Right Larry, your ISL is one the end points, or very beginning points for the run through and bridge taffic that the rest us model. Your that far away destination, that's off my layout.
No wonder your so busy!
Mike.
My You Tube
No.. A Industrial Switching Layout (ISL) requires cars that fills the needs of the modeled industries and this will include the transload track.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
My layout is a point-to-multiple-points type, and while there is some shipping between modelled industries, much traffic either originates "elsewhere" or is going "elsewhere", or both - simply passing through. I have five staging areas representing those "elsewheres". Three of them are only a couple of tracks: one set represents unmodelled industries on my layout, while the other two represent direct interchanges with two real railroads.The two staging yards (only five tracks each) represent both the continuation of my main line, and interchanges with unspecified other roads. My railroad is part of the North American system of railroads, where any common carrier road can interchange with any other.
If you have room to add a turnout and a section of dead-end track, preferably on the outside edge of your 4'x8', it can represent your connection to the rest of the rail system. You may have to physically remove or add cars to that track in order to keep it useful, but as a connection to "elsewhere", it will allow you to run whatever car types or roadnames you wish. Most of my rolling stock cycles on and off the layout, and that's why four of the five staging areas are right about the shelves where the rolling stock is stored...
Wayne
yes ..
i run boxcars, that have absolutely no purpose on my small layout ..
they do however, have a purpose 'further out' on the interchange
Track fiddlerI have already bought a bunch of these grain cars. I'm going to try to fit in a small Co-op Grain Mill if I can. I am not going to overcrowd my layout unrealistically though.
You don't have to actually model the mill, just a spur track into the woods (or to the edge of the layout) with the mill "out of sight" of the mainline.
Paul
dknelson Track fiddler Maybe these grain cars will be just passing through. They may have no purpose on my layout. With few and rare exceptions (an industrial railroad, non-common carriers such as logging or mining railroads, or certain very isolated NY harbor lines) a layout of normal size cannot represent an entire contained system of shippers and receivers. As a practical matter it is difficult to model in a realistic way a situation where it is practical and economical to ship and receive the same carload on the same layout. Even if there is no room for staging yards or interchanges the fact remains that the usual common carrier sort of railroad serves its customers to be sure but the shipments come from elsewhere, go to elsewhere, and the railroad serves as the means for similar shipments that are coming to or coming from places that may or may not be on that same railroad, but are not modeled on the layout per se. On my layout for example I have a pretty clear notion of what industries were to the north and the south of the precise area I model. So cars related to those industries have a place on my through freights, and even the local switcher, without having to devote space to modeling those industries. So imagine there is a grain elevator or ethanol plant or food industry just over the hill and beyond where your layout's real estate ends. There is no need to find room to model each and every industry that is related to the cars on your trains. Dave Nelson
Track fiddler Maybe these grain cars will be just passing through. They may have no purpose on my layout.
With few and rare exceptions (an industrial railroad, non-common carriers such as logging or mining railroads, or certain very isolated NY harbor lines) a layout of normal size cannot represent an entire contained system of shippers and receivers. As a practical matter it is difficult to model in a realistic way a situation where it is practical and economical to ship and receive the same carload on the same layout.
Even if there is no room for staging yards or interchanges the fact remains that the usual common carrier sort of railroad serves its customers to be sure but the shipments come from elsewhere, go to elsewhere, and the railroad serves as the means for similar shipments that are coming to or coming from places that may or may not be on that same railroad, but are not modeled on the layout per se.
On my layout for example I have a pretty clear notion of what industries were to the north and the south of the precise area I model. So cars related to those industries have a place on my through freights, and even the local switcher, without having to devote space to modeling those industries.
So imagine there is a grain elevator or ethanol plant or food industry just over the hill and beyond where your layout's real estate ends. There is no need to find room to model each and every industry that is related to the cars on your trains.
Dave Nelson
Dave covered this very nicely, I just want to add the concept of bridge traffic.
If your layout depicts mainline operations of ANY sort, there may well be traffic that does not originate or terminate on your layout, but simply passes thru from one end to the other.
Even those of us with large layouts, or maybe especially those of us with large layouts, often model a significant portion of our traffic as bridge traffic.
On my new layout, many trains will appear on "stage" from the staging yards, stop at the yard, be broken down, and individual cars delivered to industries. Other trains will be made up in that yard from cars gathered from the industries. Those trains will then travel the layout and return to staging yards.
BUT, some trains will just run the lenght of the mainline without stopping at the yard, or only stopping for a power change, and will return to staging at the other end of the mainline.
They came from somewhere else, and are going somewhere else, they just needed our tracks to get there.
Sheldon
I run a lot of trains that have cars that will not be stopping at any industry on my layout.
They are run-throughs, going from one fictiticious city to another, passing trains. It would get boring just running trains that only contained cars that would be switched at the industries on the layout, and they never left, never went to the off-layout industries that would use the products produced on your layout.
The loads, and empties from your industries need to go to other places, and then come back as a load, or empty, whatever the case may be.
Thats what your staging yard would be. That distination, far away.
Track fiddlerMaybe these grain cars will be just passing through. They may have no purpose on my layout.
I don't run any cars that don't have a purpose, but my shortline has a lot of purposes - several diverse industries and interchanges on both ends so I also have run-throughs. So I have a fair variety of car types in use.
But in response to your question, maybe you could add a customer that handles many kinds of cars, such as a transload terminal or a rail car repair service. Or your road could use unused trackage to store cars for other railroads. You could also add a customer that uses multiple car types, such as a manufacturer who takes in materials in, say, a hopper car, and ships goods in box cars. I also have a rail museum (on a separate table) that displays many different car types.
Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority and CSX Intermodal. Interchange with CSX (CR)(NYC).
CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield
Just wondering if I'm the only one.
I am working on a small layout. it has undertaken careful planning and consideration from the start. There's only room to model so much.
I would imagine even on a larger layout than mine, you can only fit so many businesses and industries that your railroad services. Realistically spacing things out and not overcrowding is kind of a no-brainer.
On my 4x8 layout I concentrate on my two favorite things. Iron ore and lumber. These are the industries that surrounded me nearby where I grew up.
The thing is, I love the center flow grain hopper cars. Especially the two bay ones. I probably have a fetish for these because I like the 40 ton ore cars as well. I just like the way they look.
I have already bought a bunch of these grain cars. I'm going to try to fit in a small Co-op Grain Mill if I can. I am not going to overcrowd my layout unrealistically though.
I figured out a way to put in staging that goes under a portion of my layout. Maybe these grain cars will be just passing through. They may have no purpose on my layout.
Track Fiddler