Being very new to the hobby, I find myself stumbling a bit when planning my first layout. What I am having trouble with is the fact that I am unfamiliar with basic train operations, or how they go about things like picking up/dropping cars, taking on water, loading/unloading passengers, etc. I understand some of the basics, like sidings for exiting the main lines for operations or allowing other trains to pass by, and the concept of switching makes some sense to me, where cars are staged on sidings or spurs, but the proper way to lay out the track to accommodate a locomotive entering the staging yard, picking up/dropping off cars and then exiting back onto the main line (assuming in the same direction as it began) is confusing me somewhat. For instance, here is a basic illustration of a staging area I'm toying with. What is it missing for functional operation? What might you consider adding if only for convenience or cost-effectiveness? Will a train moving through right-to-left be able to use it at all? If not, how would I best make that possible? I picked up an older Kalmbach book on model train operations from the library, and it has helped somewhat, but it tends to get bogged down in industry-specific lingo that isn't clarified in the included glossary. The examples also don't seem to break things down enough for me to understand not only the how's but also the why's as to the way things are done. Any advice on where I could look for more information on operations would be appreciated as well.
Connect that first siding back to the main to create a run-around, and you have yourself a basic yard that can be used in either direction. The main will be blocked while in use, which is no problem for a little-used branchline. If on a busy main, I suggest "bumping" everthing up one more track, so it'd go from the bottom: main, Arrival / Depart, run-around, two storage / classification tracks. Resources include: John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation, 3rd Ed. (Kalmbach) Andy Sperandeo's The Model Railroader's Guide to Freight Yards (Kalmbach) Craig Bisgeier's "Ten Commandments of Model Railroad Yard Design" Each yard is configured for specific purposes, so knowing what you're using it for, how many cars, etc. helps a lot in yard planning.
While it varies depending on the railroad and situation in general a yard has arrival and departure tracks frequently abbreviated "A/D". Over simplified: The train arrives on the appropriate tracks The locomotive is disconnected - goes to the shop for refueling / crew change etc A loco dedicated to the yard breaks the train down on the "classification" tracks A train could be made up and left on the departure tracks for a fresh crew / loco You can add or remove as many of the details as you like. Always remember "It's your railroad". Hope this helps. PS: It appears you are using a "paint" program. If you want straight lines try holding "Alt Shift" while using the "line tool".
Thanks for the replies so far. I just scribbled my idea in Paint for the purpose of providing some context for my questions. I've been playing with XTrkCad and like it a lot. It just takes me a *lot* longer to create something useful with it at this point. I've taken some of your suggestions and mocked it up a little differently. Again, nothing is set in stone. I mainly want to try and understand how a yard *should* be designed. Should the spur (may not be using that term correctly) coming off the siding be moved toward the middle of the siding, or would it work ok at the end as in this diagram?
Is it a staging area - a place where whole trains will wait until making their run through the modeled part of the layout? If so, you do not want to use a plain ladder like you are doing there - the tracks get shorter and shorter as you move up up the ladder. Also, you do probably not need or want an A/D track for a staging yard (it will possibly be handy for a busy classification yard), and you do not want a bunch of industries located along a staging yard. If this is indeed a staging yard, consider doing tracks on bothe sides of the main (above and below the main), and using compound ladders: As you can see - a compound ladder (bottom figure) gives you far longer tracks If you need your staging area to be double ended, there are several ways of doing that, too: Note that the diamond shaped yard (in the middle) gives shorter maximum train length, but that all tracks are the same length, wheras a pyramid shaped yard (bottom) has some really long and some really short tracks. What is sensible for your use depends on what the rest of your layout looks like. It is pretty meaningless to design a yard without knowing what kind of traffic it will need to support, and what it will be used for. Smile, Stein
I recognize that the terms are new for you. What you have posted is not a staging yard. As has been mentioned, a staging yard is usually defined as a place where whole trains are stored until it is their time to run on the visible layout. Staging yards are often, though not always, hidden or secluded and typically no active work or switching is done in them. In fact, most folks would not define what you have drawn as a yard. It looks more like a group of industrial tracks. Yards are generally places where trains are organized, made up, or taken apart. Yard tracks generally don't directly serve industries. In any case, it's often difficult to give much advice on any yard without seeing the rest of the layout for context. I'm sure that it can be frustrating to have to wade through a lot of new ideas and terminology, but your track plan will certainly benefit if you take the time now to learn some basic concepts. Jumping to model railroad CAD too soon in the learning process often leads to a poor final design. Best of luck with your layout.
