Mike Hagarty's N scale 'Mountain Sub'

I have a question for everyone about my staging yard, maybe you could offer some suggestions.

Here is where the staging yard will be.

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I was going to have 2 seperate yards, each with 6 tracks, one for Eastbound trains and one for Westbound. (point to point) Then I thought about just making it 1 yard so I have the option of continues running.
2 yards each with 6 tracks, means I will have to keep 1 clear, in each yard to run power down, which gives me 10 tracks. If they are one yard, I will get 11 tracks with 1 track clear.
Would you make it point to point or continues running?

Thank you for your advice!
 
My opinion would be for continues running because there can be times when just sitting back and watching the trains go by can be extremely relaxing. Plus as you said, with two yards you can have ten trains set up, whereas with one yard, you can have 11. More trains is always better :-) You can always run the layout as a point to point with the continuous running, but you cannot run the layout continuous running if you set it up point to point. But just remember, this from a guy who has a club layout with a double line of about 120 feet total of continuous running.
 
The main and siding are laid on the grain elevator module now. I decided to make a long double track with 2 crossovers in the middle. From switch to switch it is 38 feet, ( 100 car trains?! ) so it can hold 2-50 car trains, and stil have the main open, or 1-100 car train if there happens to be a train that long on the layout! It can also be used as a run-around for the crew switching the elevator.
Here are some pictures...

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And an over view.

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I've dicided to make staging, one big double ended yard. 1 track in and 1 track out. That way I don't need to make a stub ended track to get the locmotives back down a clear track. Thanks for everyone's thoughts!
 
mcbane666 ,I just looked through your web site, very nice work. Is that oil pump a kit or did you make it yourself? I might need to get a few of them on my layout!
 
SD90 said:
mcbane666 ,I just looked through your web site, very nice work. Is that oil pump a kit or did you make it yourself? I might need to get a few of them on my layout!
Click to expand...


Thanks, I bought the kit from Alberta hobby here in Edmonton on the Yellowhead. It was a Walthers kit. I am still looking for another.

I am also going to add some Pipelines in my layout.
 
I finally uploaded a track plan, sory for the poor quality, I haven't had time to do it on the computer yet.
There will be 2 subdivions, with a crew chang point at the main yard. The Mountain Sub and the Foothills Sub. Interestingly, I haven't actually started the Mountain Sub yet! I wanted a grain elevator, and having 2 subs will let me get away with still having mountain scenery. It will be about 100 feet from the main yard in each direction to the start of the staging yard. The staging yard will be one yard, with the mountain sub staging at the front, and the foothills sub staging at the back. You will have the option of running right through if continues running is needed.

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I finished laying the track in the one of the grain elevators. There are 3 tracks, each will hold 12 grain cars. It's all wired and everything works with out any derailments.

CP9524 is just about finished spoting the empties, I got some pictures this morning.

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There will be another smaller grain elevator just west of here that will hold about 12 cars. Durring an op session, there will be a road switcher that will pull all 48 grain cars, and take them back to the main yard where they will go west. If time permits, the same crew may spot another 48 from the yard back to the elevators. It should make for an interesting switcher assignment.
 
How do you plan to continue, Are you going to lay all the track then start with the scenery, or work in sections? if you lay all track first what kind of time frame are you looking at until all the track is laid for such a large layout?
 
I think I will try to lay all the track first, then start on scenery. After I run the layout for a while, I usually think of different ways to do things. It much easier to change the track BEFORE scenery is in!
I hope to have all the track laid by spring and have the layout fully operational by then, as I'm wiring every section as I go.
The next thing to do is finish the staging yard, and main yard, that way, I'll be able to run trains from the main yard to staging, which is about 130 feet. It will also allow me to put most of the rolling stock and locmotives I have on the layout.
 
Most of the track for the staging yard got installed today. There are 11 tracks, 6 of them are tied in on both ends, the longest tracks will hold 65 cars, the shortest ones, 48 cars. I'm going to try to finish the rest of them tomorrow and install feeders. I had to put a few more trains on the layout, just to test the staging yard switches out!

Here is the West end of the staging yard...

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And the East end...

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