Train yard

David:

Get a copy of Model Railroaders guide to Freight Yards (Kalmbach Books). This will give you a good start.

Also a Google search for 'model rail road freight yard design' brings up a lot of stuff.

Joe

David email me through my profile I will send you an engine yard track plan that might be helpful .

I like your idea of a drive through yard (if you have the space to pull it off).

West of Jacksonville, FL, CSX has a drive through yard called the Baldwin Yard. It is a freight yard. Just north of the yard is a cross and switches for trains coming from the north, east, or west to head south through the yard. I used to take my boys to the cross to watch trains. 911 security measures brought that rail watching to an end. RR Security ran us off every time we went there within 10 minutes of us getting there.

 

It would seem that a 4-Way Ross at the entrance and exit of your drive through yard would be a very nice starting place. The 4-Way switchs would save you a lot of space going from one track to four tracks and back to one. I used a 4-Way Ross switch in my former layout. It was definitely the eye catcher of the layout.

David

 

You are off to a good start by asking good questions.  And the best is "what questions I should be asking?"

 

Have a look at Rich Melvin's advice on yards. 

 

http://www.ogaugerr.com/PDF%20...ts/SwitchingLead.pdf

 

My engines are a minimum o54.  Should I use o54 switches? Or a Ross 4 way?

 

Traditional switches like O-31, O-54 and O-72s are not space efficient for constructing a yard.  Numbered switches like #4s and #5s (and the Ross Regular) allow much closer track spacing.  Atlas, MTH Scaletrax and Ross are the only 3 rail track systems with numbered switches.  Ross switches are high quality and offer the widest selection of switches.  The Ross 4 track yard set is an excellent choice but it may not fit your space the best.  If it does use it.  If not there are other options from Ross that may fit your situation better.

 

Tell us more about the space you have to work with and we can offer more ideas.

 

Does anyone know of a chart that gives track spacing for available turnouts? Or know of a formula to calculate? Assuming you use the same radius to get back to parallel. I think 0-42 gets you 5.5" And O-36 fastrack is 6" I believe. What about 0-27, o-31, o-54?? And o-72? And the numbered turnouts? Atlas. I have an Atlas Diesel 2 stall shed with 5" on center spacing. Curious how to get into it without using flex track. I am also getting a rail bender/ former in a couple of days. Technically a roller with three dies. Anyone form custom curves? And if you are using with standard turnouts do you attempt decreasing/increasing radius curves or transition with a fixed radius? Either way, how do you calculate the shape you need to get a certain spacing without trial and error? Thanks FMH

for atlas track use either the 054 or #5. Add a small straight piece to get to 5" or a larger curve diameter after the switch.  the atlas freeware is very helpful for this kind of thing.

Unfortunately, there is no longer Atlas Freeware available.

I would love to get a copy.

Anyone willing to sed compressed in a zip? An executable will get filtered as a virus by my server.

 

Thanks

What's your e-mail?  Mine is in my profile.  Shoot me an e-mail and I'll send to you zipped......Greg

frederick_m_holland@yahoo.com Thanks, I would really appreciate it. FMH

Thanks for the help everyone.  I received a freight yard. Book from Kalmbach and hope to read it over the weekend.  Ross sent me a catalog also.  I have almost unlimited space but not unlimited funds.  I have an old ping pong table that is 5x9 that I plan to use.

I like the spacing of the Ross switches and will use some of them.  Right now, from some of these suggestions, I think I will use a Ross 4 way and have another loop or line next to it to connect back to the main line.  Maybe another line to my turntable and round house.
I will try to put up a picture soon.

Greg,

Did you get my e-mail?

 

FMH

"almost unlimited space" and "5 by 9" are not the same thing!  5 by 9 is a great starter size, but . . . . unlimited space is a full basement or all of a two car garage.  The 5 part of a 5 by 9 is 60 inches, your o54 engines eat up that 60 inches.  The 9 part is 108 inches minus the 54 leaves 54 inches of straightaway between the two ends.  So you see it is not actualy "unlimited space".   Bottomline though is what ever you build have fun with it!  Russ

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing

 

I'm struggling to try to fit a layout on a 6x10 area right now and it's not easy, there's just not much room for more than a fairly simple design.  I'd love to get just a couple extra feet in each direction...

I do have nearly unlimited space since my basement I have almost 1700 sq ft left to use in the basement. I am not limited to the 5 x 9 table and have added a 4x4 table to it for my roundhouse. I am considering another section for the turntable and train engine storage. In laying out track on the table without any switches, I can have at least 6 runs 6 ft in length. I think I can also have two main rails going back to my layout. I think the next step is to buy 2 four way switches and a couple of 054 switches to check the fit. If you have suggestions or pictures of your yards, please post them. David

Hi David

 

Here is a look at the west end of the Spokane locomotive service facilities and yard complex when under construction at the Northwest Trunk Lines.  The photo shows about a 20x7 area of benchwork. 

 

 

In this photo the mainline is being laid around the perimeter.  The track inside of the main serves as the switching lead for the coach yard and the freight arrival and departure yard.  The freight A/D yard ladder is on the left side of the layout and the coach yard ladder is visible in the right foreground.  The short tracks and switch ladder above the coach yard are diesel ready tracks.  A Ross turntable is at the head of the peninsula and another 20+ feet of yard extends behind the photographer.

 

The track in the photo is MTH Scaletrax with #4 switches used for the yard ladders.  In the upper left a curved switch is being hand laid with ScaleTrax rail and a Ross frog to the Ross #8 curved switch pattern.  Curved switches can be extremely valuable for lengthening a yard lead or a siding around a curve.

 

Here is a control panel view of the yard area shown in the photo.  Red indicates occupied tracks and green indicates clear blocks.  The yellow highlights an active route.

 

 

Be advised that a turntable and roundhouse large enough to accommodate large steam locomotives will fill up a 4x8 area all on its own.

 

1700 square feet is a large space but O scale can make it look small.  If you have the ability to expand your layout over time to use that much space it will be worth it to you to plan carefully to make the most of the space, build a user friendly layout and avoid as much tear down and rebuilding as possible.

 

One of the best resources for learning about the art of layout design is John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation.  I highly recommend picking up a copy. 

 

http://books.google.com/books?...&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ

 

 

 

 

Just e-mailed the file.   Let me know if any issues.

 

Thanks, Greg

Wow thanks for the pics.  I have to start smaller but you have overwhelmed me on what is possible.  I will spend some time studying these pics and checking out the book.
Again, thank you.

David

David, If that impressed you, you should see Patrick's thread on building his layout.

WOW is all I can say.