First off, awesome info and staging area suggestions. That's exactly the kind of insight I'm needing. Thanks a bunch. I found those links really informative. As I've probably confused matters unnecessarily, allow me to clarify that the diagram I have provided isn't necessarily intended to be my proposed layout, but more of a hypothetical example of a scenario I would like to better understand. In other words, given that layout, what have I done wrong or failed to consider? After the crude illustration in my original post, some people requested more context, so I threw in some industry, so people could take another look at it and comment from there. Again, I'm trying to understand what a layout needs in various situations. What I *can* tell you about the layout that's rattling around in my head, is that it will incorporate a military-related distribution facility, where things like food stores, materials, fuel, machinery, etc. are brought in either from local sources or by train from other facilities, to be warehoused and shipped to various rail destinations. This will also include a recruiting office and passenger depot, plus various local industry and non-rail infrastructure (roads, storefronts, etc.). It's the distribution aspect that has me thinking I need to do some level of staging - nothing real complicated, but I'm guessing I will need to be able to shuffle cars around as they arrive for unloading or get loaded for departure. Perhaps two to three "classification" tracks and two or three "industry" spurs that access warehousing/storage facilities? In thinking about how this would all be laid out, I just need to know what features I should plan on incorporating. A runaround is a good example of that. I now understand what it is an how it's used, so I can plan for it. Thanks again, folks. I'm learning a lot.
Still confused about the concept Hi -- I think you are still mixing up the concepts. Staging is "off-layout" - it is one or more tracks representing "down that way", allowing you to do things like: Train A arrives "from the south" (i.e. it drives from a staging track onto the modeled part of your layout). Then it does something on your layout, and then it may depart "southwards" (i.e it drives into a staging track and disappears from the modeled layout). A more elaborate case of staging: Staging1 ---- modeled layout -- yard on modeled layout --- staging2 Staging1 represents destinations south and west, Staging2 represents destinations easts Now a train can come from the west and end up in the yard on your layout. Some inbound cars will next go to local industries Some inbound cars will next go on trains towards the south (i.e. back to staging1) Some inbound cars will next go on trains towards the east (i.e. to staging2) The whole idea of staging is to have your layout interact with destinations for (and sources of) traffic, so it will seem more like part of a large railroad, instead of a toy train layout where cars get shuffled back and forth between the elevator and the flour mill. A yard, on the other hand, is a nexus on the layout. There are many kinds of yards - big classification yards (huge sorting machines), small local auxilliary yards (like a place where you can sort a few cars before you spot them at local industries), you have small interchange yards (where one railroad may leave cars that go onto another railroad), coal marshalling yards, where cars from several mines are gathered into larger trains before being hauled towards a customer, and so on and so forth. What you are describing is not staging. What you are describing is a small auxilliary yard. Your layout very likely needs both - a place trains can come from or depart for, and a place where you can sort a few cars before making deliveries. For a small switching layout you can make do without staging - by the simple expedient of starting an operating session with a train which "just has arrived", and ending the session with the train "about to depart". But if you want to model routing - cars coming in on one train from one place, and heading out again on another train, bound for somewhere elses, staging is a very good idea. Try to fix in your mind the conceptual difference between staging (off layout/down that way) and a yard (a place where cars are sorted and handled). It will make communication with others about track planning a lot easier. Smile, Stein
Again, that's not staging, at least not the way most people use the word. That classification typically happens in an operating yard on a layout. This does not need to be complicated, a few tracks will do depending on how many cars you will be handling at one time. A runaround is necessary if you have spurs facing in each direction off the main line. A great resource that will reward a few hours' study with almost everything you need to know about moving cars, making up trains, yards, etc., etc. is John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation
Here's another site that gives "The 10 Commandments of Yard Design " (though it almost sound as if you're wanting to design an industrial park).
*insert sound of lightbulb turning on over my head* I think I've got it now. Staging is a model railroading term, not one of realistic railroad operations. Have I got that right? I've seen layouts that have used staging areas. I just thought it was a more general term. Thank you both for beating me about the noggin' with it long enough for it to sink in. :tb-embarrassed: According to steinjr's generous description, my layout will likely feature a small local auxillary yard and accommodate light interchange activity. As this is meant to be a distribution facility, there will be various rolling stock being dropped off and picked up on its way to its final destination. Just glancing at the first few pages of that book shows it to be far more suited to my needs than the book I am working through, Realistic Model Railroad Operation : How To Run Your Trains Like the Real Thing. Thanks for the suggestion!
Yup. Someone suggested that one above. I bookmarked it right away, as it's just full of great info. Thanks!
Precisely. Staging is a technique used on model railroads to simulate one (or more) connections to the rest of the world. It allows you to pretend that your layout is a small part of a much larger whole. An example: a layout without staging. One has room for two industries. Say you decide to use a coal mine and a power plant. Traffic now consists of moving loaded coal hopper from the mine to the power plant, and then empty hoppers from the power plant to the mine. One commodity, one trip. Another example: a layout with staging. You chose as your two industries e.g. a river barge terminal, and a grocery distribution center/warehouse. You now can have a train come in with juice concentrate from Florida, coal from Wyoming, flatcars of tractors produced in Minnesota, empty gondolas to be loaded with scrap from barges and then shipped to a steel mill in Illinois, beer from Colorado for warehouse, and a lot of other things. By choosing to not model both the source and destination of the carloads on the visible layout, you can have a lot more interesting freight, more varied RR car types. Smile, Stein
