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Well, the blog hasn't been updated yet to show the new operating scheme... The yard design is totally freelanced, but I'm locating it in Lebanon, NH. White River Junction is just across the river. I was naming it White River Jct. so that visitors who aren't familier with the area won't get confused. The yard is located on the Western end of the layout. The tracks go west towards White River Junction, but in reality the trains reappear as trains from Concord, to the east. The yard lead goes West to an unmodeled crossover, in reality the crossover is in Stude, after the trains reappear.The track goes east through New Poland, over the pass, through Dooley and Stude, and eventually they reappear as eastbound trains in White River Junction/Lebanon. The yard functions as a place where I can take blocks off through trains for local delivery, making up locals from those, and sorting cars from the locals into Eastbound and Westbound blocks to put on the next through train in that direction.It also holds blocks of cars off the local until the through freight arrives, and holds blocks of cars off the through freight until it's time to put the local together.The yard also houses as the main maintanence facilities for the White River Southern Railroad.  Here are the answers to the rest of your questions: 1) How big is the area available for the yard? The new location is both the former yard location as well as the old staging yard. The old staging yard was on a curve, so it won't work well for a yard ladder. That's the servicing facilities. 2) Are you planning to also use the double ended siding for train meets or can it be used exclusively as a switching lead/yard approach track? The yard has a drill track on either end, and it will be used for arriving trains to pull in on as well as the yard switcher. No through trains will be held on it. 3) If used as a switching lead, how long does the siding continue past the end of the yard ladder? The track extends for about 5 or 6 feet on either end past the last switch. This is plenty for my yard job. 4) Is there enough traffic on the main that it matters whether you have to stop traffic on the main while you throw the turnout from the double ended siding to the main and use part of the main to switch cuts of cars between classification and in/outbound tracks? There isn't all that much traffic on the mainline, and the drill tracks are long enough that I won't have to block the main. I can double the move if I have to. 5) How many different destinations do you expect to be classifying cars for the same time? There are three destinations for freightcars in the yard: Eastbound, Westbound, and Local Delivery 6) How many cars for each destination (max)? That depends. About half of my cars are out of service until they receive metal wheelsets, but with all of them in service the most cars I would typically handle is around 10. I wouldn't know really about now, because my old plan had one through train, while this one has 3. I don't have enough locomotives for two through trains plus the yard switcher and local freight engine, plus the intermodel train. 7) How long do you expect your inbound/outbound locals will be? The local again depends on how many cars are in service. With all my cars I would say about 7 cars, although I'm going to plan for 10 if I can, which is about how many a locomotive can handle over the pass. 8) How long do you expect blocks from/to off-layout locations will be?  The average number of these is 5. That is with cars from two locals however, as there used to be only one through freight which cycled directions daily, so if there was a westbound through freight one day, the eastbound cars would lay over in the yard overnight till the next day's train in the right direction. 9) How many inbound or outbound blocks do you anticipate having to keep in the yard before they are picked up or classified? I'm not sure yet. The last time I operated the layout, it had a totally differant operating plan, and I had about twice as many locomotives and freightcars, and there was only one train a day except for the local. I normally would classify everything as soon as it came in. I'm planning for all of the cars being stored, as I know I will continue to change the operating plan until I get it right. I'm planning in extra capacity, as if I change my operating plan, I don't want to have to build mor capacity into the yard at a later date.
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