I am sooooooooo confused.

Nomad

Active Member
Andrew, that is great:-D ! It even takes care of the facing point problem. Why didn't I think of that:sleeping: .

Loren
 

Nomad

Active Member
Railohio, I redid my yard some more,trying to improve it the way you suggested. This should be a improvement over my first draft. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Loren

track1.jpg
 

railohio

Active Member
Railohio, I redid my yard some more,trying to improve it the way you suggested. This should be a improvement over my first draft. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

I think you've almost got it. The only problem I see is still with the engine facility. You need to think of it more as a continuous process than a single location. I've redrawn the yard as a schematic; you'll need to figure out how to fit this in your space. First let's run through how the yard functions.

An inbound train will pull into the Arrival Track and using the crossover the power will cut off and head for the engine facility. (But, as I said, more on that later.) The yard power, which has been idling somewhere conveniently out of the way, will couple to the rear of the train and remove the caboose, placing it on the designated track. After that is taken care of the yard crew can begin sorting the inbound cars based on their next destination using the three classifications tracks, and possibly the Industry Lead if the extra space is needed. The use of those tracks would be left to the discretion of the crew; if more cars are destined for a particular location one day they might go on the longest track when other days they didn't.

Now, down to the engine facility. After cutting off an inbound train the road power will go to the engine facility and go in on the aptly named Inbound Power. There it will be serviced as needed with fuel, sand, and water and a running inspection performed. When it's cleared for the road again it will continue through the switch at the right end of the facility and back out to the far end of the Outbound Power track to await its next assignment. This keeps the power rotated and makes it easer to get to the power you need. There might be three sets in the facility at a time and you'll have easier access to them this way. The Supplies track shouldn't be thought of as anything more than an extra industry to switch. You can leave cars of sand, coal, or diesel there for the maintenance crews.

For a train to depart the road power will leave the engine facility and run up the yard ladder to couple on to the train. The yard power will have already placed a caboose for the train at the top of the ladder and when the end of the outbound train is clear of the yard track they will tack it on the rear. Remember, it's always easier to move one car than a whole train to accomplish this!

There are still a few issues with this design, but it's the most functional to date. The biggest problem I see is the size of the Arrival Track. In theory a full train, minus the power, should be able to fit between the yard ladder and the crossover. If that's not possible with your operations you'll have to find a work-around for that. Maybe have the power cut off and idle on the escape while the yard engine shoves the cut in farther to allow them to proceed to the engine facility. Maybe the yard power will have to pull the end of the inbound train off and shove it up the ladder or ladder by-pass to allow the road power to get out. Maybe the trains will be short enough to fit. Another problem is the caboose track. It's a bit short to be fully functional as a caboose track, but it'd be possible to stick two short cars on it in a pinch. Just remember that you want to keep the escape crossover as far to the right as possible to allow for the longest inbound trains as possible. The tail should only be long enough to allow the for road power to cut off and reverse. Based on your operations that might only need to be long enough for one engine or it might need to be long enough for more.

Anyway, whenever you're designing a yard make sure to run through the operations in your head and plot out how it will function. You may yet decide yet that you only need to classification tracks that that you want to forgo the use of cabooses. You're probably not going to be able to foresee everything that will need to go on, but it's surely going to be better than sticking a bunch of tracks down and then figuring out how to use them.

~BS
 

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Nomad

Active Member
I'm Back:-D , and wait until you see the yard Railohio helped me design !
This is by far the smoothest working model yard I have ever used. Traffic moves in and out like a well oiled machine.
First a couple explantions. Andrew ( Mason Jar ) suggested I move two turnouts to change the passing siding to the inside. I tried but ended up with a wicked S curve coming out of the upper turnout, so I will have to designate the inside track as the siding ( even if the turnouts show different ). The loco service track is short. If I block the turnout I will have 18" to park a loco being serviced, but that was the best I could do given the area.
That's about it. Railohio, Andrew, thank you both for the help and advice.

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Loren
 
L

lester perry

Operations on my version of the C&O

If you go to Operations on my version of the C&O in this forum you will see how I operate with 2 hidden yards and one operating yard in the middle. Actually this is only the first part of what should have been 3 parts but I never finished. I guess maybe I should. Any way I now have operating sessions with as many as 5 people including myself and it works very well. Also it is enjoyable and sometimes challenging.
Les
 
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