SpartonCook:
Here are a few thoughts on your revised plan:
The yard is improved but as Cuyama says, it is not the best.
The overall layout design will work quite well but it is very simple. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I noticed that you are currently only showing one spur for industries and one for the mine (plus the engine service area). The mine spur is a bit short so you won't be able to park 'long' coal trains on it. Perhaps wrap it around to the left to make the spur longer and/or start it further up the right side of the mainline. If you are modelling coal country there is nothing wrong with having a coal train running through town.
You have lost a lot of 'running track'. In other words, the size of the basic loop is much smaller and the double track is gone. Also, you aren't showing any grade changes. I think you can resolve both issues by adding an outer track going most of the way around the layout. It could achieve about a 5" rise at 2.5% grade behind the yard if it started at the bottom of the layout. There would be a reach in distance problem on the left side, but that could be addressed by cutting a semi circle out of the inside of the green benchwork. You would have to curve the yard lead and move the engine service area a bit. Maybe run the mine spur off of the outer track.
I hope you don't think I'm trying to take over your layout!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I wish my friend Craig Bisgeier would take that yard diagram off his site (or revise it). Schematically it's not incorrect, but that diagram is not the best physical track arrangement for a yard.
You'd probably be better off starting with one of the yard examples in the Armstrong book.
But even a step back from that, where are the cars coming from? Where does the other railroad connect? Sorting out that logical flow (as described in Track Planning for Realistic Operation) will help you create a track plan that supports it.
Good luck.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Dave thanks for the reply
I found my copy of track planning for realistic operations and am trying to decifer this as best I can. I have figured i will redo my plan starting with my yard and a rough outline on to where my mainline will run.
So here is what i want to get out of the yard. Bring full cars from the 4-5 industries on the layout into the yard. Assemble a train to be sent to another railroad. Recieve back a train full of empty cars into the yard then distribute the cars out to the industries.
I am planning a coal mine, Oil pipeline, Beer distribution, and a food manufacturer.
Still trying to wrap my head around operating a yard like this, but this is what I basically copied from http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html
Would this design work? Or did i mess it up somewhere?
Thanks for all your guys help in helping me to avoid errors before I start laying track
SpartanCookAny s curves or problems that I didnt catch?
The double-crossover creates potentially troublesome s-curves with the adjacent curves. With a double-crossover you need at least a car-length of straight track to avoid sharp s-curves through one of the crossover paths. Similar to this:
As others have noted, in the same space different choices for the location and arrangement of layout elements might give more pleasing long-term results. It's a little hard to tell with the hand-drawn segments.
Good luck with your layout.
Hi SpartanCook:
I'm guessing that my previous suggestion for the yard below the incline didn't work out. Too bad.
Here are my current thoughts on your plan to date as it concerns the yards above and below the incline.
You need to ask yourself what do you want the yards to do, and are you going to use the yard above the incline in conjunction with the yard below the incline? In other words, is it all one big yard?
Here are your options as I see them:
If you are using the yard below the incline as a separate entity and you want to break up incoming trains into different outgoing trains then I don't think the lower yard will work. If you want to bring in a long train and then take one or two cars off it at a time and deliver them directly to their destinations instead of forming new trains then the lower yard will work to an extent. By that I mean that the lower yard consists of one longer yard track and two much shorter ones. The shorter tracks (at the top) are fed by a section of track which has to be kept clear if you want access to the shorter tracks. That is a waste of yard track.
On the other hand, if you see it all as one big yard then you can break up incoming trains and form new trains 'no problem'. I say 'no problem' but you will have to constantly foul the main line to work the yard. That can make for some interesting operating sessions, or it could be a complete pain. In fact you will have to foul the main line in order to do any hostling (re-arranging of cars) in the upper yard at all.
I hope that made sense. If you want I can have another stab at the lower yard. Just say so.
Please understand that I am not trying to be overly critical. I'm just sharing my thoughts. It's your railroad. You can do as you please. Ultimately what you want is a workable railroad. My first attempts at drawing a track plan were a disaster but I didn't know it until I read 'Track Planning for Realistic Operation" by John Armstrong. Had I not read the book, I would have built a railroad that could actually do very little of what I had envisaged, particularly with regard to the yard.
Regards,
Anyone see any problems with the layout plan above? Any s curves or problems that I didnt catch?
Looks like you have quite the plan coming together there mate...looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. Cheers
Cheers...
Chris from down under...
We're all here because we're not all there...
Helllo Everyone
Thanks for the info on snap switches, I will be looking at getting some normal switches in for my yard when time allows to go to the hobby store.
I have been working on my track plan now for a little while. And i have also recently worked on dropping the bench height where the river crosses the layout. I have filled this in with foam flush with the benchwork. Now I can lay track over the area and cut the foam out when i am ready to install my bridges.
