N Scale Union Pacific Layout

[Trucklover]

I like that..!! If I didn't have so much time/$$ invested in HO I would have considered changing to N scale.....There is so much you can do with that kind of space..!! And item availability is almost as great as in HO....

LOL i know what you mean Gus, everything I have is HO scale, ill just have to acquire some N scale to build this little layout as well

[Trucklover]

Well ive decided to drift away from the idea of having a turntable or Transfer Table at the end of my stub ended yard. This is due to a few reasons, 1) There is nothing readily available in the way of a Transfer Table anymore, 2) I dont want to pay the extreme prices for the older Transfer Tables that were available a few years ago, and 3) i dont think the HO Transfer Table would be easy to convert to N scale and scratch building is out of the question LOL

So, instead I have placed some switches at the ends of the tracks in the yards for escape tracks... Will this work? I mean, to me looking at it, it will work, but ive never had a yard before so i dont really know how to think... ya know? LOL I placed the switches at the ends of the yard tracks so if a train did come in engine first, the engine could escape by going through and backing onto the parallel track... Here is the plan, it describes what im trying to say much better lol

Will this work how I have it or do I need to do something different?

[BR60103]

Josh:
The escape crossovers will work. I don't know if you need that many. Try to picture how the yard is going to work. Your train pulls in. The loco uncouples and:
the loco tries to make its way to the servicing tracks.
The yard goat takes the cars and moves them to other tracks. It shuffles them around, cuts the deck, and makes other trains out of them.
A road loco backs onto one of (each of?) the new trains and takes it away.

How many trains will come into the yard at a time? I think that 3 tracks with escape crossovers on the engine shed side (call it "arrivals") should do. You shouldn't need any escapes on the departures side.
What may be a limitation is the length of the track leading in to the yard. Your goat won't be able to pull an entire train onto it, but you may not need to -- you can drag the cars out in smaller segments.

[Trucklover]

Hey David, thanks for the info!!

So, I took the crossover out of the 3 right tracks (closet to the machine shop) and left the 3 tracks on the left side (closest to the car shop) with the crossovers. I like your thinking of having arrival and departure tracks. And to answer your question, I will probably only be running one train at a time, at least one the mainline. I can have smaller trains working in the yard while i let the mainline train run around, but thats all I plan to do....

There is a few ways for cars to get into the yard, I have highlighted them in black. I see what your saying about having to push small cuts of cars into the yard though, so I flipped the arrival and departure tracks and moved the crossovers so the arrival tracks are on the right side and the departure track are on the left side of the yard. This way the locomotives can back into the assembled train and pull straight out of the yard and onto the mainline.

[TrainNut]

Josh,
Right off the bat, you said that this layout would be flat and at eye level. I'm thinking some of the things in the back might be hard to see or get lost by what's in front. What if you raised the back portion of the layout by just 1" (at a 2% grade, that would take 4' on each end)? It seems you could do this easily by starting and ending your inclines around the curves at each end of the layout and it should really help your depth of field.
Wha'do ya think?
You might even have enough of a run there to keep it at 1% or go with 2% and raise it 2".

[Trucklover]

I think that the track coming in from the mainline up at the top of the yard will be enough of a lead to move several cars at a time to build a new train without fouling the mainline. Ive added another set of crossovers at the top of the yard as well, so this will give the yard locos even more room when taking a train apart and assembling a new one on the left side of the yard.... I think this will work, what about you? lol

[Trucklover]

Josh,
Right off the bat, you said that this layout would be flat and at eye level. I'm thinking some of the things in the back might be hard to see or get lost by what's in front. What if you raised the back portion of the layout by just 1" (at a 2% grade, that would take 4' on each end)? It seems you could do this easily by starting and ending your inclines around the curves at each end of the layout and it should really help your depth of field.
Wha'do ya think?
You might even have enough of a run there to keep it at 1% or go with 2% and raise it 2".

TN, I like the idea, but im not sure if it will work with the way I have things layed out, especially with the Intermodal Yard and Grain Complex. Ill look into it more though, cuz that would be a good idea.

I have also decided to lower the layout a couple inches, so that it will be a little below eye level (for me), so this should help some with seeing to the back of the layout. I would like a grade going up in the back though, that is a really neat idea and i think it would improve the depth of field greatly. Ill keep it in mind and see what I can do