You got have staging...period....uh what were we talking about.
The reason for the yard would be personal. My choice would be to put it in because when you are making up trains for staging you won't have to use your fingers. You also have an added factor for when you are operating by yourself.
Having operated a yard at a big op session with another person I can say that you get in each others way all the time. I can also say that fast and furious switching and getting trains ready for others to put on runs was more fun than anything else I've ever done in ops.
You gotta have a yard, period. Just my opinion. You can always put across the yard throat a yellow and black barrier with "CLOSED FOR THE SEASON" written on it.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
To me, you are asking if you should buy apples and oranges, or just the oranges. Naturally, my answer would be "yes."
Having just intalled a yard for the first time ever, I can honestly ask myself, "What were you thinking!?" It adds a wonderful and interesting dimension to the MRR experience, and it looks cool, to boot. Staging in many cases is something entirely different, and its separate nature usually means that it is consigned to a hidden place.
Ask yourself this question: what else would I do with the area in question, and how will that decision enhance or at least affect my layout's overall utility, and how will that affect the staging that I already have?
If Mouse gets into this conversation, I know what he'll say. Ya gotta have staging....period. So, since you have that, a major contributor to interest and fun is a yard....which you don't have.
Here are the two theories I have been considering:
Have trains originate and terminate in staging with no yard. I could run through trains and a local in each dirrection. The staging is through staging there is no reversing on the layout. I would have off layout destinations and the two towns would be where all the switching would be done. No engine facilities.
Have some trains originate in staging and some in a yard. Now one dedicated yardmaster would have to keep up( this is usually a bottleneck ), and fewer industries at the same location would be available. This would create a cramped area for the layout and the operators. I would have to make room for engine facilities and such. I know this creates some interest but is it worth it?
John
I have a fair sized L-shaped layout in N-scale. I currently have a three track hidden staging yard and a town stop with three spurs to work. I have imagined a yard at the other end of the layout but while thinking about multiple operators and car forewarding I may decide to go without a real clasification yard.
My goal is to keep 4 operators busy but I am afraid that a yard plus industries would be too much for one operator or two would have to work side by side and kind of trip over each other. I will have at least two to three mainline operators and locals will most likely work the small town. I would like to be able to have two hour operating sessions so I need to have more spurs to serve for car destinations.
I am not looking for specific design decisions but just some sharing of knowledge and experience. I would like to have enough car destinations to constitute having the car cards.
Any thoughts?
P.S. Check out my www below to see the area in question. Its the blank plywood area with three tracks running through it.They were to be arrival/departure tracks in the yard.