I have 27 feet of bench work along one side of my basement wall.It is 5/8 inch plywood on L girders.24 inches wide.I also have a sky board mounted on 2X4 attached to the wall.There is a 6 inch space between the sky board and the bench top.I have 41/2 inch boards on 4 inch risers mounted for a double track I want to curve this toward the other side of the room 32&30 inch radius.This is free lance because I don't plan very well.What I like is big yards and a large engine terminal.9 stall house and 14 inch turn table.I have 20 1st generation diesels and five steam engines.My love is the NEW YORK CENTRAL late 1950's as found in the Syracuse NY area.I have 30 feet by 12 feet to work with.A long main line run yard to east and west staging with engine swaps at the terminal is what I want It will be cab control,with 4 MRC power packs.any feed back?Yard and main line plan ideas
- Thread starter dmb3006
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I have 27 feet of bench work along one side of my basement wall.It is 5/8 inch plywood on L girders.24 inches wide.I also have a sky board mounted on 2X4 attached to the wall.There is a 6 inch space between the sky board and the bench top.I have 41/2 inch boards on 4 inch risers mounted for a double track I want to curve this toward the other side of the room 32&30 inch radius.This is free lance because I don't plan very well.What I like is big yards and a large engine terminal.9 stall house and 14 inch turn table.I have 20 1st generation diesels and five steam engines.My love is the NEW YORK CENTRAL late 1950's as found in the Syracuse NY area.I have 30 feet by 12 feet to work with.A long main line run yard to east and west staging with engine swaps at the terminal is what I want It will be cab control,with 4 MRC power packs.any feed back?Hi David,
Any chance you can provide a sketch of the room and benchwork that is already in place?
Andrew
Any chance you can provide a sketch of the room and benchwork that is already in place?
Andrew
Hello Andrew thank you for the reply.I will respond monday with a rough drawing.We have a funeral Friday,and a wedding out of town Saturday.I was lookingt at Model Railroader last night and see a hobby shop in Norwood NY that I will Visit If i can fit it in.On my way to NYC HOJACK country.That was the division north of Syracuse to Massena NY
If you're modeling the steam-deisel transition era, it gives you the opportunity to use a lot of the different support and maintainence buildings that the different engines required. It could make for a very rich and busy yard, but be sure to leave enough room for all the buildings.
If you are going to have "operators" over for sessions, you might want to consider DCC, instead of cab control. The wiring would be much simpler, and operating sessions would go much smoother.
I know the investment would appear very high, but when you buy the extra wire, and all the selector switches for cab control, and spend the time hooking it all up, then....add the ability to control sound, and DCC starts looking more attractive.
Pete
Hi everyone back home after our trip to the Northern part of upstate NY.Didn't get to the hobby shop.I've been trying to use the paint brush program on the PC to make a outline of my layout space,with very poor results.How do you use the computor to make drawings of areas and track plans?
Thank God I've been bogged down with a couple of problems with my old Corvette.I was doing some work on the layout room when my wife said the sink upstairs was'nt draining.In trying to get the pipe cap off,the back of the pipe caved in.Well the house was built in 1955 and in two years we have had more than a few plumbing iproblems.A good friend with lots of tools will come over Tuesday morning I'm going to replace the pipe from the sink to the basement floor.If I had track and seanery in place the damage would have been severe.Better lighting is going in before I do any more bench work.I found a NYC 2-8-2 made by I.H.C. at a garage for $20.00 NIB ran good on test track.X2F coupler mounted on tender truck any one every put a Kadee on one of these tenders?
good on test track.X2F coupler mounted on tender truck any one every put a Kadee on one of these tenders?
Thanks guys nice yard and engine service area.Dream with me a minute.I want a 2 track main line.My yard will be a division point Most trains will change power.Diesel's east steam west.Passenger trains will do mail and express or drop or pick up sleepers or diners.I like solid express and maybe a short local or two.Looking for a Budd car RDC type to use on the weekend.I like urban industrial scenery.City team track/freight house,meat packing,shipping and recieving warehouses.brewery;and scrap metal.I think this will result in staging east and west.maybe the engine facility on bench work that angles off the main the yard area.Operation is fun;but some time I just like to watch trains run.
