One thing I really never understood yet is why does the staging yard have to be hidden when you could make it a working part of your layout? It just seems to me that a working staging yard would be more in line with the operations of running the railroad!
As long as it's a "working " yard with an operator moving cars and engines around making up new trains. Otherwise there's not much realism seeing tracks filled with full trains with engines lined up like they're waiting for the green flag to drop! Duane Goodman
Hidden staging lets you have an "off railroad" destinations. On my layout the hidden staging will become north, east and west junctions. Trains from the visible portion will "travel" to the junctions and trains from staging will deliver to my visible portion. Think of them as non-visible interchanges with other RR's - that way you can ship anything to them
What he said. On my layout I'm planning to have both a large visible yard and hidden staging. I have a branch line on the layout that goes "somewhere else" in the world. That "somewhere else" is actually the hidden staging. This serves two purposes. 1) It lets me have added realism by having different trains coming in and going to another part of the world that isn't modeled. 2) It allows me to have a lot more trains (and therefore a lot more variety) on my layout than I can fit on it at one time. Also, many folks don't have a layout big enough to incorporate a large yard. For those folks hidden staging perfect.
IMHO, I don't like hidden track of any kind. I have tried it before and it is a pain to maintain and operate. Of course, this means that you have plenty of room to not have hidden tracks. If I can't have my first choice of no hidden tracks (staging), then I would make the hidden tracks easily accessable. Very easy. This goes for tunnels and other types of enclosures. I suppose there should be a rule of thumb for cover height. FI, staging 12 inches deep, then cover not less than 9 inches high. Maybe you could test a little for something like that before you build the final layout.
My hidden staging isn't actually hidden. It will be on a lower level approximately 24" below the layout. Easily accessible and well lighted. If you're gonna do it that's the only way to do it in my opinion.
I've never been able to successfully integrate a hidden staging into my model RR world. I certainly understand it's use. And I have operated on some great empires that made incorporated the concept very well. Perhaps some day my designing skills will be better! Boxcab E50
Hidden storage is very helpful with little space. As Hoss said its nice to keep it well separated from main trackage, but I was thinking of another solution for those of us who might not be able to get that kind of separation between levels. So, imagine your staging lead just barely dipping below main level and the ladder out to a nice multi-track yard and then back again for double ended. This could be just two or three inches below the main deck. What I was thinking was basically like a sector plate, but it would include the straight portions of that nice yards' tracks. And, instead of sliding a bit to line up a different track, you just slide it alll the wway out on full extension drawer slides, manipulated what you want and slide it back into place. Electrical connection could come from pins in the back of the drawer that made connection when you slid it closed. I'm sure someone else has probably though of this before, but I just thought of it myself last night, thought I'd see what you all thought. -doc
Thanks for shedding a new light on the subject everyone! I always read people putting in the hidden staging yard and before never quite got the concept of it, but know it's somewhat clearer. I just always thought of it as a working yard that you would use switcher engines in and make up your next train. The new layout I'm plannig I will have a 2' by 14' working staging yard, but I probably won't run more that four trains at one time so I wouldn't really need to stack up a whole lot of trains.
Virginian and Ohio, Allan McClelland, had staging yards that were seniced in that they were ballasted and had some debris and trash scattered throughout. No real detail at all. They were partially visible, so Allan wanted them not to be just a plywood shelf. I heard that story in 1995 at his clinic in the V&O.
Quite an interesting topic as I have visible yards in two different areas of my layout. I am just finishing off the engine service facility then my efforts will go into tne next major extension of the layout. Only this morning I was running through my mind the concept of whether I build another yard or do I build a hidden staging area so I can maximise the visible area for an intermodal yard. Guess in the next month of so I will be drawing available area to post a new topic. I do agree with flash though that hidden track can be a real problem and with Murphy's law it always seems to be in the hidden areas where problems occur
Doc, there was and artical in an old MR that had the staging yard in a drawer. It was just a long ,thin, drawer with rows of straight track in it and you would pull the drawer out to line up to the yard track and go either in or out.
On my (soon to be) layout, my staging tracks will be under the main portion of the layout-an area not able to be easily seen or reached readily. I'm hoping to be able to have a number or waiting trains-to take out on the main-to keep running maybe while I am working in the yard "building" a new one. While the staging yard is really not very prototype....it adds some fun and some extra room in some cases. Also can add some time/distance illusion by being able to park a train there for a time, and allowing it to continue its trip later. I guess if I had all the space I wanted (and I want quite a lot) I would have all the yards exposed and plenty of track to run on....maybe in my next life......Daniel [ 16. March 2004, 03:31: Message edited by: DJSEmailme ]
Daniel, first off, welcome to TrainBoard! Just wondering if there was someway you could "open up" your staging tracks area a little. I am thinking you may need to get at that track on a regular basis for cleaning etc. Bill
If and when I ever get my layout designed, I'd like to have staging that is open, yet separated in some way with the rest of the layout. I'm thinking maybe by backdrop or even just a simple overpass. I've seen a couple of staging yards that had a bit of scenery on them which might be something I'd consider as well.
My staging tracks are on the same level as the rest of my layout but are screened from view by a long low hill of scenery. You can easily see any train sitting in staging by peering over the hill. It is also easy to get at the tracks for cleaning and throwing turnouts. I did make the main portion of the hill removeable in case I needed a lot of access the staging area. Here is my track plan so that you can see how the staging fits into the big picture of the layout. Here is a picture of the area I am talking about. I have completed more of the viewblock but don't have a current picture of it. I have also completed the bridge that crosses in front of the viewblock. You can look at my web page to get more views of my layout.
Mike, that's an excellent concept to use for hiding the staging tracks. The "removeable" part is a great idea too. Bill
