Quote:Of course, no matter how I do it, cars at Robinson (the middle of the five industries) will have to be pulled to switch any of the other industries - but that's the nature of those kinds of track configurations - with several neighboring industries along the same track.

MasonJar Wrote:

Quote:Of course, no matter how I do it, cars at Robinson (the middle of the five industries) will have to be pulled to switch any of the other industries - but that's the nature of those kinds of track configurations - with several neighboring industries along the same track.

Unless you want to intentionally have it this way, swapping those turnouts would partially solve the problem. I.e. move the pair on the right to the left, and the pair on the left to the right. That way, you can switch the industries to the left and right of Robinson while the cars for Robinson sit on the "runaround" between the crossovers. It would however, make switching Robinson itself more challenging.

Andrew

MountainMan Wrote:If you connected those two tracks in the center at Robinson with additional turnouts...?

steinjr Wrote:Crane lifting stuff between barges and cars (or the other way around):

Loading coal into gondolas: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=170270

doctorwayne Wrote:I really enjoyed seeing those historic photos, Stein. However, on closer inspection of the photo below, it appears to be scrap metal that's being transloaded. Looks like an opportunity to squeeze in another industry. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

steinjr Wrote:

MountainMan Wrote:If you connected those two tracks in the center at Robinson with additional turnouts...?

I've tried a few different permutations there, including these:









An additional factor to take into account is that I need to have a section boundary somewhere in the region between the two crossovers I have today, to get sections of a suitable length for getting into or out of my small room easily, and I would prefer to not have a crossover straddling the section boundary. And that I didn't want to make too easy to switch - having longish tracks with several industries on the same track, where you had to pull cars at several industries to get things out of or into a third industry was fairly typical of the prototype.

I obviously could work some more on that part, but I figured I would just try it out and see how it works, and then come back to it later, if need be. One thing I could do fairly easily would be to just reclassify "Robinson Produce" to be a part of the industries on either side of it, and just use the loading dock for the side industry instead of any loading docks at "Robinson Produce".

We'll see how I handle it when we get that far.

In the meantime, it has become December 24th over here in Norway - it is Christmas Eve, which is the big day here - with a big family party, gifts, Santa Claus and the whole deal. Got the gifts for my wife wrapped - time to head back to bed for a few more winks before the kids wake up :-)

Merry Christmas to you all!

Smile,
Stein

MountainMan Wrote:Seems to my uneducated eye that connecting those two isolated center tracks would increase the efficiency of the yard...? :?

steinjr Wrote:How about if I do something like this ?



I will have to lay it out on the layout and check clearances to see if it could work.

steinjr Wrote:

MountainMan Wrote:Seems to my uneducated eye that connecting those two isolated center tracks would increase the efficiency of the yard...? :?

I suspect that the problem might be that I am not understanding which two tracks you are meaning when you talk about tracks in front of Robinson.

If we name the tracks from the bottom to the top, we have:
- Team track,
- Milling district siding,
- Mainline,
- Freight house lead/warehouse district runaround,
- Warehouse district running track
- "Warehouse track" (left of leftmost turnout, Security Warehouse and ) and "Breakfast track" (Produce, Eggs & Milk, Printers ...)

Are you suggesting putting in a crossover between the mainline and the Freight house lead ? Ie between the third and fourth track from the bottom ? Could certainly be done. But what would it give me ?

Or did you mean between two other tracks ?

Smile,
Stein

steinjr Wrote:

An additional factor to take into account is that I need to have a section boundary somewhere in the region between the two crossovers I have today, to get sections of a suitable length for getting into or out of my small room easily, and I would prefer to not have a crossover straddling the section boundary. And that I didn't want to make too easy to switch - having longish tracks with several industries on the same track, where you had to pull cars at several industries to get things out of or into a third industry was fairly typical of the prototype.