Thoughts Wanted: layout staging-interchange yard

[Gary S]

If you go with option 2 Gary how about separating the two staging yards so the back one is hidden, perhaps by the walls of buildings so you can still scenic the other one and have it visible. That would create the illusion of trains going someplace of layout to another destination.

That would be an option and is under consideration. My first concern on that would be access to the hidden staging. Since the layout height will be 58 inches, if i use tall buildings or something else to hide the rear yard, I may have trouble taking cars off and putting cars on.

[Ralph]

Yeah, you'd have to pre-stage before operating by assembling a train or two and then rolling them back into the staging yard out of sight. Not ideal but it would give the impression of trains coming from "someplace else".

Ralph

[Gary S]

Thinking ahead a little bit, I can't help but wonder how deep the layout will be to the wall, what kind of radii you will be using? If you are going with 2' deep, that will give you 6' aisles? Probably a bit more then eh?

The shelving will be mostly 18" to 24" wide, mostly 24". Now, at the 180 degree turn at the center wall, the shelves will be about 30" wide so that would be 30" + 30" + 4.5" of wall thickness for a total of 64.5". I can use a fairly large radius curve there, probably around 27".

Will it indeed be quite linear as you've depicted, or will it randomly freeform in and out around various industries and scenic features with access panels towards the back? Will you have any change in grade or are you going to try and keep that to a minimum?

No grade changes as it is mostly switching industries, and I don't want cars rolling around by themselves. The shelving itself will be linear unless y'all can give me some ideas on gradual curving of the fascia board. The track probably won't be absolutely parallel to the fascia for the entire run... alot of the "mainline" will be parallel to the fascia, but some of it won't.

I'm not a big fan of the point to point layouts as I like to sit back and watch 'em run... BUT it would seem logical to have one yard on each side of the doorway for maximum seperation.

The removable bridge will be there for continuous run, which honestly, I can envision myself doing alot of that.

EDIT: I got to thinking about this later this morning and I seem to remember you talking about how you couldn't wait to get the layout moved in. Sooo, with that said, how much of the layout that will go into this building is already built?

Here is the room showing the existing stuff in red. Now, the yard on the left is subject to modification or deletion in its entirety.

[Gary S]

Yeah, you'd have to pre-stage before operating by assembling a train or two and then rolling them back into the staging yard out of sight. Not ideal but it would give the impression of trains coming from "someplace else".

I didn't think of that... it would be a simple matter to pull the trains out of the hidden part to remove them and build the new ones up and push them back there. At the moment, I'm still favoring the seperate interchanges, but ya never know. Doesn't hurt to examine the options, and I appreciate everyone's input.

[Gary S]

That was my understanding from the beginning. We are not talking about hidden pure functional staging yards but two separate yards.That is the reason why I suggested to go with two interchange yards. I would carefully design both yards with different track plans and different scenery. Both should have a track leading to the SP/ATSF worlds. That might be the bridge at the door or the mentioned ferry at the door.

I'll be going with the removable bridge because it is already built - from my old layout. Again, the bridge would only be used for continuous run. Do you have any thoughts on the actual track layout at the interchanges?

[faraway]

...Do you have any thoughts on the actual track layout at the interchanges?

Gary, I am thinking about something like this:



The SP/ATSF (brown) come from the bridge, has at least a main and a siding for interchange, may be a stub and exits into the "off". Your RR (blue) connects to the interchange track and has at least one run around and leads to your layout. The other side of the door is similar in function.
You might want to have all tracks in direct access of the blue main line to have a better staging yard functionality. That needs modifications of the right brown switches. A stub track for a switcher, caboose etc. might be nice.

[Russ Bellinis]

I think the way the LAJ has done interchange is the three railroads (until the U.P. S.P. merger, now two) would drop cars for the LAJ in one of the LAJ yards. The LAJ would then distribute the cars to the various industries. Some would be empties for loading, some would be loads to be emptied. After the industries were finished with the cars, the LAJ would pick them up and "classify" them by railroad, but not by destination. The cars would then be dropped in either Hobart Yard for the S.F., Main Street Yard for the S.P. or Washington Street Yard for the U.P. by the LAJ. In my LAJ, the only yard I am modeling will be the C-Yard in City of Commerce, so the C-yard will be my interchange.

[Gary S]

Russ, that is the same thing I am aiming for, except there will be two interchanges, one for the SP and one for the SF. I think seperating the two interchanges on each side of the door will give the best "feel" for operations.

[MasonJar]

If the yards are meant to be part of operations, I would leave them in the open, and separated. If they are intended for staging only, you might want to consider the "surround staging" option as illustrated by Mike Hamer:

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With your 24" deep shelves, you can easily hide one or two tracks and still maintain your minimum desired radius.

Although originally designed as staging only, the portion of Mike's layout that is visible from the doorway (outside the train room) is now operated as a yard to break and make trains in order to involve another operating crew.

Andrew