Yard Track Spacing?

[Metro Red Line]

 I heard some time ago that the spacing between track centers in yards is narrower than on the mainline or spurs.

I believe in N scale the minimum spacing between track centers is 1 1/4" - if you took two Atlas code 55 turnouts of the same direction and joined them at the diverging tracks you'd get 1 1/4". But if I got those two turnouts as a crossover and put them in a yard, I would have to cut down the diverging tracks, correct? So by how much?

If indeed yard trackage has narrower track center spacing then that means I'm able to squeeze an extra track in there...but I have to cut down my turnouts by a certain amount.

[Railway Man]

Era matters.  Type of yard matters -- general classification, intermodal, autorack, storage.  Or where in the yard.  Bowl tracks are different than arrival and departure tracks, inspection tracks, run-through tracks, etc. 

Assuming you're talking classification, and it's a general-purpose yard with every track a bowl track, and we are not talking about pre-1900, then in years past the spacing between track centers was as little as 13'0" and as much as 15'0". Today 15'0" is standard.  Allow more on curves. 

RWM

[grizlump9]

 track spacing is really a matter of what era you are modeling.  modern yards seem to have wider spacing than older installations.  most model railroads appear to have the tracks spaced farther apart than the prototype.  probably a compromise so you can get your fingers between the cars. 

 a scale 14' or a little more would be a good starting point for yard track spacing with a little more when the track is next to a main line or heavily traveled lead.

i use 2" for HO so 1 1/4 would seem about right for N scale.  1.25x160=200  that works out to about 16'-8"      for HO 2x87=174 or 14'-6"

if you go the the NMRA web site, you will find more data than you need

of course, there are exceptions to every rule.  for example, the old NKP yard at madison Illinois used to be a narrow gauge outfit back in ancient history and a big man had to turn sideways to walk between some of the cuts in that yard.

having laid a lot of model track in my time i have found that when making a crossover out of two regular switches you just space the straight tracks to where you want them and let the diverging routes lap one over the other.  then you can see how much to trim off.  if your switches don't give you the yard track spacing you want then just install a short piece of rail between them when you lay the ladder track.

grizlump

[tomikawaTT]

In addition to what has already been said, yard track spacing is, of necessity, driven by what you intend to do in the yard with that 1:1 scale 0-5-0.  If trains will be moved in, left and then allowed to depart without the introduction of a full-scale meathook into the equation, the tracks need be just far enough apart to prevent cars on adjacent tracks from sideswiping each other.

OTOH, if you have to 'fiddle' your consists, or rerail something that had a misadventure, wider than prototype spacing may be needed to allow clearance for the fingers that will correct the problem.

The surest way to get it right would be to lay three lengths of flex (or sectional) at the spacing you want to test.  Put several cars on each track.  Now, how is the finger clearance?  Also, how easy is it to read reporting marks?  You can either start wide and make it narrower, or start narrow and make it wider.  A half-ounce of experiment trumps ten tons of opinion.

My own track spacing leaves me about 20mm clearance between cars on adjacent tracks.  Since I model in twice-N, the actual dimension won't be very informative.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Metro Red Line]

Railway Man

Era matters.  Type of yard matters -- general classification, intermodal, autorack, storage.  Or where in the yard.  Bowl tracks are different than arrival and departure tracks, inspection tracks, run-through tracks, etc. 

Assuming you're talking classification, and it's a general-purpose yard with every track a bowl track, and we are not talking about pre-1900, then in years past the spacing between track centers was as little as 13'0" and as much as 15'0". Today 15'0" is standard.  Allow more on curves. 

RWM

 

 

Thanks. It's a modern era layout, but it's a 3-4 track (depending on the spacing) small general purpose yard for a small town area.I'm basically gonna have local switching operations send their rolling stock there.

I don't have the space for a full-blown yard, so it's more of a hint of a yard while  I have a highway overpass at the end suggesting it goes on for a distance. 

[wabash2800]

"I don't have the space for a full-blown yard, so it's more of a hint of a yard while I have a highway overpass at the end suggesting it goes on for a distance."

That's also a good way to disguise the fact that your yard is a stub ended yard if indeed it is. Model railroaders use stub ended yards quite frequently. On the the prototype they're not that common. I know that it's mostly for space reasons but when I see stub ended yards on a model railroad I cringe. It is second only to seeing a large, curved chord, open top truss bridge on a North American style layout. They have one of those on a multimillion dollar HO layout in Chicago and it is very sad.

 

[wedudler]

 I've used for the class tracks at my yard 13' spacing. In H0 about 46mm (1.8''). No problem, you don't need space for your fingers or read car numbers. I pull always the track!.

Wolfgang