Double ended vs. stub end yard

[jacon12]

IMO, I like the flexibility of a double ended yard. With a double ended yard, you can have a train arrive in one while the switcher can drill the other tracks. However, they do take up alot of space, especially if you go with #6 switches like me (help rid my life of derailments.) However there is a way around that. For me, I'll be having a small four track yard for my shortline. It will have two stub tracks and two double ended. The double ended tracks will be where most of my inbound cars from BNSF will be sorted into the two locals. My stub tracks will serve as storage and overflow.

Maybe that is what I'll eventually decide to do, a double ended track and stubs. It's kinda funny but, way back I had laid out a plan that did have that first yard track (the one beside the mainline) as a double ended track. I called it a runaround track, not even thinking about the yard. Then the yard branched off of it.
Anyway I appreciate the help and suggestions. They all help in deciding what I would like the best.
Jarrell

 

[jacon12]

Jarrell,

I must have been living in a tent in Eye Rock or something because two things have happened since I last saw your plan. First it grew two blobs and second you jumped into planning software. Both are improvements.

I would not assume that you are going to only run one direction. I made that assumption and now I have un-made it. As long as you have a couple double-ended A/D tracks you'll be okay.

Also, (you knew it was coming), somewhere in the back of you mind have a plan of how you are going to put in staging when you decide you wish you would have put it in.

IT looks so much better than what I remember. Good work.

Thanks Chip.
I wish I could take credit for the track planning but a friend did this for me based on the configuration of the already built benchwork. I found out very quickly that I'm terrible with trackplanning software. I never could get the danged track to do right. I'm not blaming it on the software, just the software operator. As you might remember, I had bought Atlas sectional track, mostly 22 inch radius curves and some long and short pieces and was trying to come up with a plan that way. It can be done but it takes a while and can get frustrating. When my friend later made this plan it was almost identical (he'd never seen what I had done, I just gave him the benchwork dimensions) what he came up with was just about identical with what I had finally come up with on my on., except my track is flat and goes around the perimeter of the middle penisular and he's suggesting a steady 2 percent grade and crossing the track back over itself.
I think if I can get this yard business underway and the passenger station area finalized I can get on with the rest of it.
Jarrell

 

[Brakie]

How would a double ended yard be better than a stub ended one assuming my trains run in one direction only? If I go with the double end then I have to rethink my present track configuration in other areas and I would probably lose the sidings I presently have for a couple of industries. I could do the double ended and keep things pretty much as they are IF I shorten the yard tracks by about 12 to 18 inches, say from 5 feet down to 3 1/2 to 4 feet in length. Which leads to another question, what should length of yard track be based on, other than the amount of space you have to do it?
Jarrell

Jarrell,Why not have one or two tracks as inbound/outbound tracks with switches at both ends that way you can be more prototypical and run trains in both directions and most importantly you'll need not back into or out of your yard..

 

[HaggisKennedy]

Most of the time, I've seen a double-ended yard sitting right in the middle of a layout, between points A and B. There, the modeller wants to do the yard switching for inbound and outbound trains. A lot of times, they give up a long run on either end due to space considerations.

In my mind, if your yard is at the end of a run, you're going to go with a stub yard, since building a double-end yard will only really have one exit. The other exit is jammed up against whatever ends the layout. Unless you do a curved yard. Then, you're talking a huge 'blob', for the curves.

I'm becoming a proponent of maybe 2-3 tracks that are double ended, and 2-3 stub end tracks to store cars. You can pull a train into the yard, run around it, switch cars into the stub tracks, pull out departing cars, and off you go, back the way you came. Yeah, it isn't BNSF's Argentine Yard, but it's sufficiently interesting for the smaller pikes.

Kennedy