Need help and opinions

Tony:
I really like the lower switching area with its runaround and the interesting switching possibilities. For reliability of operation, you may want to arrange the track that comes in from the upper part of the layout enter the runaround area on the middle of those 3 tracks instead of the 3rd track from the aisle. You could use the middle track as the "main" with industrial sidings coming off of the two run-around sidings.

If you set up the left end of the middle track at about 2' and access the middle track by going through the curve of a left hand turnout and access the lower run-around siding with all the industrial sidings by going through the straight part of the turnout, you will lengthen your middle track and your lower siding by about 2 cars, plus you'll eliminate a nasty S-curve. The turnout off the middle track to the upper run-around siding by the aisle (or is it an industry track??) has an S-curve, but that short piece of track between the turnouts somewhat reduces the potential hazards of that S, and you could always use longer turnouts for that "crossover" (although that would result in adding only 1 car length at that end of the middle track).

At the other end of the run-around is another S-curve. That one too could be eliminated if the 3 turnouts at that end of the run-around were moved about 1 foot to the right so the curved single track would become the curve of a left turnout, the middle track would be accessed by the curved track of another left turnout straight ahead of the first, and (with a short piece of track) the middle turnout would connect to the right turnout on the upper run-around siding. This shift would lengthen the right end of the middle track to hold another car or two. I think this is important, because, on one side alone, you have 10 industrial sidings and some sidings can hold more than 2 cars.

I know some people prefer to have all turnouts set up so the straight rail serves the main and the curved portion always serves the sidings as much like the prototype as they can get; but, others think eliminating the S-curves in high density switching areas reduces the chances of derailments (even on "bullet-proofed" track). Your choice, of course.

On the other (aisle) side of the middle track, you have 3 sidings to hold 5 or 6 cars at one end and a single siding that might hold 1 or 2. Is that a scale house in the middle between the 2 turnouts on that long straight track? That would be perfect for a pattern of rotating traffic into and out of the 3 track facility (grain?? cement??). The grain job switcher brings a cut of cars destined for the grain facility from the central peninsula yard and drops them on the lower run-around track near the industries.
First, 5 loads on the 3rd track closest to the facility are pulled, weighed at the scale house, and spotted out on the "main" (middle) track of the run-around.
Second, 5 cars that had been holding on the 2nd (middle) facility track are moved over to the 3rd track to be loaded.
Third, 5 cars brought from the central peninsula yard are pulled from the lower run-around by the industries and pushed by the scale house (with a pause by each to be weighed) and pushed to the 2nd (middle) facility track for holding.
The grain job switcher pulls his caboose off the end of the 5 recently spotted cars and spots it with its coupler on the straight section of single track just beyond the right end run-around turnouts (about where the dark spot is on that center track above the 7'-8" mark). He then couples to the cars to be returned to the central peninsula, pushes them down to couple up with his caboose, and (with all turnouts set for the main and his air pressure up) pulls the cars back to the central peninsula yard.

A similar scenario could be worked with loads on or off of a barge on the 1st facility track by the aisle. Things could get interesting if 2 or 3 barge loads were gons and 2 or 3 facility cars were covered hoppers. The holding track in the middle would need to hold both, and--when you want to be evil to your operators--you designate some cars as holdovers on the holding track (and, of course, they wouldn't be at the back end of the track).

A variation of this same scenario could be done by a switcher totally dedicated to the grain (and barge?) facility. The switcher from the central peninsula yard brings the cut of barge/grain facility cars over and leaves them on the middle track after switching all the industries on the lower side of the tracks. The facility critter leaves its nest by the scale house and moves all the cars as described above, leaving the loads on the middle track or the upper siding for the next central yard switcher visit.

The industries on the other side look like they would be fun to work. The switch back to the industrial siding above the 4' mark may be hard to serve if the sidings by the industry at 2' are full. Perhaps if you pulled the industries at 5' and 7 feet far enough away from the wall, you could access the 4' industry siding from the other direction...maybe by making the right-most track by the industry at the 6.5 mark into the switchback track that passes diagonally down to the 8' or 9' mark to switch back along the wall behind the industries at 5' and 6.5' to get to the industry at 4'. You might even be able to squeeze in a 2nd siding by the 4' industry, if you wanted.

