I am thinking about the main yard on my new layout. I am in N scale and I had a hump yard with ten classification tracks which had five tracks off each leg of the wye.at the bottom of the hump plus all of the other tracks that a hump yard would hvae. When we move into a new house I will be starting over again and I am wondering if I should build another hump yard or just a flat switching yard.
Caldreamer
caldreamer...I am in N scale and I had a hump yard with ten classification tracks which had five tracks off each leg of the wye.at the bottom of the hump plus all of the other tracks that a hump yard would hvae.....
Did that hump yard perform to your satisfaction?
Even in HO, the only time I've had cars actually free-roll in a manner similar to the prototype was with passenger cars, and they were weighted to about 16oz. each. I can't guess what weight you'd use for N scale, but I'd imagine that when assembled into a train, it would likely put a similar strain on your locomotives as those "heavyweights did for mine.
However, if your former hump yard worked to your satisfaction, far be it for me to dissuade you from recreating it on your new layout.
I have five staging yards on my layout (none are humpyards), and while I suppose that they could be "switched" in the same manner as any flat yard, it's neither an exercise which interests me, nor an activity on which I wish to spend time. I do, however, "switch" the industries in most of the towns through which my trains run. For that kind of switching, nothing is permitted to roll freely (not pushed or pulled by a locomotive), as the customers want their cars at specific spots.
Wayne
I have never tried a hump yard on one of my own layouts.
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There was a weird article in MR probably around thirty years ago where an overly-enthusiastic builder made a "hump" yard with moving rails that slid back and forth in the ties to keep the cars rolling in a reallistic manner.
I still think that was an insane amount of work to get a hump yard working. I wish there was a video of it in action.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The hump worked fine. All of my cars are weighed to the NMRA standard excpt for those that come the factory heavy. All have metal wheels and are free rolling. The top of the hump was 13/8 inches high and let the cars roll fown freely through all of the turnouts. The entire yard was 19 feet long and 20 inches wide from end to end and included the engine and cars service areas
Are you modeling a prototype or freelancing? Since you have built a successful hump yard in the past, the question would be if your prototype had one or not. If you are freelance, have the space and enjoyed using it, why not?
Have fun,
Richard
If I use a hump yard I would be proto freelancing since my new layout will be the BNSF Pikes Peak subdivision between Denver and Pueblo Colorado. I like mountain railraoding and using DPU engines. This subdivision runs over the continental divide and down to Pueblo. Both Denver and have flat yards, but I can make Denver a hump yard.