Staging and Fiddle

[jacon12]

As far as mrr layouts are concerned, what is the difference between a staging yard and a fiddle yard? How are they used on the layout? How is a 'hidden' staging yard different from a regular staging yard?
Jarrell

[pcarrell]

A staging yard generally has full trains already made up just awaiting departure to the layout. This requires some realestate if you want to have very many trains. A hidden staging yard is the same thing, just not out in the open where you can see it.

A "fiddle" yard uses the 0-5-0 switcher (hand) to change out cars and locomotives in order to make or break up trains. This requires less real estate usually because you only need two or three tracks to operate it. One track is the break-down / make-up track and one or two tracks for holding trains that are either ready to go out on the layout or waiting to be broken down. This type operation is very popular on the other side of the pond as it can be done in rather confined spaces. you can have a couple of open tracks on either or both ends of your layout or you can run a couple of tracks behind your backdrop and provide some room for an operator back there to do his job.

That brings up another point about these two setups. For a fiddle yard to work and to have continuous oeration on the layout at the same time requires more then one person. There is however, unlimited potential for a parade of new trains to appear on the layout (well, actually it is limited to the rolling stock and motive power you have available).

On the other hand if you are planning on operating the layout as a lone wolf much of the time you may want to concider staging yards because the trains are already made up and all you have to do is roll them out onto the layout.

Keep in mind also that hidden staging can be done under the layout thereby utilizing otherwise unused space. Just make sure the grades are shallow and your trackwork is VERY good, that you can get under there fairily easily if you need to, and that once you are under there that you have enough room to get your hand in there between the levels (you only need room for the trains to clear the level above + a couple of inches) so that you can rerail everything in the event of an emergency. Putting up some sort of barrier to prevent a derail from dropping to the floor is also wise. I got these sheets of 1/4 inch thick foam from the craft department at Wal Mart and cut the into strips and then tacked them to the edge of the roadbed with thumbtacks. This way I can remove them for maintance.

I think that about covers it.

I'll go back to my corner now.

P. Carrell
Autumn's Ridge Railway & Navigation Co.

[wp8thsub]

A "fiddle yard" is a staging yard where an operator actively re-stages trains (i.e. "fiddles" with them). One example is Lee Nicholas' Utah Colorado Western, where the operator crawls under the layout to reach the fiddle yard and is thus called the "mole." See Lee's site at http://www.ucwrr.com for more information, and photos of what the "mole's" yard looks like. His layout was also in "Great Model Railroads 2005." I also employed a fiddle yard on my WP 8th Sub layout http://www.wwvrailway.com/gbg4.htm .

Since staging represents the rest of the world that exists "beyond the basement," many layouts place staging where it isn't entirely visible from the main operating positions. The logic is that if train 123 left the modeled portion of the railroad and headed for Los Angeles, it shouldn't remain visible right there in the middle of the train room. It should disappear behind a backdrop, under a mountain, or wherever... Note that the fiddle yards on both my layout and Lee's are hidden from view behind backdrops, thus also making them hidden staging yards.

[pcarrell]

wp8thsub,

Obviously your Fiddle yard is large in order to serve a large layout. My layout is much smaller at 9' X 8'.

Your work is truely impressive though. Love the rock work.

P. Carrell
Autumn's Ridge Railway & Navigation Co.

[jacon12]

Rob and P. Carrell, thank you both for the explanations. From that I would assume that ~most~ smaller to midsized layouts go for the fiddle yard of 3 or 4 tracks.
Again, thanks and I enjoyed the tour of the layout, it is gorgeous.
Jarrell

[Anonymous]

Like staging, fiddle yards or just a fiddle track doesn't have to be hidden, if you model an interchange yard/track that leads to destinations 'somewhere off the table', you can then swap out cars either during or between sessions.

Another fun option for a fiddle track is having it on a removable cassette. Operationally this is something between fiddle and staging. Iain Rice uses these in a number of his designs. Drive one train onto the casette, swap it out for a different cassette with another train already loaded on it and ready to drive onto the layout.

Cheers,
Maureen

[jacon12]

Thank you Maureen for that tip. If I may ask a newbie question, what is a "cassette" in model railroading context?
Jarrell

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12

what is a "cassette" in model railroading context?

Hi Jarrell,

Its a skinny wooden or metal tray with a length of track to hold a train, usually with sidewalls and a back wall to make sure you don't spill the cars out of it while you're moving it. One end is open and the track runs right up to the end where you can hook it onto a matching track at the end of your layout. Sort of a fiddle track where you move the whole track rather than just the train. Each cassette you have is equal to a track in a staging yard -- you can have that many trains made up and ready to roll as soon as you switch the cassettes.

