Mandan Yard
The only picture I can find of Mandan yard is Google earth, so I drew up a rough sketch of how the yard works and if you choose to model it you can piece the areas together from the aerial photo and the drawing.
The main line has to be about a mile and half long, East bound coal loads arrive into the yard on the main line and 1 track and are refueled and serviced at the east pumps( the pump on the picture I drew are yellow boxes) West bound coal empties arrive on 2 track and 3 track and are refueled and serviced at the west pumps, during the time engines are serviced carman blue flag the tracks and run inspections on the coal trains. The Crooked main is where Amtrak used to stop, now the east switch is removed and its used for extra storage, the station is still there but own by a private entity. When an H train (mixed freight train) arrives in the yard, they almost all the time are directed to arrive on 5 track or 6 track, When the H train arrives, usually he has to set out cars or pick up cars. So when the H train does his set out, usually they set out cars in either 4 track or 8 track sometimes. 9 track is a stub track that used to connect to 8. 9 Track is used to store double rotor coal cars, some acid tanks and the two cabooses that are used in the yard. 10 track is a storage track usually with tanks and other freight cars that are waiting to depart on H trains, 11 track is used to store coal train adds, usually east striped cars and 12 track is also used to store coal adds usually west striped cars, 13 track is the bad order track, any car bad ordered by the carman are sent to 13 track till they are spotted at the car shop, 14 track is used to store random cars like ballast cars and any other odd cars, there is also a spur leading to a ramp that comes off of 14 to unload box cars, Walmart used to get deliveries to this ramp track. Ziez track is used to store maintenance of way equipment , the WYE track is used to load ballast cars. The short shop track is the track where the carman replace wheels. Shop 1 and Shop 2 are tracks where bad order cars are spotted, the car shop has a "rabbit" that hooks to the car with a cable and drug inside the car shop, when a car is done the car is kicked out on the east end. There is a wheel spur south of the shop where flat cars carrying wheels are spotted for the carman, also the carman load the bad wheels on the same flat car and the switch crew pulls them, Cab Alley is the old caboose servicing track, there is a cement pad and facilities to service cabooses, the pad is in between cab alley and the back lead, coming off the back lead is the wrecker spur, used to be the track where the cranes were stored, now its used as a place to store snow plows, the jordan spreader and other random cars, also its used to store power. The round house is the three tracks leading to the turn table, it is used to store power, the hostlers use the turntable once in a while to either turn power around or turn snow plows around that only have a coupler on one end. The yard office is in the same building as the car shop as well as the offices.
Operating the yard,
There are two interlockings in Mandan, The yard master runs the interlocking from a machine in the yard office. Currently there are three switch crews on three different shifts that work round the clock.
Day Shift
101: The 101 is the switch crew that goes and services the industries in Bismarck, The cars he takes to bismarck are cement cars for two different cement plants in bismarck, cars to be dropped off at the Soo line transfer, and empty gondolas for two different iron yards, the cars he brings home are empty cement, loaded gondolas from the iron yard and cars picked up at the soo line transfer, there is a ramp track in bismarck that is spotted every once in a while with a lumber car or a box car.
102: the 102 is a conventional switch engine that usually works the empties on the west end, When the Coal empties are done with inspections usually there are about 0 to even 10 bad orders to set out, depending on how many bad orders there are, determines how many adds to add. (if there are five bad orders then they will have to add five adds). The first thing the 102 does is cuts off the road power of the train and goes into either 11 or 12 track and gets the number of adds they need, then they go against their train again and air test them, after getting authority to pass the interlocking signal they start to set out their bad order cars. after the bad orders are set out they train either shoved back in the clear or taken to a road crossing so the out bound crew gets on the train and the switch crew comes back into the yard. On the west end of the yard, there is a pretty steep grade. When a switch crew sets out a bad order on either 2 or 3 the foreman bleeds off the air and pulls the pin, the car slowly rolls down the lead and into 13 track, Because of the steep grade, when the car gets to 13 its rolling about 7 to 10 mph. this makes the process of setting out bad order cars a breeze.
103: the 103 is an RCO (remote control engine) that is usually switching on the east coal lead.
Afternoon
201: the 201 is usually switch crew that spots the tesoro refinery that is two miles north of the yard on the zap line sub. Since the only way into the refinery siding is on the south end, the 201 has to shove the cars all the way there, this is what the caboose is used for, if they dont spot the refinery, then they usually spot Heskit Power plant, During this operation, they pull coal cars up to the power plant and shove them into the open tracks, they then pull the empties and hook on the caboose and shove south back to the yard,
210: The 210 is the conventional switch engine that works the empties on the west end and also other work that requires an engineer.
203: The 203 afternoon RCO that switches on the east coal yard lead
Night
305: The 305 switch is a conventional engine that usually shoves acid cars west and spots the chemical company west of the yard, they also pull the corn oil cars
300: The 300 is the conventional that works the empties on the west end
303: Is the night RCO that switches on east coal yard, they also usually gather up 13 track and spot the shops, they also pull the repaired cars on the east shops and switch them out to their respected tracks, This job also builds the local, the Beulah turn, The Beulah turn takes the empty Heskit coal cars, fly ash gons, lime cars and a few grain cars and Anhydrous tanks north to Beulah, When the Beulah turn returns, they bring loaded coal and loaded fly ash gons, empty lime cars and loaded tanks
West bound loads are usually worked by the out bound crews. the conductor and engineer sit in the cab and the utility employee sets out the bad orders, they usually shove them on the adjacent track, the RCO goes up the lead and pickes up the bad orders later and then shoves them down to the west end of 13
, I am looking for suggestions. What comprises the ultimate swicthing yard? I have had an idea of developing a game of sorts for model railroading for the past 30 years, and now with DCC it becomes very possible. Basically it entails having two yards, controlled by two or more players, connected with a stretch of track with customer sidings. Object is simple, assemble the required cars in the yard and deliver them. There is much more to it, but I don't want to bore you. My first objevctive is to design a yard with sufficient sidings and space for a switcher to move rolling stock, assemble the cars, and allow the main line loco to deliever the cars. Needless to say, who ever finishes first, or who ever moves the most within a pre determined time wins. I was never much in watching trains go round and round, so I figure this would give it added interest. I figure I could use an N scale layout, but not sure yet if the DCC technology is there yet with all the turnouts and engines I want to power. But I figure I can squeeze in much more in layout. So, can anyone suggest the best layout for this yard, or perhaps drawings of real yards to emulate? Pictures and drawings would be the best, but types and lengths of the yard and areas to side and assemble the rolling stock, etc. Assume I know nothing and you will be close lol. Thanks for your input.
he keeps you inline with the truth and the facts.
