Design and Operations of a Modern Layout

[rsn48]

I'm curious to hear others experience in designing and operating a modern layout, I'll define that as anything that's been around in the last twenty years, though I know it goes further back than that. A modern ultra long Class One RR hauls many items and of course due to limitations in layout space, I (you) can only do so much, space is limited so only some items of a long train can be switched in and out at a yard or local business or industry.

In my own circumstance I have two functional decks, I have a grainery for over seas shipping, a large coal dump area for shipping over seas, some limited passenger trains, and a container area for shipping over seas. The upper deck will collect trains from eastern Canada and receive trains from the States - roughly around Emerson Manitoba area.

So I will be able to switch some cars in and out, many at a time as most will be wheat cars, coal cars, container cars and can easily be switch out in multiple units. But what do you do with the rest of the cars, cars that aren't reflected in the industries I have? What do you do?

[Tyson Rayles]

Cars that are not for industries on the layout are usually considered to be thru traffic. That is they are coming from somewhere off the layout and passing thru to continue their journey by going off the other end of the layout (usually from and into staging yards) . Very little traffic starts and ends on the same railroad (in real life), which is especially true for modern trains.

[FCIN]

Mike pretty well summed it up. Everything else would pretty much be through traffic.

Of course if you had the space available, you could add an industrial spur serving a couple of industries to give some of your other cars an on line destination.

For example, locally the large Norfolk Southern yard in Danville, KY, sees 90% of the trains passing through from Louisville and Cincinnati en route to Chattanooga or Knoxville. Those trains usually get fueled, some get crew changes and a few set out and pick up cars; otherwise they just pass through the yard and continue on their way.

But there are also two industrial spurs off the yard that serve local industries. One spur has a large plastics plant and the other currently serves a regional publishing facility. Both industries handle a large number of cars: Covered hoppers of plastic pellets and 50ft box cars of printing paper. 3rd shift yard crews work both the spurs, although now and then I'll see the 1st or 2nd shift yard crew deliver cars.

Could give you a little variety and added interest.

[rsn48]

I had thought of a modern team track - blanked out on the name - something similiar I see in Vancouver, and something BC Rail used to have, that way I could take some of the cars there. By modelling Emerson Manitoba, most of the traffic is through traffic; its at the border and this area - town of roughly 700 - is for BNSF and Soo line drop off and CP (and CN?) pick up. This way I can work in some American traffic on my Canadian layout. So the bottom deck is Vancouver (sort of), my nolix (modified helix) is the Fraser Canyon around North Bend BC, the the top deck will be a short version of the Emerson Sub.

From Wiki:

:Emerson is a town in south central Manitoba, Canada, with a population of 655. The town is named after writer Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Emerson is located on the east bank of the Red River, just north of the border with the United States at the point where Manitoba, Minnesota, and North Dakota meet. Over the years, it has been an important railroad and border-crossing town. Just south of Emerson (in Pembina, North Dakota), two major U.S. rail lines, the Great Northern Railway (now the BNSF Railway) and the Soo Line Railroad cross the border and are met, respectively, by the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways. There are customs inspection facilities for both lines on both sides of the border. Emerson borders the Rural Municipality of Montcalm, the Rural Municipality of Franklin, Kittson County, Minnesota, and Pembina County, North Dakota. The small towns of St. Vincent, Minnesota and Pembina, North Dakota are not far across its southern border with the United States. The town's education needs are served by Emerson Elementary (K-8) and Roseau Valley School in nearby Dominion City. The side of town west of the river is known as West Lynne.

[Brakie]

On my ISL(Industrial Switching Layout) I use a transload track(modern railroad catch word for team track) for the cars I like but,don't have a industry for.

However,I like boxcars,covered hoppers and tank cars and I plan my industries accordingly.

[BOK]

RSN 48:

You may want to check out Lance Mindheim's lastest book:

How to Operate a Modern Switching Layout. It's not only a good "read" but is chock full
of valuable prototype information to show you how you can operate a modern railroad.

Barry

[rsn48]

I do have several "ops" books, but I must confess I'm not familiar with "How to Operate a Modern Switching Layout." I have been out of the hobby for roughly 5 years and just returned four months ago, so I'm a little rusty I must confess with my knowledge of modern ops. I am also looking into transload track, I'd love for others to expand on this type of track and what happens there. I will be ordering the book.

I'd love to hear how your layouts (modern) work, I need some ideas.

[Brakie]

I am also looking into transload track, I'd love for others to expand on this type of track and what happens there.
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Ok..Let's look at a load of plastic pellets.
The load arrives on the transload track and a transload contractor(aka service company) will unload the car and have the pellets trucked to the end user.These contractors unload tank cars,boxcars,steel coils,any type of railshipment and will store product up to 30 days at no charge.The billing for this service is done by the railroad so you only pay one freight bill.
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While I use this method on my past ISLs it will work on any modern layout that switches industries.

I simply rotate the number of cars that "arrives" on the interchange-some days there may be 3- 7 other days 1 or 2..Of course some days there isn't any inbound cars so,my crews will switch out the industries that has empties or loads and take them to the interchange.If I felt like working on the scenery there isn't any "work" to so my crew cleans and washes the locomotive,makes light engine or track repairs.