Give the poor guy a chance to read his new book about his RR. If He's anything like me he's probably thinking of all kinds of things he'd like to do w/ his layout. Just found my old Warbonnet article of the LAJ so no telling how much my layout will be changed!
Don't worry, this thread won't die. I have in fact just finished reading all 400 pages of my Colorado Central book. I especially liked the information on the early years of the gold rush and how the railroad came to be. Later on the story gets a bit repetitive: "track was now layed there and there, such and such locomotive derailed", etc. However, there are many useful photos and information on the infratructure. There are no actual yards on the CC narrow gauge bit; some sidings and industry spurs is usually it, at most. The yard at Golden, where a few branches meet and the starting point for the CC narrow gauge, looks more like the type of 'textbook' yard we've been talking about. There's a turntable with in- and outbound tracks, and another which I presume is a coal supply track. Then there's a somewhat complicated mess of sidings and crossovers and a set of single-ended spurs to make up the yard. I can't find a yard lead, though there's part of a siding (or A/D-track?) that could have been used as such. Image of the Golden yard: The bit I coloured blue might have been used as lead? The book also has a locomotive roster, and apparently the CC used only 0-4-0, 0-6-0, and 2-6-0's, which I find a bit restrictive, especially considering the small amount of locomotives (kits) one can buy for Nn3. So, I'm starting to lean towards basing all of the layout more on prototypical elements than on one prototype. May have to buy additional books on the RGS, DRGW, C&S, etc . I also received my first kit, for an 0-6-0 switcher .
Thought that would happen once you had a chance to read & digest the book. So what ever you decide to model at least you have a good basis for your design. You might even think about laying your track w/ enough nails to hold it then switch it to see if your plan is going to work to your liking. And yes you could call the blue line a yard lead. What is that track below the station?
This earlier map should explain the trackage below the freight house: "You might even think about laying your track w/ enough nails to hold it then switch it to see if your plan is going to work to your liking." Whatever I do, this little project will keep me busy for quite some time
Looks like you will be do alot of handlaying your own track if you build this plan especially all the Xings!
I'll be doing a lot of handlaying alright, but not because I want to model Golden. These images are more to show what is basically the biggest (only) 'yard' on the Colorado Central. Handlaying track is actually one of the things I'm most looking forward to. Can't say if I'll still like it after the first few feet . A totally unrelated question: what is the big deal about double ended yards? With what I know now, a train comes in on the siding or A/D-track, motive power cuts off and goes to be serviced, then the switcher takes the train, pulls it into the lead and shoves cars into the classifying tracks (or removes caboose first if it happens to be on that side). The switcher is working from one side anyway, why have double ended yard tracks? Is this simply so that trains can pull into the yard directly? What's the point of that, the switcher still has to pull the train and classify, no? Or is the point that, when the switcher has assembled a train on a classification track, this train can leave in either direction without first having to be dragged to the siding or A/D-track? As most yards are double ended, it's obviously useful, I just need someone to tell me why
Double-edned yards are really only useful in two situations - 1) Multiple jobs working. Being able to work both ends means you can have more than one job working at a time in the same yard (one on each end) without overlapping too much. This way your yard job can be building the outbounds and breaking down the inbounds while a local gathers up its train for work. This can be a major timesaver when your yard is the origin for multiple local jobs. 2) Traffic. If you have trains arriving from both directions and departing both directions, then you need to be able to work the yard from the side they're not tying up (i.e. your switch crew can keep breaking down other trains while the opposite lead is tied up by the arriving/departing train).
Do some more reading about your CCR to see if you can glean how they operated. You & some other commentators are making big assumptions that your narrow gauge RR (1890-1910 era?) should operate like a modern standard gauge RR. Your RR probably didn't even use the same terminology much less the same SOPs!
Allow me to piggyback on this, since I too am working on a yard... Your latter comment implies that the arriving/departing train would be using the opposite lead to arrive/depart. Why would the arriving/departing train ever be allowed access to the yard lead? Wouldn't they have a separate crossover from the A/D track to the main?
I'm actually trying to learn both: how typical railroads work and how, say, the CC worked. The CC is mostly easy though: not much traffic, no yards to speak of, basically just trains going up and down setting out the occasional car. Bigger roads like the DRGW did have actual yards and division points, so would work more 'typically' I guess. Since I'll probably be cherry picking fun prototypical elements, might as well focus on more than the CC On a side note: I found a set of articles you can buy from Model Railroader as a pdf download, called "Realistic freight operations" by Frank Ellison, that is for me the most useful bit of lecture yet. It combines a prototypical base, yard layout ideas, and how to operate things, all in one piece. It was only 9 bucks, and of course now, a day later, it's on sale for 4.45.
