Staging yards.

[SD90]

Given the choice, which would you choose?

- a 5 track reverse loop staging yard or

- a 6 track double ended staging yard?

Both would be the same length, the double ended one has an extra track to run the engines around.
Both have thier advantages, the reverse loop staging yard automaticly stages trains, but the double ended yard looks more prototypical, and you could operate it as a real yard. The layout is designed for operations, so the benifit of continous running doesn't really matter, durring an operating session, when a train enters the staging yard, it stops and who ever ran that train into the staging yard will either pick up another train in the same staging yard or somewhere else on the layout.
Just an idea...
Wondering what you would all do?

 

[60103]

So, Mike, what's the rest of the layout like? do you only enter and exit from one side or do you run through it? The reverse loop idea (John Armstrong's reverted loop?) would also work if you had a another reverse loop that led to both ends of the layout.
Otherwise, I'd go for the double ended bit.

 

[SD90]

The layout is a double deck, point to point with a reverse loop staging yard at each end. ( For now! )

 

[Matthyro]

If the yard is visible then I would suggest a 6 track double ended staging yard
If the yard is hidden then I would suggest a 5 track reverse loop staging yard
It is just that most yards I have seen are straight.

 

[60103]

Does the train get broken down between operating sessions or does it come out as it went in? I might go for the reverse loops as you won't have to pick up and turn your loco, even if you just leave the train.

 

[SD90]

Most of the time, I will break the train down after an operating session, unless it is a run through bulk train. There are about 3 trains which get taken apart at Field,( the main yard in the middle of the layout) and get switched out to industries and sent to different places on the layout. What I thought about doing with the far end of the staging yard was to use atlas switches and take out the switch machine, so they are just loose. ( you wouldn't have to worry about lining any switches at the far end that way.) Then have 1 spring switch that will always line you down the main track, back to the other end of your train. (I would be the only one doing the engine moves after an operating session.) The staging yards are not hidden, they are right there when you come into the room, that's why I'm thinking of changing them around. If I do this, it would make the 2 staging yards look like another 2 real yards, that just have lots of trains in them. I could even ballast them and have a backdrop behind them. Right now, the staging yards take up allot of room, they are about 6 feet across and 12 feet long. I could get almost the same length of tracks on a yard 1 foot wide and 18 feet long, with maybe a 45 degree curve in it. I'm starting to think this might be the next change on my ever evolving layout!

 

[Papa Bear]

Mike, my preference would be double-ended staging rather than a reverse loop. If you have any coal trains on your layout, this would help keep the loads and empties travelling in the proper directions.

John

 

[igoldberg]

Staging yard

I use 2 double ended staging yards. Trains can arrive amd depart from both ends.

 

[GRSJr]

The reverse-loop yard is exactly what exists on the New York & Long Branch, a branch line running from Perth Amboy to Bay Head, NJ. The Bay Head Yard is the end of the line and is inside a reverse loop.

At one time, the road was run jointly by PRR and CNJ. We watched the K4s get watered at the yard while waiting to take the next train north to Perth Amboy and on to NYC behind a GG1.

There were also Sharks and lots of CNJ diesels as well.

I believe there are some photos of the yard on the Railwire CNJ forum.

 

[siderod]

Mike,
If you remove the "balloon" staging tracks, will you put in a roundhouse and turntable to turn your locomotives? **smug grin**

If you only run your units around the trains, you'll occasionally have a unit facing the wrong way (long hood forward) and will have to turn it somehow...0-5-0 or turntable...the latter would look cooler.

Honestly, i'd go with the double-ended, just get the paper mill done first!

 

[SD90]

Hey Andrew! I am going to do the pulp and paper mill first, but I am thinking of taking out the revese loop staging yards, and making them a normal double ended yard. ( but not until after the mill! ) What I might do is join the lower staging yard and Golden, mae it all one big yard. There would be a westbound main and a southbound main, going down to the crowsnest pass. I would have 5 staging tracks on the west end of golden, and the southbound main would be the track that I use to get the engines back to the other end of the train. Durring an op session, people would just run the train into a yard track at Golden, and leave it there. Then after everyone has gone, I would run teh engines back to the other end, ready for the next session.

 

[tillsbury]

For our edification, what is reversing loop staging? I (think I) understand double-ended staging, which I assumed was the ideal solution for those who have the space, as in the CXST Shenandoah layout (image linked from that site):

Double-ended 6-track staging at each end of the layout (the other 'end' of this point-to-point being directly above it, of course). How would your alternative work?

Charles

 

[siderod]

Charles, that is very very simaler to what mike has right now...what he is deciding between is that, or something like what i'm about to try and draw....

          |
         /|
       /| |
     /| | |
   /| || |
  | | || |
  | | || |
  | | || |
  | | || |
  | | || |
   \| || |
     \|| |
       \| |
         \|
          |
          |

Does that make any sense?

 

[tillsbury]

Oh right. Come to think of it -- the picture I showed was a reverse loop I suppose, as it ended in a single track rather than a double. But other than that it's topologically identical, I suppose. But obviously they would have to be hidden -- although that's what's meant by 'staging yard' I suppose -- a yard that's visible is just a yard, isn't it? I have a (much smaller!) hidden double-ended yard, the idea being that one train disappears over the horizon and something else comes back instead. You surely can't easily play the same operations game with a visible yard?

I thought there was something more complicated in mind, as SD90 was differentiating between a 5 and 6-track yard and I thought he meant something where the rolling stock is dumped and the locos are turned round on a separate track, and the yard tracks were single-ended.

Thanks for clearing that up...

Charles

 

[SD90]

That is a awesome looking staging yard! An amazing layout too, I just looked over the whole web site!
It is similar to what I have right now, but mine is only 5 tracks. ( And the tracks aren't as long) The first switch is set with a spring, so it always goes straight, then you set which track you want to take, 1-5. They all do a big loop, (about 3 foot radius on the outside), and come back together at the other side of the spring switch. All the switches on the exiting side of the staging yard are atlas switches with the motors taken out, so they are loose. The trains just run through them and back out onto the main track, going the opposite direction they were going.