Cheers,
Maureen

Kalmbach's Small Layout Design Book by Iain Rice shows them in detail.

[MisterBeasley]

I was in Florida last month, and I visited the modellers at the Treasure Coast Model Railroad Club in Port St. Lucie. They had an interesting concept for a "casette." Their layout had a multi-track "train ferry" at the end of a pier. The plan was to construct multiple ferries that could be swapped out. It provided a nice "reality" to the whole idea of casettes.

[jacon12]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Maureen

QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12

what is a "cassette" in model railroading context?

Hi Jarrell,

Its a skinny wooden or metal tray with a length of track to hold a train, usually with sidewalls and a back wall to make sure you don't spill the cars out of it while you're moving it. One end is open and the track runs right up to the end where you can hook it onto a matching track at the end of your layout. Sort of a fiddle track where you move the whole track rather than just the train. Each cassette you have is equal to a track in a staging yard -- you can have that many trains made up and ready to roll as soon as you switch the cassettes.

Cheers,
Maureen

Kalmbach's Small Layout Design Book by Iain Rice shows them in detail.

Well I'll be! What a neat idea, kinda like serving trays with trains!
Thanks Maureen.
Jarrell

[Anonymous]

They're quite nifty, you can set one up so it slides behind a backdrop or scene block right on your tabletop. Or if it connects to the edge of the layout, there's no problem with it temporarily blocking a door or window you, so you can get more layout space in the room.

And car ferries are always cool.

Cheers,
Mo

[BR60103]

One form of cassette has 2 pieces of aluminum angle screwed to a board; the angle being separated by one track gauge. This provides track and a wall. If the angle is high enough, the cassettes can be stacked.
One of my friends provided cassettes made up of 8 foot lengths of that sheet metal wall studding, with track mounted inside it. His argument was that the studding is cut consistently to length. A set of these cassettes at different heights form part of his mainline along a wall. I haven't seen them actually used in an operating session.

[Medina1128]

I ran a double track under the end of my layout and it emerges, sight unseen, behind the mountains at the far end. This is MY fiddle yard. My line is a shortline based on the old Katy road in and around the town of Clinton, MO. That's where the imagination takes over. A wealthy eccentric (I think wealthy ones are called eccentrics, poor ones are just plain nuts), who loved to ride on trains, restored 3 different trains he rode on in his youth. Two 1920s era heavyweight passenger trains (Union Pacific and Santa Fe) and a Santa Fe streamliner. After working out the details with the Clinton-Golden Valley powers that be, he rolls out his trains for railfan excursions.

[Anonymous]

The British use of the term 'fiddle yard' is not unique to a yard for physically handling a train. A fiddle yard may also be a yard that holds ready made trains available to depart on the track they sit on. The fiddle yard may have access from only one end or both depending on the layout design.
The main demand of a British fiddle yard is that it is 'off-scene'

The German term for a 'fiddle yard' or 'staging yard' is Schattenbahnhof, which literally means 'hiding station' which I think is more appropriate.

[BR60103]

A useful device for your fiddle yard is the Peco "LocoLift". This is a boxy unit that fits over the track and you run the loco into it, then pick it up (it has soft rubber sides) and turn the loco around and put it on the tracks at the other end of the train. It's only a foot or so long, so it won't work with the Big Boys. It's very nice if you have delicate details or weathering on your loco, and also it re-rails it conveniently.

[Anonymous]

I was just at a newstand today and saw that the current issue of RMC (June), has an article with lots of photos and construction tips on portable casettes and even sector plates (a sector plate has 2 or more tracks and the whole plate pivots to line up any of the tracks on it to the track it feeds into - this avoids using up space with turnouts for a yard ladder). Hadn't thought of a portable sector plate before, that gives a few more staging with less time spent swapping out cassettes.

Cheers,
Mo

[pcarrell]

I'm sorry for mt ignorance, I don't have the magazine you are reffering to.

Would this be something like a multi-bridged transfer table?

[BR60103]

The simplest version of a sector plaste is a board pivoted at the far end (#8 wood screw) with one or more tracks on it. The tracks are lines up with tracks coming off the main layout (again, one or more). The sector plate is slid around to line the right track with the right mainline track. Various mathods are used to power the track on the sector plate.
A single track sector plate is often used on a short layout to replace a switch and a length of track that would stick out the end. Some modellers hide them in factories.
Usually multiple track plates take full trains from the layout and return a different full train. They replace many feet of switches.