Q: Where can I get good railyard operations infor

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I am new to railroading, though I have collected and ran scale roads for years. I am seeking good information from either you guys or websites and or books on modern railyard operations and how everything works. As you might have seen in one of my posts, I am building a scale railyard, and have pics to go from, but it would help IF I knew what went on and how things happened, and some of the lingo and terms. Thanks to all!

[thirdrail1]

Answers to all your questions and more at contained in "The Railroad, What It Is, What It Does", authored by John Armstong and published by Simmons-Boardman. Get a copy from your library.

[Anonymous]

What kind of yard do you want to know about? A flat switching yard or a hump yard? Maybe you can get a yard manual or timecard somewhere.

In a hump yard the cars a switched into class tracks by the computer controlled by the hump yardmaster.Then the cars are gathered up at the other end of the tracks by a yard crew and marshalled up for outbound trains.

In flat switching the cars are set off in tracks then the yardmaster gives the crews the lists marked up where the cars are going. Most flat switching is done at secondary yards to service industry. The yard crew will build outbound roadswitcher trains to service local customers.

[Anonymous]

I recommend that you read two books ...

Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong and How to Operate Your Model Railroad by Bruce Chub. These are full of information regarding both Yard and Mainline operations.

What scale are you planning to use, HO? It will take a tremendous area to build a scale railyard. Most of us take every shortcut we can to condense these massive facilities. Of course, unless you run 50-100 car trains you will be able to scale it back considerably. If you have a specific question, I'll let you know what I can.

Good Luck - Ed

[Anonymous]

Hey Ed,

Let me know if you have Atlas's Right Track Software and your email. I will send you what I have finished. You can take a look at it, and get back to me. Thanks.

-Wolv33

[Anonymous]

Hey Ed,

Forgot to mention...I got three books. The two that you mentioned and another called the Tyco Guide to Model Railroading. It had some interesting write-ups about yards and designing. I also got onto the web and downloaded the LDSIG's Primer, and it also had some good yard information in it. I do not consider all of these books the end of my research though. I am continuing to look for more. Thanks for the help.

[Anonymous]

Yard operation has three basic parts, arrival, classification, and departure. In a hump yard you will usually also have separate arrival and departure yards. In a flat yard you may have longer tracks for arrival/departure and shorter for classification. I strongly suggest you look at some yards because the layout affects the operation.

In a modern yard the arrival and departure tracks will have roadways between them so carmen can make inspection from their motorized carts.

Many yards have auxilary areas too. Most common is a repair "rip" track. This can be one of two short tracks or up to six or so with a building. Modern rips tend to one way flow through designs, older ones may be stub tracks.

If you are in caboose era dont forget a caboose track. Can be a short track parallel to your switching lead.

Probably need a place to put the power. Can be anything from full blown roundhouse with turntable to a stub track or two. Older facilities will probably have fuel, water, and sand.

Operational flow is to land inbound trains in receiving track. Carman makes inspection and identifies bad order cars which have to be switched out for repair. Cars are switched by destination which may be by station or group of stations "blocks" depending on situation. Blocks of cars are then lined up on departure track. In big yard ther may be a yard air plant so brake test can be made by carmen without need of locomotives.

If you are looking for something practical to model, I stongly suggest you look for something older as it will be more compact. Appleyard in Wenatcheee Washington would be a nice one. It had a two track ice dock about 60 cars long. The "ice hole" was on the river side, with track 1 on other side. There was a scale on the West lead. "Class" tracks were 1-9, each about 70 cars long. Arrival and departure were 10-13, each about 90 cars long. Until mid 1950's 10-13 were electrified so there was a wide space between 8 and 9.

Caboose and rip tracks were beyond #13, with Electric Shop beyond that. Steam facilities were never extensive.

Appleyard had about a 60 degree curve in the body at the east end. The lead was straight. This is nice feature if you need to get around a corner.

Main track bypassed yard on hill side.

In the late 1960's they started 5 or 6 locals in three directions all in the afternoon. Handled about three or four through freights. Westbound 97 reduced to 3600 tons. 83 reduced to about 6000 tons. Usually made an extra West, and terminated an extra east. Eastbound 82 ran through. Originated #88 which was a mostly fruit train. Originated #130 which was a dead freight to Spokane with east cars to Minot and short. terminated an extra west from Spokane. Ruling grade to West was 2.2% over Cascade mountains. tonnage limit 6000 tons with cut in helper. Needed 10 F7 or GP 9 for that. SD40 was good for 1200 ton. Eastward ruling grade was 1% and trains were 5000 to 6000 tons. Same to Wenatchee from Spokane.

Hope this was helpful and thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Mac McCulloch

[n2mopac]

I have to second the recommendation of Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong. This is a great book with very useful information on prototype operations and ways to reproduce this in the limited space of one's model railroad. This is a must-read for anyone getting started or planning a prototypical layout.
Ron