Designing a Yard

I recommend the book "The Model Railroaders Guide to Freight Yards" by Andy Sperandeo.  It's a great resource for small or large yards of all types.

-Greg

Buy more real estate!!!

My layout is 14x30 and I had to cheat to get what I got.  I'd still like to have a longer track going into the yard by the turntable but it'll just have to do.  I may be able to move the switch nearest the TT, will have to take a look.  So far this works well and gives me plenty of action.  Each square is 12".  I used Mianne benchwork with 1/2" plywood overhanging the benchwork by approx 2".  The longest yard track holds 14 cars.  The left most track coming off the TT has been extended all the way down to the end of the other 3 tracks (top of plan).

This is the largest yard on the NLOE club layout. Longest tracks are about 22 feet. It provides access from all 4 mains.

John

Not having the space that the club has, I decided for my home layout to go "underground".

Several organizations and individuals have published information on model railroad design and made it available on the internet.  I've attached several links and documents for you.  On searching remember to look at the images tab.

Jan

https://www.google.com/search?...ning+a+railroad+yard

LDSIG - Primer

http://mrr.trains.com/rapid/20...design-and-operation

One important consideration would be the purpose/function of your yard. Mainly for storage of trains not on the layout or as a functioning classification yard where you would need different track arrangements to be able transfer cars from on train to another.

The rosetta stone for yard design and related layout design issues would be John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation. The early editions are just as good as the later ones and you can find an early one on Amazon for less than $5 used. Armstrong was a true master.

Note to Jan: I suggest being careful posting copyrighted material, as I suspect the first item in your list likely must be. If you have permission, it's useful to say that in your post. Anyway, just a thought.

Don

A 13' wide by 29' long six track staging yard:

Various styles of yard samples :

3' X 16' yard

Interurban yard:

Eight and twelve track yards.

Wrap around yard.

16" X 18' yard with wye connection to main.

Four double slip switch yard entrance:

Scotie posted:

One important consideration would be the purpose/function of your yard. Mainly for storage of trains not on the layout or as a functioning classification yard where you would need different track arrangements to be able transfer cars from on train to another.

Scotie is correct in this very first step before you start designing your yard.  Do you want an operating yard with classification tracks and a real yard lead where you make up/break up trains that support local industries on your layout, or do you want storage tracks where already made up trains wait to take their turn on the loops?  Let us know what you want.

To save space I used a curved yard lead that fed two seperate ladders

tr18 posted:

...

i was going to try to describe it, but thank you tr18 for the visual... this is an extreme example, but if you can start or end a yard on even a slight curve, you can see how a siding ladder switch arrangement shortens up considerably adding length to all the yard tracks.

cheers...gary

I think there is confusion between "yard" and "staging". As mentioned above, I recommend the Armstrong book on planning for realistic operations. Perfectly describes the different tracks and how to condense for modeling purposes. Typically in O scale if you are building a true functional yard you either have a lot of space or you aren't building much else. Mid sized HO layout yards can be 30-50 feet long. That's roughly 55-90 feet in O scale.  A general rule is that your drill track be at least as long as your longest yard track. So if you want to have 10 50' cars on one track that would be almost 12' plus at least 12' for the drill track plus a little extra for the engine and you are over 25' in length. It gets big quickly... You might also going want an arrival/departure track. Possible a caboose track, RIP track, engine facility, etc.

There are some things to consider if you are making a working yard vs staging for storing trains "offline"

First for a working yard, it is a good idea to have a drill track or yard lead that feeds the entire ladder that is at least as long the longest classification track in the yard.    When this is a separate track and not a main line or running track, the yard can be worked without interfering with mainline trains.  

Another consideration is double ended vs single ended.    A double ended yard can be worked from both ends, the switches take up a lot more real estate.    ON a large layout with two people working a yard, it is often nice to have a doiuble ended yard where one operator can be making trains up from one end and the other can be breaking them down (classifying the car) from the other end.    But again is that necessary for what you want.   A single ended yard will have switches at one and stub tracks.    Each track will quite a bit longer without the additional switches at the other end, so over all yard capacity will be longer.  

What has not been discussed is the purpose of the tracks.    For classification on most home layouts, a single ended yard is just fine in my opinion.    But (there is always a but), a yard needs 1 or 2 or even more if really big "Arrival/Departure" tracks.     Generally these work best if double ended.    These tracks are used to assemble a new train to go out on the main (Departure) or accept an arriving train into the yard.    Obviously if double ended,    trains can arrive and depart in either direction.   

Staging yards by their nature storing offline trains are totally different.    Their design needs to based on how you plan to use them and how you will turn trains around that arrive to the staging yard.    The easiest most efficient plan here is double ended with a reversing loop at the inside end.    However, space does not always allow that.

As mentnioned above, John Armstrong's book, which I think might still be available from kalmbach publishing describes a lot yard concepts as mentioned in my note and gives simple diagram examples.

anoth.er note I forgot to mention, use the largest radii or angle switches you can in a yard especially where you expect to be backing trains.    031 switches will cause you to cuss a lot.    O72 will probably will much much better.     If you use angle switches, I recommend #6