David, yards are a very personal thing and every model RR has differant requirements according to the master plan of its owner for operations.
There are alot of examples of yard types out there and these can be seen by doing a google image search, checking modelers trackplans etc,but you will in the end have to design one to fit your area and your needs.
Learn about yards,thier components, tracks and why they are laid out the way they are. This will go a long ways in helping to understand how a freight yard is designed.
Now based on what you said above you actually have several yards within one large yard that you would like to have.
You have your passenger yard area and you have your freight yard area.
within the freight yard you have the need of a couple of yards.
Your through freight yard with east and west staging, and you local yard.You may also want an interchange track which could become almost another yard in itself.
You also have your servicing facility which will eat up alot of real estate based on a 9 stall roundhouse, Icing facilities,fueling,sanding,water,wash racks,backshops,yard towers and division point offices.
Based on your radius's i'm guessing this is HO (you havent said which scale exactly) and this type of facility is going to be huge and realistically would need to be accessed from both sides as the width will be greater than you can comfortably reach and deal with coupling,uncoupling ,switch maintenance and track maintenance.
Perhaps a penninsula with an out and back design and provision for continuous running should be considered.
Seperating the freight and passenger yards completely is another consideration.
Do you have and have you read Freight Yards by Andy Sperandeo??
If you havent,I reccomend getting it. While it isnt authoritative, it is a good overview of yards and thier layouts and why yards are laid out the way they are.Also what all those tracks are and what they do.
Having that room sketch would really help along with a bit more information.
NYC syracuse area in the late fifties would have seen a serious decline in passenger trains.Icing facilities were likely no longer being operated and if they were it was on a much declined basis.( I doubt they were still in use)
By mid 1955 Pacific fruit express had 39,000 mechanical refrigerated cars in service and ice platforms were nearing thier end.
Also , Steam in the late 50's on a mainline was almost non existent.Even regionals had gone diesel by then with few exceptions (a few heavy commodity roads,coal, ironore still ran some steam for ore turns and dock switching).
It sounds to me as if 1949-1951 may be a better target date for you but then again, it is your railroad
There are alot of examples of yard types out there and these can be seen by doing a google image search, checking modelers trackplans etc,but you will in the end have to design one to fit your area and your needs.
Learn about yards,thier components, tracks and why they are laid out the way they are. This will go a long ways in helping to understand how a freight yard is designed.
Now based on what you said above you actually have several yards within one large yard that you would like to have.
You have your passenger yard area and you have your freight yard area.
within the freight yard you have the need of a couple of yards.
Your through freight yard with east and west staging, and you local yard.You may also want an interchange track which could become almost another yard in itself.
You also have your servicing facility which will eat up alot of real estate based on a 9 stall roundhouse, Icing facilities,fueling,sanding,water,wash racks,backshops,yard towers and division point offices.
Based on your radius's i'm guessing this is HO (you havent said which scale exactly) and this type of facility is going to be huge and realistically would need to be accessed from both sides as the width will be greater than you can comfortably reach and deal with coupling,uncoupling ,switch maintenance and track maintenance.
Perhaps a penninsula with an out and back design and provision for continuous running should be considered.
Seperating the freight and passenger yards completely is another consideration.
Do you have and have you read Freight Yards by Andy Sperandeo??
If you havent,I reccomend getting it. While it isnt authoritative, it is a good overview of yards and thier layouts and why yards are laid out the way they are.Also what all those tracks are and what they do.
Having that room sketch would really help along with a bit more information.
NYC syracuse area in the late fifties would have seen a serious decline in passenger trains.Icing facilities were likely no longer being operated and if they were it was on a much declined basis.( I doubt they were still in use)
By mid 1955 Pacific fruit express had 39,000 mechanical refrigerated cars in service and ice platforms were nearing thier end.
Also , Steam in the late 50's on a mainline was almost non existent.Even regionals had gone diesel by then with few exceptions (a few heavy commodity roads,coal, ironore still ran some steam for ore turns and dock switching).
