With an up-and-coming exhibition in under three weeks (Nottingham), I have now turned my attention to rebuilding my two off-scene storage yards - known as fiddle yards in the UK. This is the area where trains are made up, turned, and prepared to come onto the layout. In general, a fiddle yard represents everywhere on the rail network, other than the modelled scene, although it is normally devoid of any scenery itself.
Some modellers have storage yards made up of a fan of sidings by using turnouts. However adding turnouts increases the length of a storage yard - generally taking up a foot or more for each turnout added on one track. I don't have the luxury of space and have used various methods to eliminate having to use turnouts in the storage yard.
My British layout used a flat board with parallel tracks, which ran on drawer sliders, so it could move back and forth, and the storage tracks lined up with the exit track to/from the layout.
Until now, I have been using storage cassettes on Sweethome. the cassette has track laid along a narrow length of wood, with protection along the edges to prevent stock falling off.
There is also a handle for lifting the cassette and a drop-down end to prevent stock rolling off. The tracks are lined up to the exit track by means of a home made bolt, which also carries the track current to the cassette.
The end-stop is lifted to allow the train to pass onto the scenic portion of the layout.
The main drawback of using the cassette is when the train needs to be turned and can be a dodgy manoeveur in the middle of a public exhibition, although easy enough when there are no other cassettes on the table.
I have decided to replace the cassette storage yards with a rotating turntable of tracks that can hold up to 6 whole trains.
To the Bat-cave.
Jon
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Can't wait to see how you do this one. And with only 3 weeks to the show. Good luck, you must have been thinking on this design for a while. Keep postin the pics.
Mike
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
jon grantI have decided to replace the cassette storage yards with a rotating turntable of tracks that can hold up to 6 whole trains.
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
The first part of the rebuild was to lengthen and widen the 'table' part of the fiddle yard, to add support for the turntable.
I cut a piece of 9mm thick MDF (I had some lying about) and about 4ft 3in long, found the centre and drilled a hole for the pivot, before marking out the curve with a piece of string and a pencil.
A couple of washers were sunk into the table and the turntable to ease rotation and prevent the pivot hole wearing out too quickly and I attached the folding legs to the underside .
Finally, some stripwood was attached to the turntable to reduce the possibility of the TT bending and to provide a base for screwing the sides on
As always Jon, another great tutorial! I'm going to pay CLOSE attention to this one, since my new layout will need several staging yards with curvy approaches; a rotating staging yard will eliminate a lot of space-wasting yard switches.
One question: how long have you seen these sorts of tables? My average train length will be around seven feet; will 8' overtax the hardware you're using?
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
I have added some fibre board to the turntable top to bring the height to the same level as the road-bed. The curved ends were fitted with plywood sheet instead, to give me something for the screws to hold into.
I tested the swing of the turntable a few times and marked the arc of the curve onto the table, so I could extend the alignment track up to the turntable.
I've fitted the first couple of tracks at one end using PCB screwed to the turntable. the track and square brass tube are soldered to the PCB and the brass wire bolts act as both track alignment and current feed
orsonroy One question: how long have you seen these sorts of tables? My average train length will be around seven feet; will 8' overtax the hardware you're using?
Hello Ray
An *ft turntable would need a lot more bracing to support it to prevent sagging when it is turned, plus 4ft radius either side of the pivot to turn it 360 degrees.
A sector plate might be a better option, where the pivot is at one end rather than in the centre of the turntable.You lose the ability to turn the trains right round but save on the fan of yard turnouts and it needs less bracing to support it. Another option would be a sliding table on heavy duty drawer runners, again saving on the fan of switches.
I have added more tracks - a Starbucks coffee stirrer is a useful tool for lining up the rails prior to soldering
The track at both ends has now been laid and the yard tested. I still need to install something to prevent stock accidentally rolling off the table, but initial tests were positive
That is just awesome!!! You could add some wheel stops or bumpers at the end of the tracks. And/or screw on a 3" tall piece of clear plexi or something similar. But sweet work. Keep up the good work.
