Occasionally I use a wye turnout or two somewhere in a ladder, but it sems like an entire yard ladder of wye turnouts would typically create a lot of unnecessary s-curves that would diminish reliability.
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Wye turnouts were rather uncommon on the prototype, tending to be used only for special situations. For several reasons the railroads much preferred to keep the more heavily used route, like a ladder, straight through any turnout. Even the end of double track often used a conventional turnout.
Whether you use them or not is ultimately up to you. My own opinion is that unlike other compromises we have to make, this one will irritate over the longer term.
John
blackpowder1956Any disadvantages to wye turnouts?
If you use one wye to make a "diamond" yard, dual leads that break away from a central lead, no.
If you try to make a "conventional" yard, definitely yes.
Using wye turnouts the lead will be "curved" away from the main and the tracks will break off at angles not parallel. After about the 3rd or 4th wye switch in a row the lead will be running at a 45 degree angle (or greater) to the main line and the yard tracks will be on a huge spacing. You will gain space on a shorter lead but will loose space on a wider yard.
If you want to save space use a diamond yard.put one wye in the lead and then have two leads with conventional switches in both leads. Allows twice as many tracks in the same length as a "conventional" ladder.
Or use a compound lead. Put a left hand switch in the main lead, and then a right hand switch breaking off the diverging route. In the main lead put right hand switches and then another right hand switch breaking off the diverging route.
Both the compound and diamond leads are prototypical and save space.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
blackpowder1956I have a copy of North American Railyards by Michael Rhodes and if confirms the use of wye turnouts in prototype yards. I am looking for something just a little different than all right or left hand turnouts.
Many of the photos in the book showing wye and/or 3-way turnouts are in huge computerized hump yards that cover acres of land. Despite the foreshortening caused by long lenses, you can see that there is often at least a car length (and often more) of straight track between the s-curves of successive turnouts in these large yards. That increases the length of the yard, which often doesn't matter on the real thing, but usually does in the model. Of course, these turnouts are probably much less sharp than model turnouts, as well.
You'll need to trade off the appearance you seek with the overall size of the yard and reliability in operation. You might want to try a mock-up first to be sure it works the way you want before committing to a configuration. The physics of shoving a string of cars through a ladder with a model locomotive is different than the physics of a single real-life car rolling downhill into the bowl of a humpyard.
Note that Dave H. used the example of a single wye turnout at the beginning of a dual ladder and then straight turnouts for the ladders themselves, not a yard made up of wye turnouts.
Good luck.