It sounds to me as if 1949-1951 may be a better target date for you but then again, it is your railroad
The only important rule I'll add:
Many Model Railroad Yards are TOO BIG! This even applies to the professionally-designed plans you see in Model Railroader magazine.
unless you plan to fill a yard as basically 'visible storage' for your unused rolling stock and locomotives, you don't need a 200-car yard to serve five or six non-unit-train industries. I see too many layout plans where the yard space overwhelms a realistic car flow for the industries you are using. If each industry only takes a car or two at a time, a 50-car train will look ridiculous serving them.
Instead, set up a yard to hold enough cars to serve all your industries, with maybe a few extra spaces, up to no more than double the capacity of the industries. Storage tracks don't count for this.
Many Model Railroad Yards are TOO BIG! This even applies to the professionally-designed plans you see in Model Railroader magazine.
unless you plan to fill a yard as basically 'visible storage' for your unused rolling stock and locomotives, you don't need a 200-car yard to serve five or six non-unit-train industries. I see too many layout plans where the yard space overwhelms a realistic car flow for the industries you are using. If each industry only takes a car or two at a time, a 50-car train will look ridiculous serving them.
Instead, set up a yard to hold enough cars to serve all your industries, with maybe a few extra spaces, up to no more than double the capacity of the industries. Storage tracks don't count for this.
A yard is not a storage area.If you plan to operate do not consider the yard as storage.If you do, the yard itself is worthless for operating.If you want online storage so you do not have to rerail as needs dictate, do it underneath the layout or hidden in some way.The yard will be full enough and too full at times anyways. If a yard has reached 2/3 capacity it's efficiency is cut in half or more meaning guys will be waiting a very long time to get thier train on the mainline.
I agree the new book on yard planning is great.Tileguy you made many goog points.I need to look at the fact that most of the time I will be operating the Railroad by myself.24 inch reach in is important to me.Maybe 30+ from a step up in some places(corners)I think a little information is in order.I worked for the Conrail Track Department for my 1st year on the railroad.Most of that time in the Dewitt Yard Rehabilitation project.The gang I worked with built the 12 track recieving yard 127 rail,Hump lead 140 rail,and 7 tracks in the new departure yard also 127 rail the yard was built with new ties 24 inches apart.I will always hate the smell and burn of cresote.I'm also a railroad bratt Dad worked in the dewitt Car Shops as well as the Downtown Passenger Station for the NEW YORK CENTRAL.My taste in railroading is rooted in seeing big time operation close up from the time I was a small boy sitting on baggage wagons watching the Steel fleet,and Express trains roar through the depot.My duties in the Transportation Department have included everything from crew driver to Crew Dispatcher.I've worked in Utica yard,Selkirk Yard in Albany,Croton down on the Hudson River 40 miles North of New york City as well as Grand Central station & Penn Station.I retired after duty at Dearborn MICH.I've always loved the Railroad It took me 33 years to get hired on.Having said all of the above I look to you guys as the experts on Model railroading and planning it is more difficult than I thought Also EXPENSIVE;but at 61 years of age I want to see the NYC take form in my basement the way I would have liked it to have been.I strech history a bit because there were certain operations I liked or some equipment I want to include RS11's for example.I welcome all suggestons and will use many of them I'm sure.I know DCC would make a better layout to operate:however I have many more locomotives to purchase and fixed income retirement only goes so far.That Corvette,Rifle collection,and Saintly Wife require me to share at least some of the spoils of retirement
A big yard can be fine on a layout with small industries if you have some staging to send the large trains to... Some people just like working in a big yard even if they dont have the industries to support it... in that case, add some staging tracks to send your BIG trains to and you are OK.
David, thats quite a background and yes,planning is alot harder than most folks realize,paticularly a workable yard for Model railroading.
We need to compress and at the same time we run alot of traffic in a short period of time.Finding the balance needed for an effective yard is difficult even for those with many years experience.
As far as your equipment. Never fear, i'm not a rivet counter and feel plausibility to a point balanced with individual interest is whats important.Afterall, this is supposed to be fun!!
We need to compress and at the same time we run alot of traffic in a short period of time.Finding the balance needed for an effective yard is difficult even for those with many years experience.
As far as your equipment. Never fear, i'm not a rivet counter and feel plausibility to a point balanced with individual interest is whats important.Afterall, this is supposed to be fun!!