There is no "end" 1Drummer

Check out the "About" link on WWW.Warrenvillerailroad.com and you'll see that my pike has been growing and taking up unexpected real estate since 1983

We had 3-5 tracks parallel up against the baseboards in our family room--as close together as we could lay them without the cars on one siding scraping cars on the next.  Thankfully it wasn't minded too much by those who don't care for toy trains/scale models/what-have-you.  In fact, they thought the "stacks of sidings" (literally about 1" apart, none of it connected to the layout) looked better than just a pile of spare cars in the center/corner of the floor.

My point? You have tons and tons of room, if you lay unconnected sidings between your connected ones!

@Micro posted:

My point? You have tons and tons of room, if you lay unconnected sidings between your connected ones!

I can’t do unconnected track

It would keep me up nights😁

@Lionelski posted:

There is no "end" 1Drummer

Check out the "About" link on WWW.Warrenvillerailroad.com and you'll see that my pike has been growing and taking up unexpected real estate since 1983

Technically I agree

Realistically, The Drum sets and pool table occupy space-and they won’t share

I am sorry that I don't understand any of this.   I have zero yards in my layout. 

Who wants a parking lot full of trains?

@Mannyrock posted:

I am sorry that I don't understand any of this.   I have zero yards in my layout.

Who wants a parking lot full of trains?

I like to push cars around…

So, I run a few trains on the mainlines and as they’re chugging around, I perform switching operations to build consists-

Sometimes I build trains that are nothing but tankers or flatcars or I put all the same Road Names in one train…

And sometimes I just start up the engines and let the sounds play as I’m working at the bench

Also, when visitors to my home,  see all the trains -the expressions they get are priceless 😁

@1drummer posted:

I like to push cars around…

So, I run a few trains on the mainlines and as they’re chugging around, I perform switching operations to build consists-

Sometimes I build trains that are nothing but tankers or flatcars or I put all the same Road Names in one train…

And sometimes I just start up the engines and let the sounds play as I’m working at the bench

Also, when visitors to my home,  see all the trains -the expressions they get are priceless 😁

i do this via airdrop

@Mannyrock posted:

I am sorry that I don't understand any of this.   I have zero yards in my layout.

Who wants a parking lot full of trains?

ME!

Yard space is key for running.  I can keep a number of full trains all ready to run and just drive them out onto the layout.  Same with the turntable, lots of locomotives at the ready to drive out at a moment's notice.

I was really stoked when I got my new 10-track yard up and running, adds a whole dimension to running.  It also allows you to have a few choice that you can run right away without taking them out of storage and slowly adding them to the layout, then taking them off and putting them away!

@Mannyrock posted:

I am sorry that I don't understand any of this.   I have zero yards in my layout.

Who wants a parking lot full of trains?

I am the complete opposite.  I love yards.  I think it is a wonderful way to display one's collection of trains rather than place them on shelves.  My last permanent layout had and 8 track yard that was 15' long.  My first HO layout as a teen had a 10 track yard that was 12' long and a smaller 6 track yard. 

Yards are an integral part of railroading for my modeling world.

@Mannyrock posted:

I am sorry that I don't understand any of this.   I have zero yards in my layout.

Who wants a parking lot full of trains?

And therein lies the misunderstanding.  Prototype railroads don't want a "parking lot full of trains" either.  It's not profitable.  Yards are meant to be used to sort out cars for delivery or to consolidate cars to be sent to their next destination.  This is called operations.  Something that not everyone enjoys.

Staging yards are a completely different type of yard, but are also quite popular with those that enjoy operations.

I’m being facetious calling yards/spurs “parking”😁

Because over 50% of the time, when running trains, I run what’s already on the mains…

You can call them parking, staging, whatever.  I don't leave stuff parked on the mainline, I frequently run tests of upgrades/repairs around, so I don't want to have to move stuff off the mainline to do that.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I am the complete opposite.  I love yards.  I think it is a wonderful way to display one's collection of trains rather than place them on shelves.  My last permanent layout had and 8 track yard that was 15' long.  My first HO layout as a teen had a 10 track yard that was 12' long and a smaller 6 track yard.

Yards are an integral part of railroading for my modeling world.

Me too, there's always a bunch of stuff parked in my 10-track yard and in the 3-track yard in the back.  Plenty of stuff on the shelves, but I shuffle stuff around so I have different trains in the yards to run.

I don't have room for a yard really, but I love yards, and I like the look of trains passing through a yard with equipment parked in the yard, to me that is the look of a 'real' railroad. I have limited ability to do it, what passes for a yard on my current design is really more an engine facility of sorts, but it will have to do. Obviously for people who do operation based 'train-ing', yards are what they are on the real thing, either a place to sort and classify cars being put on trains, or with a staging yard a place to simulate trains coming from/going to places "off in the yonder'.