03-22-2010, 09:50 AM
scubadude Wrote:My plan is N scale, designed to be part of an 11' x 20'' shelf. It was intended to just give a suggestion of a double ended yard as Allegheny was asking for, not an HO scale trackplan. Thanks for pointing that out. He will of course need to tweak it and convert it to HO.
Sorry, but the problem is that a double ended yard including a yard lead that works just fine for three or four 15 car trains in N scale in 11 feet cannot in any sensible way be "tweaked" to make room for a number of 30 - 40 car H0 scale trains pulled by long steam engines in 12 feet.
One quickly runs up against fundamental qualities - like the fact that 30 40-foot cars, plus a large steam engine and a caboose needs about 15 feet of track length for just one train. You will not be able to fit 15 foot long tracks plus a 15 foot yard lead in 12 feet of space.
You can of course double up or triple up trains on yard tracks - e.g. put 10 cars in one track, 10 cars in the second track and 10 cars in the third track. If each of those tracks are long enough to hold 10 cars. In which case, 12 feet used for a yard with six single ended tracks and a compound ladder can hold two trains worth of cars when filled pretty much to the gills, without having much room for a dedicated yard lead.
It is a sad fact of life that double ended yard is a luxury the OP ill can afford, given his chosen scale, desired train lengths and available length. Even a single ended yard will be a stretch for 30-40 car trains - which will be longer than the entire length of the space set aside for a yard.
Stein