A yard


Gac66610

Gac66610

Member
Searched around and found something about 'ten commandments for yards' something like that.

Using it and a small diagram with it, this is what I came up with.

Looks busy, looking for opinions

Yardon8-1_zps2928f477.png

Overall length of area is approx. 223" and approx. 52" wide
I don't have this layout(bench work) in my photo album just yet, let me know if you'd like to see it

Thanks
 
Wow that is one heck of a yard! Do you actually need a yard this conplex? What are you modeling? If you are building a yard this impressive i would love to see the rest of your layout
 
I wouldn't even know the first thing on how to properly operate a yard like that.

What is your layout plan? Theme? Era? Is it focused on switching and yard operations? Or do you have a mainline, industries, etc?

We would like to see your overall plan.

Also, 52" wide is very deep. Do you have access to both sides of this yard?
 
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The yard makes the layout in my book !! looks GREAT !!!! I could be busy for days in a yard like that !!
N
 
From what I can see you have a lot of wasted tracks and switches that will be of no use for any operational purpose. You basically have 2 separate yards on either side of the mainlines and most tracks will only hold a 4 to 6 cars each. The switch towers make no sense either as pretty much all yards will have ground throw turnouts and usually only Hump Yards have a tower but rarely do flat switching yards have a tower let alone 4. You would be better off redesigning the mainline to go up toward the top and have the yard at the bottom.
 
An 'A' for effort, but not sure if it will function very well, as drawn. Seems to me, you could eliminate all the short tracks between the yard towers-not sure what function they serve. 2 engine service facilities might be considered redundant. Shops are collocated(engine and car) so that they can share materials, employees, etc. I'd also consider swapping either the top or bottom section, left to right, depending on the direction of traffic on the mainline, to facilitate a single ended trailing switch functioning yard. By making the tracks single ended, each of them is longer than if they were double ended.

You might look at John Armstrong's book on realistic track planning. He spends a decent amount of it on yards.

Remember, what a yard's function typically involve-removing cars from incoming trains, reclassifying/resorting/reblocking them,' and reassembling them into outgoing trains. As such, a portion of the yard should be for arriving trains, classificaiton/sorting, and departing trains. Often times on model railroads, the arrival and departure tracks are combined.

You might try and google a map of the UP's North Platte yard, to get a feel for the design of a large modern day facility.
 
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Thank you all for the responses. They are what I needed!
I have no idea about the switch towers, their area needed. So I just put some in.:rolleyes:
In my defense, I never said I was going to use this.

Joed, sorry I did imply that I had the layout ... well I don't. sry:eek:
I just have the basic bench work drawn.

Motley, yes I do have access to both sides, and I also,would have no idea how one would operate this.
I found this. http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html and tried to see how it would work. Reading was never my strong suit. I went a little overboard.

The link talks about runarounds, to have access to all cars, place for cabooses, etc. Once I got started all I could think was 'what if I did this'

Glad to have the research areas for better yard planning, this one looked weird and very complex for me,(although I had fun designing it). I will not be using this, but, I probably will not delete it either, (except towers)

Again thanks for the responses and ideas to help build a more useful yard:cool:
 
Gac66610 said:
Searched around and found something about 'ten commandments for yards' something like that.

Using it and a small diagram with it, this is what I came up with.
Click to expand...
I would start with the fundamental question of why do you want a "yard" and what are you going to do with it. Especially if in reading the thread it seems there is no understanding of how to operate the yard. Is this a yard just for the sake of having parallel tracks on the layout.

First there are several types of yards. Classification, transfer, interchange, storage, division, etc. There can be multiple "types" of yards within a given set of tracks. That almost looks like what you have in your diagram.

Associated with a yard there can be locomotive facilities with them. Yards may or may not have car servicing areas with them.
 
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What type of room do you have for a layout, let alone a yard?? How long of a yard will your layout room allow? 6-7 foot, 10-12 foot, bigger? What is the dimensions of your layout room?

Some people say to design the layout first then the yard. Me i was the other way around, i knew the size of what my layout would be approximately then i designed my yard first and built my layout around my yard, some say this is wrong but it worked for me.

Their is quite a few threads if you use the search function and type in yards, or yard designs, lots of different yard threads to look at that can help you figure out what might work for your space, sure we all would want a nice big yard, with all the bells and whistles, but alot of us have to compromise and make do with the space we have to work with
 
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The main problem with this design is there is no easy way to get cars from the Arrival/Departure tracks to the classification tracks.


Greg Amer
The Industrial Lead
gregamer.com
 
Here is the operating yard on the D&J Railroad. The double track mainline bypasses the yard on the right. One of the A/D tracks is occupied by the Amtrac Superliner. The yard is full of freight and the California Zepher BLI on the second track from the left. The far left yard track is a coal drag headed by the J9000 MTH.
Closest to the camera is the mainline access to the yard then the switcher access to the A/D tracks then the yard lead from the fiddle track.
Way over on the far right side of the picture is the intermodal facility on the inside of the middle peninsula loop. It holds more than 140 wells, spine and TTX type flat cars.
The main project going on right now is the signal system.

Yardfull_zps1b2b931a.png
 
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I definitely have no need for a yard that size, guess I just like drawing different plans/ideas. Specially since I cannot build anything ... yet.:D
The plan I am considering, is a simple run around track with two main lines.
The area I have to work with is an L shape approx 12' X 26' with an additional 6'X12' possible expansion.

If you do not wish to address any ideas,(that won't be used) just let me know, I'll stop.:)

Anyway here is the plan I want to do
Yellow is off limits, but can be used for reach
Blue is expansion area
(and I have no yard) well, passenger station and passing siding
Trackplan71_zps7c9c452e.png

This is all I will have room for, for now
Yeah I know ... "spaghetti bowl" (saw someone else use that term)
 
Gac66610 said:
I just like drawing different plans/ideas...If you do not wish to address any ideas,(that won't be used) just let me know, I'll stop.:)
Click to expand...
Ah, Ok I think I understand. Still before one begins a track plan, there needs to be an objective. Then one can discuss how the ideas contribute or distract from the objective.
 
Iron Horseman said:
Ah, Ok I think I understand. Still before one begins a track plan, there needs to be an objective. Then one can discuss how the ideas contribute or distract from the objective.
Click to expand...


Yeah,in other words I get bored ... lol

I cleaned out my photo album yesterday, I see I deleted the wrong ones :rolleyes:

The only objective I really have is waiting for the room ;)

I'm not into 'operations' ... yet, Right now all I'm looking at is a runaround track with a minimum 2 main lines w/ pass terminals. Probably get bored with just the run around, so I would like to have a yard or two for future switching/operations (hopefully I said that right), with industries. I like the idea of a coal mine, maybe a grain elevator...more thinking to do. I have seen a lot of great layouts with different industries.

It will be HO scale, era ... not sure, have thought 60s, 70s.
The Mrs was looking online saw an old 'ghost town' she said that would be fun to model .... my question to her was "as a ghost town, or that era?" Guess it's still up in the air lol

I need to remove a wall in basement, then Ill have an 11'x12' room to build with a future add on to make an L with an additional 15'x18'. I could squeeze
another 5-6 ft and have 12x17 ish.

well, I see i'm starting to blabber:p

Thanks
 
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