yard design

[mike33469]

Is there someone or some low cost service who could design an engine (transitions era) service yard for an extension I'm planning to add to my layout?  I want to have a service area that works.  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I dont know what kind of scale, space or how many engines you are dealing with. Steam requires different types of service while deisel has thier own.

If there is more information, there may be some who can assist with ideas.

[pcarrell]

You can find a yard you like, real or model, and recreate and maybe slightly modify it to meet your needs.

Before you do that though, you should know how a yard should be properly laid out.  Let me offer some of my favorite sites for resources.

http://ldsig.org/wiki/index.php/Yards--freight_and_passenger

http://ldsig.org/wiki/index.php/Auxiliary_Yards

http://www.trains.com/mrr/objects/pdf/op0407_bonus.pdf

http://www.trains.com/mrr/objects/pdf/op0407_bonus2.pdf

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Tips about yard design.
1. Don't try to cram a lot of tracks into a small space. Why? If the tracks are close together and a car derails and goes over, ever heard of the domino effect?

2. Give yourself at least one staging track and have it connected to the main at both ends. Two would be better. This gives you plenty of area to make up and break up trains.

3. Don't make spur tracks that are going to trap your locomotive behind a line of cars. Always have an escape route.

4. And most important, Don't try to make a complex design. The more complex a design, the more things can go wrong because of a simple mistake.

Simplicity of design is simplicity of operation. I'm in the hobby to have fun running trains, not trying to find my way out of a Rubik's cube switch yard.

[mike33469]

To update my question somewhat, my scale is HO. I currently own 5 steam engines (the largest being a BLI Hudson) and 2 diesels.  My layout is an around the room type. It is 2" wide all the way around and its approx. 11" X 12".  I'm thinking of using some of the space in the middle of the room for my engine service yard and if room permits maybe a small staging yard. Right now I'm leaning towards a peninsular type extension, but I'm willing to consider having connections at both ends  It's just the wiring I'd be concerned with.  I'm using DCC.

[SpaceMouse]

To update my question somewhat, my scale is HO. I currently own 5 steam engines (the largest being a BLI Hudson) and 2 diesels.  My layout is an around the room type. It is 2" wide all the way around and its approx. 11" X 12".  I'm thinking of using some of the space in the middle of the room for my engine service yard and if room permits maybe a small staging yard. Right now I'm leaning towards a peninsular type extension, but I'm willing to consider having connections at both ends  It's just the wiring I'd be concerned with.  I'm using DCC.

No worries about the DCC wiring.

YOu can go up to 5 foot wide with your pennisula, and with 2 feet for access you could like get all you wanted out of it. In your room your pennisula can angle.

[mike33469]

Wouldn't I need some special wiring if I connect two sides of my circle together?  Basically my layout (now) is really just a circle with sidings and yards and passing tracks thrown in.

[pcarrell]

If I'm reading this right, you're going to need an auto reversing unit, or you can manually control it if you want, in order to have a track turn back on itself.

Digitrax makes a couple of real nice units just for this: http://www.digitrax.com/menu_powerman.php

 

[SpaceMouse]

Wouldn't I need some special wiring if I connect two sides of my circle together?  Basically my layout (now) is really just a circle with sidings and yards and passing tracks thrown in.

You would need an auto-reversing unit or switch if you reverse direction of travel--say your train is going clockwise, then through the "peninsula" you so that you are going counter-clock-wise on the loop. The reverse loop is not hard to do. You can do the same thing manually with a toggle switch.

I wouldn't connect the loop, thereby eliminating a duck=under and a reverse circuit.   

[dehusman]

Wouldn't I need some special wiring if I connect two sides of my circle together?  Basically my layout (now) is really just a circle with sidings and yards and passing tracks thrown in.

Nope, no special wiring (as long as you have no route that allows a train to to end up at the exact same place going the opposite direction (a reversing section). 

And if you are adding engine service facilites, there is no need to connect it to the other side of the layout, actually I would say not to.

The $64000 question is what do you want to do with your engine service track?  Why do you want it?  If what you REALLY want is a a place to park engines between swapping them out on trains that is one thing.  If you are going to spend the time to actually run an engine through all the steps to service it, then that is another.  If you want a parking lot (and there isn't anything wrong with that, if that's what you want, then you probably need a turntable or wye to turn the engines, a track with fuel, water and sand and maybe a engine house to make it look railroady.  If you are planning a peninsula I might suggest putting the engine facilities inside a "wye"  track without a turntable and roundhouse.  Costs hundreds of dollars less and does exactly the same thing, easier to control  and is just a prototypical.

Dave H.

[train18393]

I know this does not answer the question, but I believe the NMRA still has a layout design Special Interest Group(SIG). Usually the people in the SIGs hav dreams about their SIG in their sleep. .I think their web sight is www.NMRA.org  It may be worth looking into as they have many SIGs that may be of a big help in the future.

Paul

Dayton and Mad River RR

[IRONROOSTER]

I would suggest you get MR's books "The Model Railroader's Guide to Locomotive Servicing Terminals" and "Track Planning for Realistic Operations".  Between the two of them you should get some ideas.

Enjoy

Paul 

[Dave-the-Train]

This won't answer your question either... but it's the best advice I can give.

Take your time and figure out what you want a yard to do and a design for a yard that will do that - the way you want - .  This may well go through several/many phases

There's loads of stuff on this forum for one that will help you.  Take your time.

There's plenty of other things to be working on while you get your head round yards. The "real estate", locos, stock, weathering... There's nothng wrong with just laying a basic loopn to test run on/watch the trains go round while you develop ideas.

Establishing a real estate of baseboard isn't as limiting as it might sound.  You may well have unconsciously done it already by deciding on around the walls, with peninsular, baseboard depth and height.  There are many track configurations that can be fitted into that.

I think that Stein will confirm that time spent in paper planning and getting your head round the issues is time well spent.

[Anonymous]

I like to look at the longest availible side on a space where trains will run for a prospective yard. I happen to be planning a road that will have roughly 18 feet by two foot availible for a yard. I will probably use one of Selector's favorite secrets, a curved turnout to make a decent yard lead to make it all work.

You can have a yard that works as long you can sustain the operations you specifically are planning to do.