More questions: * can someone explain to me what a commissary track is? * what is the difference between an 'engine ready' and an 'engine release' track?
Hope you're following the discussion of Wolfgang Dudler's HOn3 plan on LDSIG. Not recommending you adopt his plan just follow along to get some ideas for your layout. Here's his link for building HO stub switches: '+alt+' Know your track will be Nn3 but the building techniques will be the same. Wolfgang is also a prolific contributor on the HO forum here, mostly standard gauge but now narrow gauge also.
I have been following Wolfgang's HOn3 activities closely for a while now, yes. He does very nice things.
And now for something entirely different No worries, I'll be back with more yard-related stuff later, but before that... hidden stuff. I've charted the entire room I have available for building a layout in. At first, I'll only be building a small bit, but I have also been thinking about how it will slot into the bigger picture later on. For this, I needed to decide what type of run I wanted: point-to-point, loop-to-point, or loop-to-loop. I decided I want trains to be able to go roundy-round, so that makes for a loop-to-loop. On this concept, I have drawn two options I'd like some feedback on. So, this is all just a rough idea, no need to go into details yet. Option 1: This first option has 1 reverse loop, and three layers. The top layer is the main layout (not shown). The middle layer is the mostly hidden track shown here, and the third layer is a length of mainline run with possibly a siding and an industry. This last trackage would start at the top right, go down to sit below the other two layers, and then slightly up again to connect to the loop as shown. The stub-end bottom right connects to the main layout in that corner. Advantages of this plan: requires only one reverse loop, almost doubles mainline run. Disadvantages: layer cake could be somewhat complicated and takes some extra space. Mainline 'looping back' on itself is confusing, because on the upper level east would be right, and on the lower level east would be left. To clarify the layer cake idea I've made a drawing. I'm crap at drawing, but all the same: As you can see, the middle layer will be visible, so I can reach all the turnouts. Option 2: This variant has two reverse loops. Ignore the below-center turnout going nowhere please. As you can see, trains coming down to the lower level have the choice of going into a loop, or into the staging area. Advantages: generally simpler Disadvantages: a lot less mainline run, extra reverse loop needed. The staging tracks are still combined, so east-west confusion can still arise. So, do you have any opinions on these ideas? I myself find the layer cake idea attractive for its massively longer mainline run.
The thread has been very enlightening. I would say I'm more of a railfan than anything, so I don't know much more than the purpose of a yard. I was pretty clueless about the function and design. I guess to a degree I still am. Now I've got alot of references to reading material. Also, thank the Lord (and programmers) for CAD programs, lol. Mattun, the reverse loops in your second option don't allow the train back onto the main... Build them like the first option's reverse loop and you're good to go with either choice.
Still not dying here I've finished a general idea of the 'masterplan': Sorry for the hugeish image. The idea is perhaps best summarized in points: there is one mainline that folds back on itself, one half will be lower than the other and they'll be seperated physically by a sort of fascia (blue and purple tracks). The mainline has a few industry spurs and sidings. Exit on the right to either a fiddle yard and/or reverse loop (not shown). there is one branchline (green) with some industries, terminating at a small town/yard. I may or may not physically seperate this from the blue main at some point down the line. there's one main yard, this is mainly there for operation. It'll be scenicked of course, but that's not its main purpose. the main-line will also be slim: it's just the track and scenery/industries immediately next to it (I'm thinking of placing it along a creek, of which only one bank is modeled, the rest 'flows off' the layout). The branchline is the main scenic area, more attention to 'looks' here. The small yard will have parts of a town modeled. The whole thing uses the layer-cake-on-shelf construction as vaguely sketched above. I hope to achieve a scenically interesting layout (branchline) with operation added on (yard and mainline). I won't be building all this in one go, I'll probably build the small yard first and then see if I still like what I'm doing. last: the big red circle is a question: the turnouts there create an S-curve. They're #7's. Should I be changing it so there's more straight track between them? Note this is only a rough idea. The track arrangement may not end up exactly like this, and I still have the inside of the loop at top-right to do something interesting with. It could fit a spur or just scenery. I also just realised it might make sense to have the bottom-left blue spur come off the siding.
