New switching yard

spitfire

Active Member
Thanks to all the feedback from everyone on my previous thread I have decided not to try to combine switching and classification - duh! So, I've moved classification to the other side of the layout, where it will double as staging. Now I am free to concentrate on serving these busy industries. Incoming loads will be mainly sheet steel and grain, but with the shipping terminal I can bring in just about anything I want. Outgoing will be manufactured goods - appliances and farm machinery, and empties.
The crossovers will have double slip switches. (grid is 12")

cheers
:D Val
 

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billk

Active Member
Hey Val -
I see 4 crossovers. Not all of these are double slip switches, I hope!

Also, you might want to try doing some "paper switching sessions" with your diagram to see if you can spot or pickup cars at the various locations efficiently (or at all). For instance, how would a switcher pulling a car drop it off at the Inglis location?
BillK
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Val,

You are ambitious! Double slips and cross overs! The complex trackwork would be interesting but I lean more to the simple and fewer headaches. May I suggest this alternative? It includes a cross over which I think is a great addition to industrial track scenes. You know, you might just build the benchwork for this area as large as you can and then fiddle with track templates or actual switches to determine the final plan. I rarely have a drawn plan end up reflecting reality. :)

Ralph
 

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spitfire

Active Member
Thanks Ralph! That looks good too.

Just want to clarify something with those who are more familiar with real ops. Can't the cars be backed into their respective sidings? I'm sure I don't need to have a runaround for every single siding do I?

Val
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Sure they can Val! You can have single spurs off the main line that can receive cars and send out cars that way. Only problem is it can only happen in one direction unless you don't mind the cars in front of the locomotive for the rest of the trip (a some time prototypic operation). Once you have your plan drawn, follow the track with your eye or finger and imagne its the loco. Playout dropping cars off and picking them up. You'll see where it can be done conveniently and where there may be complications.
Happy planning!
Ralph
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Here's a little diagram of what I mean. In case the handwriting doesn't come out well in the picture I'll explain that the first diagram shows how a spur can be serviced by trains running in one direction.....but not so easily by trains running the other way (diagram 2). The bottom illustration shows how a single runaround siding can help a locomotive move cars into spurs going either direction. Maybe there will be places on your layout where its OK for trains to serve a spur in one direction only. That happens all the time on models and prototypes. A siding in an industrial area, however, gives you a lot of options.
Hope this helps!
Ralph
 

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spitfire

Active Member
AHA!!!! Now I understand - thank-you Ralph. So what you're saying is that it's better to have the spur coming off the opposite way from the direction of the train so it goes past the siding and backs in. Is that right?

(Gee, I'm glad I ordered all that steel - and can benefit from some of your experience. My RR has some crazy fool at the helm who seems to have all the money and power but no actual experience - hmmm, maybe kinda prototypical after all LOL).

Is this any better?

cheers
:rolleyes: Val
 

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sumpter250

multiscale modelbuilder
Val,
The New York & Atlantic, the current freight hauler on Long Island, deals with the "directional" problem by running push-pull. They have a loco at each end of the train. The photo I saw, showed two MP15ACs on the train. These were former METRO units.
Pete

P.S. Where you've indicated a ship, pierside, you might be able to modify a Lindberg, North Atlantic Fishing Trawler kit, for your vessel. The picture I posted in the "bridge pictures" thread, shows one of those kits, modified.
P.
 

spitfire

Active Member
Thanks 88!

Sumpter, I was drooling over those ship models earlier. I'll check out the Lindberg (and that thread again). Thanks for the tip.

cheers
:D Val
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Nah 88, I got the upgrade, Pen 2.1 :)

Val,

Yep, that's what I'm saying from a model railroad operational convenience stand point. You can place stub ended spurs all over the layout in different directions. "Eastbound" trains can serve some while "westbound" can serve the others.

I imagine on some prototype RRs and on large model RRs, cars are picked up from some spurs and transported to the next yard where they are sorted into a train that actually goes back past the spur to the car's origin. Folks more into operations might clarify this.

Any way, have fun above all else and enjoy planning the track configuration for this interesting scene. Grain elevators, ships, and lots of trackage will make it a winner!

Is next week the one you're taking off to start building?
Ralph
 

60103

Pooh Bah
Val:
Just for fun, envisage moving a car from Canada Malting to the MF plant.
It's on the same siding but...
(I know it's not logical.) Also from Inglis to MF.
And where does Strachan Avenue go?
 

spitfire

Active Member
Ralph, it's the week of the 17th that I have off. I'll be cleaning out and painting the Train Room and hopefully get to starting the benchwork. Your diagrams are making this very easy to understand, and thanks again!

David, Strachan Ave hmmm? You're right, I will need to work that in, or maybe Bathurst St. I kinda like that truss bridge on Bathurst over the tracks and Canada Malting is at the foot of Bathurst, but MF and Inglis are definitely closer to Strachan, so it's sort of a toss-up right now. I'm playing pretty fast and loose with the geography anyway!

cheers
:D Val
 

interurban

Active Member
Hi Val its looking great, Hope all goes well with the bench work, how high will it be from the floor??

You know ya just have to put Strachan street in it has a lot of History that name.;)
 

spitfire

Active Member
Thanks Chris. I'm thinking maybe 44" from the floor. That's about solar plexus height when I'm standing and eye-level when I'm sitting.

cheers
:D Val
 
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