Track plan attachment help
- Thread starter macjet
- Start date
ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)
SpaceMouse
Fun Lover
I don't know how you can do it in that program, but you should have an option to save or print as bitmap. If not, the least you can do is take a screen shot and convert it to a .jpg in your paint program.
macjet
Member
Thanks Chip. Why didn't I think of that?
Here goes.
Green in the main.
Red in the A/D track.
Brown is the yard.
Grey is engine service.
Blue is yard lead.
Well, the colors didn't come out.
1st photo, left to right. Main, yard lead, engine service.
2nd, main, yard lead and A/D track, start of engine service, start of yard.
3rd. main, AD, yard
4th, main, AD, yard
Here goes.
Green in the main.
Red in the A/D track.
Brown is the yard.
Grey is engine service.
Blue is yard lead.
Well, the colors didn't come out.
1st photo, left to right. Main, yard lead, engine service.
2nd, main, yard lead and A/D track, start of engine service, start of yard.
3rd. main, AD, yard
4th, main, AD, yard
Last edited by a moderator:
NYC_George
Well-Known Member
Yards
I think with this plan you don't you have enough room to switch cars. I have four yards. In my plan I made sure the yard's freight lead has direct access to one of the mains and at least some straight track were I can uncouple and couple with ease.
NYC_George
I think with this plan you don't you have enough room to switch cars. I have four yards. In my plan I made sure the yard's freight lead has direct access to one of the mains and at least some straight track were I can uncouple and couple with ease.
NYC_George
It's hard to tell exactly from your drawings but it looks like both yards are stub end and they both share the same short lead from the main. I also don't see any crossovers in the either yard. Believe me, you are going to hate yourself if you build it this way. I know, I've already made the same mistakes. Without crossovers, your switcher will get stuck trying to pull one car for a train from the back track to the front. You also need a runaround track so cars can be spotted and picked up and the engine can still escape from the yard. If the yard was double ended, you could get rid of most of these problems although having crossovers in the yard is still a big help.
The main issue as already stated by George is the yards are too small for anything but storage. It would make a lot more sense to keep your mainline and passing track the way they are and build one larger yard with the lead coming off the passing track. You could then connect the yard at both ends back to the passing track to give you three possible routes in and out of the yard. You've have enough length for both classification and storage and have a lot easier operations as well.
The main issue as already stated by George is the yards are too small for anything but storage. It would make a lot more sense to keep your mainline and passing track the way they are and build one larger yard with the lead coming off the passing track. You could then connect the yard at both ends back to the passing track to give you three possible routes in and out of the yard. You've have enough length for both classification and storage and have a lot easier operations as well.
macjet
Member
It's tough seeing what's going on with the split pictures.
The "yard" at the top is the engine service yard. The bottom yard is the classification yard. The track running between the main and the engine service yard is the yard lead. The lead is 10" longer then the longest yard track.
The "yard" at the top is the engine service yard. The bottom yard is the classification yard. The track running between the main and the engine service yard is the yard lead. The lead is 10" longer then the longest yard track.
OK, that makes more sense. I see you've added a runaround track to the engine service yard, which is a big improvement. It looks like you've got two entrances to the classification yard, which is also a big improvement. If you can connect it back to the main at the other end so it's double ended, that will make operations really simple.
Yard crossovers should be somewhere in about the middle of the yard, not the end. You don't have enough space to do anything with a crossover at the end. I'd put it between track 2 and 3, counting from the left. You also need a runaround track, which I'd put on your longest track, #5, so a switcher can pull a cut of cars into the yard and then run around the cut so it's on the right side of the cut to split it up and spot them on the right tracks. You lose a few cars of storage capacity doing this but you save yourself enormous operational headaches, like having the switcher pull a cut of cars into the yard on your longest lead and then realize the switcher has no way to get back to that last car in the cut and start breaking up the cut for different tracks. Don't ask how I know about the grief this problems causes.
.
Yard crossovers should be somewhere in about the middle of the yard, not the end. You don't have enough space to do anything with a crossover at the end. I'd put it between track 2 and 3, counting from the left. You also need a runaround track, which I'd put on your longest track, #5, so a switcher can pull a cut of cars into the yard and then run around the cut so it's on the right side of the cut to split it up and spot them on the right tracks. You lose a few cars of storage capacity doing this but you save yourself enormous operational headaches, like having the switcher pull a cut of cars into the yard on your longest lead and then realize the switcher has no way to get back to that last car in the cut and start breaking up the cut for different tracks. Don't ask how I know about the grief this problems causes.
.
Last edited by a moderator:
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)