Maybe for stops you could drill a small hole between the tracks and drop in a red painted brad or just a round toothpick. Something that wouldn't be critical to lose. Nice work,BTW Jon. I've always liked your work since you've started posting.
reklein Maybe for stops you could drill a small hole between the tracks and drop in a red painted brad or just a round toothpick. Something that wouldn't be critical to lose.
Maybe for stops you could drill a small hole between the tracks and drop in a red painted brad or just a round toothpick. Something that wouldn't be critical to lose.
Good idea, I like it.
This is a great idea. I could use a smaller version to store the fleet of 2-3 car commuter trains on my layout. It would free up a couple of loops on my staging yard. Now if I can just figure out a way to retrofit it inside the staging yard loops. I know I have enough room for it.
Jon, that whole thing is just off the hook! Motorize it!!!! Drop in a cool sound chip with some hi-teck sounds of a machine and some small speakers winding that thing around LOL.... Heck, that table could be a show all to itself!
Loco Jon, that whole thing is just off the hook! Motorize it!!!! Drop in a cool sound chip with some hi-teck sounds of a machine and some small speakers winding that thing around LOL.... Heck, that table could be a show all to itself!
No way - simple is best - gives the operators something to do, and would be just one more thing to go wrong at exhibitions.
Now the first fiddle yard is just about done, I'll show how it will operate at exhibitions, using 2 outgoing as an example, instead of the 6 trains that the yard can accommodate.
1. First up, the 2 trains are ready to depart - gondolas and boxcars.
2. The gondola train departs for the sceniced part of the layout. This will leave an empty track available for the first incoming train
3. The train of tank cars arrives from layout and fills the track vacated by the gondola train
4. The turntable is rotated to line up the train of boxcars ready for departure, and the train leaves
This in turn leaves the track vacant and ready for the next arrival......
The train of hoppers arrives from the layout and into the vacant track
This process would normally continue until all tracks had been filled by incoming trains, if the fiddle yard was being operated to capacity. In this example, I'm only using two tracks and both of the newly-arrived trains are facing the wrong way.
Therefore the whole yard is turned on its axis...
....and the trains are ready to depart
Under normal operating conditions, the waybills would be rotated in the car-cards to reveal the new destinations for the freight cars. The car-cards will be placed into a car card holder at the front of the layout, which has a numbered slot for each of the 6 tracks.
This is also the time when operators can swap out locos and freight cars to vary the train consists.
I always enjoy reading your post and pics, JG. This fiddle yard is a great idea.
4 paws up.
jon grant No way - simple is best - gives the operators something to do, and would be just one more thing to go wrong at exhibitions.
I'd be worried about all the picky details, wiring harnesses and what all else---that would mess up an ADD person. I agree with your simple approach--this makes much more sense----now I'm going to fiddle with my own fiddle yard!!
The second turntable has now been built, this one having two incoming tracks to line up.
The second of these tracks could not be laid without relaying one of the tracks on the layout into a more gentle curve, so I had to attach the new yard to the last board on the layout.
Less than a foot of existing track had to be lifted but I had problems removing the ballast from under the bridge. Once done though, I was able to insert the new screws (for soldering the track at the board joints) and relay the new flexi-track.
This has now been ballasted and I'm currently waiting for the glue to dry before the feeder wires can be soldered on.
Why ballast track in the fiddle yards? Because the tracks can be seen by viewers looking towards the bridge.
The fiddle yards were used for the first time in earnest over the weekend and were a great success, operationally.
The 6 trains in each yard took the whole day (9.30-18.00) to pass from one yard to the other, so the fiddle yard turntables did not need rotating until the Sunday morning.
Some photos
This photo shows the box for the carcards and waybills, the drop-guard to stop the freight cars rolling off - seen in raised position, and an end board for added protection
The car card clips hampered the movement of the turntable, and it was difficult to load the cards into it from the back of the layout, so it was decided to move the box to a more sensible position on the Sunday. It is held in place by heavy duty Velcro coins
John
I was just thinking about doing a revolving storage yard on my home layout and one of the first things I found was your post.
How's the design going after a few exhibition outings. What would you do differently, if anything?
Thanks
Kathy