Tell me what you think about this track plan
Snap-Switches have a very sharp frog. This can be more problematic in shoving cars (as is typical in a yard). The sharply curved diverging legs also create at least one fairly tight s-curve in a typical yard laddder, again potentially more of a problem when shoving cars.
Personally, the use of the Snap-Switches in a yard seems to me like a false economy.
So from reading that thread they should be avoided due to the turnout being curved and diverging too much creating larger gaps in the yards?
They also seem to cause more derailments if i am reading this correctly
Just trying to get a good handle on the cons
Here is a thread on Snap vs Custom turnouts
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/216204/2381306.aspx
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
So today i found out that I recieved a promotion at work and will be staying in the same location for a few years. So i finally have the go ahead in my mind to start laying track on my benchwork!!!
I really need to get my plan finalized quickly and start putting this extra cash into new #6 turnouts!
Any particular reasons? I am going to avoid them on the mainline but is there any reason i shouldnt use them in my yard until i can replace them?
I realize money can be a major consideration while building a layout. But I would avoid the bachmann and snap switches like the plague.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
The Bachman switch is the same as an Atlas Snap switch. You can get a better gemoetry using a #4 or #6 switch. (Still the LION uses up old snap switches ) You can cut the offending twin coil motor with a motor tool, and then use a tortoise machine from under the table.
LION arranges the turnouts and controls of him so that only one lever is pulled to run a train into any given track.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
SpartanCook:
Glad you liked my yard design.
It looks like the switch you want to use for your yard has brass track. If so, I would think twice about using it. Brass requires constant cleaning, and DCC requires clean track. Its not the best combination.
Nice dome car!
hon30critter
Thanks for the excellent suggestion on the yard, when I get some time I am going to build a mock up of this settup to test things out. Thanks for the help
Everyone else
I have one question and one photo to show off of a new addition.
First the question. I plan to upgrade to DCC next winter for my christmas gift to myself. I wanted to know if the switches i have below are ok to use on DCC. I dont understand completely the world of DCC but i plan to learn by decemeber. Just want to know if these old switches i plan to use in the freight yard are worth to lay down once I get it set up how i like.
And here is my new addition to the layout. A Lighted Walthers Proto ACF dome car that was on sale for half off plus another 10% off that. Got it for an early first fathers day present!
BigDaddy, there is also a product called foam putty by Woodland Scenics (I think). which is applied to fill in the gaps in the risers and then landscape over it.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Spartan:
Hi again. I did a little more with my suggested yard plan to show you the drill track and the connection to the main line. There is a potential problem with this plan in that there is an 'S' curve where the track runs from the yard ladder to the drill track. I added some track to reduce the potential problems with the 'S' but that moved the yard further from the riser. You will have to test things to make sure you can run cuts of cars backwards through the 'S'. Maybe somebody can suggest a better track arrangement.
By the way, each single line is a separate track. The picture can be a bit confusing.
Hi Spartan:
I like your layout plan, but I think you could get a bit more space in the yard below the foam riser by doing something like this:
All tracks would run parallel to the riser. You may not be able to fit six tracks in, but even if you can only get four in the space I think you would gain usable yard space. Also, my suggested design gives you a run around track. You might be able to install a drill track parallel to the main as well. You would have to do a double track bridge. If you are interested I can do up a track plan showing the right side of the yard tracks with a drill track and a connection to the main line.
Regards
Hi big daddy
thanks for the reply, this is my first time working with foam risers too. I have never built a layout that wasn't on the ground in sectional track before this. My current plan is to put in a stone looking retaining wall on both sides of the foam riser in the middle of the yard area.
the placement of the re railer is horrible I agree, it was just an easy place to add cars as I tested the switches and functionality of the yard. I have not moved on to laying track at all yet. Right now it is all sectional track to test my locos and what I was given in free #4 switches (which I have determined will only go in the yard)
in the future I think that area's re railer will go on the main where the yard joins directly after the switch. I will concel It as a road crossing for trucks headed to the port area
Having never worked with foam risers, how do you landscape between the rerailer and the lower track and is there enough room to do that? Speaking of rerailers, I tried to camoflage mine on my previous layout as a crossing. I'm not a fan of where you located yours because there is not much else you can do with it there.
Looks good! Thanks for sharing.
Hello All
I know some of you will notice that i have made a few threads on the boards lately. Well i wanted to create a thread that will go through the building of my layout. Some may also remember that I may be moving in the near future due to work. So as of now nothing is glued down permantly. Just looking for advice and tips from people that have been doing this far longer than I have.
A little background on the layout and myself. I will be modeling present day alaska railroad. Its my version of alaska so it will have a connection to canadian national that will get oil/coal to the states. I have already built the table so please no Duckunders are a bad idea. I am 26 and fairly flexible so at this point i kind of enjoy my duckunders.
Without further talking here is my current version of the trackplan i am designing and some pictures of the one loop and small yard i put on my layout to test the spacing. (And to have fun testing my new locos and rolling stock)
I put a bunch of notes in the center to remind myself and to get your opinion on them.