06-18-2010, 08:14 AM
Thanks for resizing the image, ORM. The plan is certainly ambitious, and I appreciate your motivation. Rough count is 25 turn-outs and 120+ feet of track in roughly 70 square feet of actual layout space. Also a helix, and a "reversing loop" at the wye. That's alot fo stuff in a small area!
For my tastes, it is a bit complicated, but that is just me. I understand the desire to pack as much as you can into the limited space. I would consider doing away with some of the extra spurs at the industries which will result in fewer but longer spurs. An example would be in the last drawing in the extreme lower right hand corner where the spur heads almost straight down toward the bottom of the page. Eliminating the branch on that spur would simplify things. Instead of 2 - one car length spurs, you would have 1 - 3 car spur. This can actually add to the operations, as you may have to pull a car already on the spur to place another car behind it, then put the original car back.
Also on the multiple spurs: Do you have enough room to actually put structures there?
Considering the last drawing - there are two tracks entering the yard area from the top and three leaving at the bottom. Would it hamper your operational scheme to simplify to 1 track at the top and two at the bottom? Could some of those tracks serve double duty? I didn't take the time to figure out exactly why those tracks are there, so just throwing some thoughts at you.
For my tastes, it is a bit complicated, but that is just me. I understand the desire to pack as much as you can into the limited space. I would consider doing away with some of the extra spurs at the industries which will result in fewer but longer spurs. An example would be in the last drawing in the extreme lower right hand corner where the spur heads almost straight down toward the bottom of the page. Eliminating the branch on that spur would simplify things. Instead of 2 - one car length spurs, you would have 1 - 3 car spur. This can actually add to the operations, as you may have to pull a car already on the spur to place another car behind it, then put the original car back.
Also on the multiple spurs: Do you have enough room to actually put structures there?
Considering the last drawing - there are two tracks entering the yard area from the top and three leaving at the bottom. Would it hamper your operational scheme to simplify to 1 track at the top and two at the bottom? Could some of those tracks serve double duty? I didn't take the time to figure out exactly why those tracks are there, so just throwing some thoughts at you.
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times