectively adds another session into the mix. More fun, small footprint!
So, a few questions for you guys. First: Has anyone used such a remote, not directly accessible main yard in their operation schemes, and if so, were there any major headaches (aside from the obvious that you cannot drive directly to it)?
And second, can anyone offer advice on making cassettes? I'm working with Peco c55, and the couple attempts at a cassette I've made have been iffy, sometimes working fine, sometimes just being a headache.
Thanks for your advice and comments/thoughts!
Jason
Well, I model in HO, butI do use a sort of odd casette, a carfloat. Mine is 3 tracks, the Walthers model. I have just moved and will have to reconfigure my layout, but bringing the carfloat terminal out front for ease of operation will be a significant upgrade.
I was scrupulous about keeping this level, and I seldom get derailments on the float or bridge, although the approach tracks can be a problem. I still have another float unassembled, which will improve my capacity dramatically
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks. Does your car float generally stay attached to the layout? Or rather, as you're reconfiguring, will it generally stay attached?
I definitely will be needing a nominally disconnected casette. I have a great space for it, but leaving it attached would only leave me about a 15" aisle, lol.
I've found some older threads about cassettes, so I think I've sussed out a fairly sure-fire way to attach them to both main layout and remote yard deck reliably. Maybe; still experimenting. It definitely doesn't seem like it's a particularly popular way to move between staging and the main layout, at least not here in the States.
Do you want the cassette to hold the cars when you move it? If not, how about a fold down or drop down type of yard? This can work if space is a premium. Only thing you need to do is move the cars elsewhere on the layout until you use it. This could work if you figure this into your operations.
Neal
Hi Neal,
If I just wanted to add a track (or 2, or however many) for temp use during ops, that could work. But my space for that would be pretty limited, and would choke off an entire aisle when in use.
Where I do have space is directly below the main shelves, on a lower deck. The cassette is just a means to transfer between decks without resorting to the 0-5-0. I'd prefer a purely driving route to the lower deck of course, but my limited space won't permit it unless I made drastic changes to the track and benchwork.