staging yards???? Do you have to have one????

[Phoebe Vet]

I keep most of my trains in plain view in an exposed yard.

I do, however, have a small 3 track yard hidden in a mountain.  It is where Thomas the Tank Engine and Hogwart's Express live when the grandchildren are not around.

I do not simulate "out of town".

[MStLfan]

Another trick is to put the staging yard behind a viewblock such as a hill or row of buildings.

I have been considering exactly that for my staging. Could some folks who use that form of staging comment on the difficulty of using it.. that is.. having to deal with a staging yard that is set up behind a view block or low backdrop which is in turn behind the operating portion of the layout?

My concern is that a yard hidden back like that will not be very ergonomic. Put another way, a pain in the butt to work with the trains and the track back there. I do like how it would let me use the back wall of my layout and save areas with aisle space for sceniced portions.. and that I can probably use a mirror on the cieling to see trains moving in and out by looking up.

Right now I am looking at modeling a very slow bridge line I can operate alone or with a disinterested relative, but a little artist license would allow me to make it as busy as I like if I find some more people to share the hobby with me locally. 

Thanks,

Chris 

If your benchwork is not too deep it should not be a great problem. Height may be more problematic if you go for high layouts (chesthigh).

You can counter that by going modular/segmental (domino style I think is the name you use in the US). That way you can work at leisure on one or more parts till everything works perfect.

You may want to check out some British exhibition layouts which basically use this idea. Many are operated from the front these days rather than from the back.

Iain Rice has published two books with Kalmbach you may want to check out.

greetings,

Marc Immeker

[mike_ruby]

Another trick is to put the staging yard behind a viewblock such as a hill or row of buildings.

I have been considering exactly that for my staging. Could some folks who use that form of staging comment on the difficulty of using it.. that is.. having to deal with a staging yard that is set up behind a view block or low backdrop which is in turn behind the operating portion of the layout?

My concern is that a yard hidden back like that will not be very ergonomic. Put another way, a pain in the butt to work with the trains and the track back there. I do like how it would let me use the back wall of my layout and save areas with aisle space for sceniced portions.. and that I can probably use a mirror on the cieling to see trains moving in and out by looking up.

Right now I am looking at modeling a very slow bridge line I can operate alone or with a disinterested relative, but a little artist license would allow me to make it as busy as I like if I find some more people to share the hobby with me locally. 

Thanks,

 

Chris 

See my post on page three for my method of running a hidden yard, I have three CCTV cameras which feed back to the dispatchers desk, two at each end of the yard and one part way in covering a switch for a short loop. Another camera covers a hidden switch at the end of my main yard. These make it easy to stop trains at the correct position, and I put two trains into most of the loops (I have to make sure that both will fit!) I plan to add two mirrors to give a better view around the corners with the existing cameras.

Scenery is removable to allow access to the yard but I made sure all the track work was well laid, and apart for one incident (after messing with the switch programming) I barely ever need the access.

I didn't use an open yard like some, as it goes over half way around the room on a rising grade, with some mainline track above it, and would not have looked right. I also could not use 6 shorter tracks instead of the longer 3 tracks as that would have made the boards too wide, and forced sharper curves on the rest of the layout.

Mike Ruby

[ChrisNH]

So I presume then you work on the the trains elsewhere and stash them away in staging.. that direct access is more of a "deal with problems" issue, not a day to day staging need? 

My current test layout is 56". I plan to go to 58" on the next one after I test 58" on this one with some wood blocks under the legs. So yeah. very tall.. but I am in N so it really improves my enjoyment of the layout. I like having the trackwork close to my eyes when I am working on it too.

Thanks,

Chris
 

 

 

[4merroad4man]

So I presume then you work on the the trains elsewhere and stash them away in staging.. that direct access is more of a "deal with problems" issue, not a day to day staging need? 

My current test layout is 56". I plan to go to 58" on the next one after I test 58" on this one with some wood blocks under the legs. So yeah. very tall.. but I am in N so it really improves my enjoyment of the layout. I like having the trackwork close to my eyes when I am working on it too.

Thanks,

Chris
 

 

 

Let's offer a definition or two from my model's rulebook:  Staging Tracks (Hidden or Visible):  a yard or tracks where a train terminates its run under its own power.  It does not return to the visible portion of the layout, nor is it removed from its staging track until after an operating session is completed.  Staging Tracks are also where a train, pre-made with locomotives, departs under its own power to make a run on the visible portion of the layout. 

Fiddle Yard:  a track or series of tracks where terminating trains are removed from the yard by hand, locomotive or other device and placed in storage.  Other cars and locomotives are removed from storage and placed by hand, locomotive or other device to build a train which will depart under its own power.

Now, under these definitions, hidden staging has no real need for access except in the rare instance of a problem such as a derailment, etc.  Use of diodes near end of track will stop a train's movement into the assigned staging track, and block detectors and power switches ensure trains go where they are supposed to.  A fiddle yard allows the person in charge to physically remove arriving trains or build new ones with cars stored off the layout, and continue to do so as long as demand or schedules require.

[mike_ruby]

So I presume then you work on the the trains elsewhere and stash them away in staging.. that direct access is more of a "deal with problems" issue, not a day to day staging need? 

My current test layout is 56". I plan to go to 58" on the next one after I test 58" on this one with some wood blocks under the legs. So yeah. very tall.. but I am in N so it really improves my enjoyment of the layout. I like having the trackwork close to my eyes when I am working on it too.

Thanks,

Chris
 

 

 

I don't really need to work on the trains when they are stored. I run on a car card and waybill system, cars that have finished their assignment stay in the trains. When cars are required for industries on the layout I pick the waybills for that load and check through the train's car cards for empty cars of the required type, and place the waybill in the car card. Any cars in a train without a waybill just stay in the train. None of these trains terminate on the layout so it doesn't matter if cars have no destination. Any cars dropped off on the layout are switched by a local crew, which also sets out cars from the industries for pickup by the through trains.

My layout starts at 60" high, and climbs to about 66". The only problem is I can see the lack of details under some of my cars!

Mike Ruby

[hobo9941]

I have four staging tracks under the layout. They are 15 feet long, and hold about 23 cars and two locos, each. I always have a couple trains hidden under the layout, in storage. Recently, my brother was over and I was running some trains while he watched. After about 20 minutes of running a couple freight trains, my Pere Marquette passenger train emerged toward the back of the layout, and pulled into the depot. He looked shocked, and said "Where'd that come from"? I just said "Cincinnatti".

[PA&ERR]

On my Port Able and Pacific which is based on the Seattle and North Coast, I use my car ferry as my "staging" yard. Like the S&NC, my road only interchanges with the rest of the world via the car ferry.

I've never been that thrilled with hidden track of any kind. It is a well known fact that the hidden spaces of the layout room is where the "gremlins" hide and do most of their dirty work.

-George