I like Gats' suggestions of lengthening the sidings going across the arms of the Y to the left of the central peninsula. Will both sides of the "main" track be passenger serving or will passengers be on one side and freight interchange be on the other (the side closest to the yard)? [Hmmm...it just struck me...is the structure I interpretted as a scale house on the lower switching area, really a depot for passengers, and the siding to the left of it the RDC shed? If so, then the scale house could be along the single straight track at the throat to what I called the grain/barge facility.]

On the central peninsula, the yard and industry(es) are very nicely split so operators could stand on either side and operate simultaneously. I'd make the classification yard lead (drill track) extend parallel to the main (<big grin>...between the two trailer parks at the bottom of the track plan...LOL).

If the track to the right of the main across the top of the Y is for freight interchange, then, with the yard lead on the lower arm of the Y instead of along the top arm of the Y, the yard switcher operator would not have to switch aisles to access the interchange track.

The industry on the upper half has more than half of its sidings accessible only by switchback moves. This area might be ideal to be served by an industry-dedicated switcher. I'd still add a run-around in that area, maybe by extending the switchback siding in the middle to connect near the turnout immediately to the right of Gats' red line.

To heighten the sense that it is an industry big enough to have it's own switcher, I'd configure track so there was only one way to get into the industry, either the original single track or Gats' red line, but not both. Of the two options, I'd recommend the original where it comes off of the yard lead (drill track) because the yard switcher operator would not need to leave the yard aisle to push a cut of cars over to the industry, but an operator running a train from the top yard to the central peninsula industry would have to crowd in next to industry operator. Certainly not an impossibility with a 36" wide aisle; but, not necessary if it is only served by the central yard instead of both. (BTW, I agree with those advocating even-sized aisles on both sides of the peninsula, if you can arrange it.)

Even if you eventually develop a yard in the 3rd area at the top of the plan, cars from that top yard would probably go to the central peninsula yard first (a transfer job of some sort between yards perhaps, or maybe a block of cars dropped off by a southbound roadswitcher), rather than being dropped or pushed directly to the industry by the top yard's switcher.

If the left end of the central industry run-around were close to the crossing and the right end about where the central building is, then you could easily park inbound cars on one track and outbound cars on another. The industry job is to pull all outgoing cars from the industry sidings and set them out to be picked up by the yard switcher; the yard switcher has to pick up those cars on the run-around track and deliver others. Depending on your preferences, there could be one big cut of cars per shift (2 or 3 times an operating session), or a constant stream of cars trickling in throughout an operating session.

This will be a dynamite switching layout!!! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the top area.

 

Tony:
To achieve the separate levels, how about lowering the entire peninsula area by about 1/2 inch below the elevation of the main track and RDC tracks that pass across the arms of the Y? The industrial area would be accessed from the yard by pulling cars out along one of the Y arms and pushing cars to an industrial run-around at about elevation .75. Industries between the run-around and the yard could be at 5/8". Industries and sidings on the other side of the runaround could be at 1.0, maybe even accessed by a switchback type of move on a track that actually ties in to the main or the upper arm of the Y.

I'd recommend subtle elevation differences for the peninsula, because you don't want too big a grade pulling out of your yard. I've suggested lowering the peninsula because it would be more in keeping with the way I first imagined the scenery...aisles representing inlets on an ocean, lake or river with the central peninsula yard and the grain/barge facility both at slightly lower elevations closer to the water level. Placing industries between water and railservice is pretty standard.

I'd recommend against any tracks crossing above the Y arms because you'd need about 6 feet of rising track to achieve enough clearance to get over the Y arms rising from the yard on the sunken peninsula and close to 8 feet if you have the main shelf and the peninsula yard at the same elevation. Either length would probably adversely affect length of industrial and runaround tracks on the lower portion of the track plan.

Or the yard could be at 0.0 elevation, the main shelf under the window (RDC tracks across the arms) could be at 1.0 and the industry could be at 2.0 elevation. Access to the industry could be from way out at the end of the top arm of the Y where a turnout curves up a grade to the industry at 2.0 elevation. Even within the peninsula industry, structures and tracks closer to the yard might be lower than those farther away from the yard.