Switching

sysdfg:
Interesting switching layout.

Which side of the layout will you usually be standing on--inside the L or outside?

If inside, then you'll have easy access to the turnouts in the yard, but not to those crossovers below McKinley Bridge/Salisbury St or by the industry at the top left side of the L, because the buildings may be in the way of seeing and reaching any of the lower crossover ground throws and the upper industrial siding turnout, and may also prevent seeing and reaching couplers when uncoupling with a hand pick...although you might avoid the reach issue when uncoupling if you straighten out the industrial sidings so you can use magnetic uncouplers and use low profile buildings to allow correct spotting of the couplers over the magnets. If you are using electric motors for thowing turnouts, then make sure the buildings are not so tall that they obscure you view of the crossovers.

If you are working the layout from the outside of the L, then you may have some difficulty with yard turnout access and the frequent coupling/uncoupling associated with car classification...again, because the buildings will get in the way. The 3 curving industrial sidings on the lower right side of the 3 parallel tracks, may permit seeing for coupling/uncoupling from directly above, but the close clearance between buildings will prevent you from seeing couplers from in front of the fascia board (pretty inconvenient...been there, done that:embarassed. Straightening the sidings and leaving them open all the way to the fascia may make them easier to work. The 3 sidings on the right above Salisbury St will also be difficult to see and work from outside of the L for the same reasons.

As an alternative, consider straightening all sidings on the right side of the layout to be parallel (or at just a 15 degree angle) to the 3 parallel tracks, and shifting the 3 parallel tracks and yard tracks closer to the inside or to the outside of the L (depending on where you will be standing to work the layout). With such a shift, you may be able to remove any buildings that would hinder access to the sidings or position buildings in front of the sidings in such a way that the sidings can still be easily seen and reached whereever coupling/uncoupling must occur. I personally prefer the option of setting up the backdrop on the inside of the L, shifting the tracks closer to the outside of the L, and working the layout from the outside of the L, because it will give a sense of being a larger layout (4 feet more of fascia even though the square footage remains the same, and also, the backdrop on the inside of the L will prevent you from easily seeing around the "corner" so a train's "disappearance" gives a sense of having traveled farther).

Are you limited to the existing arrangement of trailing and facing point turnouts along either side of the 3 parallel tracks? Or could you change some of the facing point turnouts to trailing points to serve the industries along the left side of the 3 parallel tracks? Such a change may not be in the same track configuration as the actual tracks in St Louis, but they will be MUCH easier to work. You would be able to pull directly from any yard track and serve both of the left side industrial sidings without having to get onto the center (Main) track.

Consider repositioning and flipping the crossovers so you can pull a cut of cars from the yard all the way across the center (Main) track to the right side industrial track on a single pull instead of requiring a switchback movement. Make any run-around moves using the center (Main) track, but use the upper and lower end of the outside (right-most) track to spot all your pickups. This way of working the right side industries leaves the center (Main) track clear for any mainline traffic that might be simulated or would let you use the upper and lower ends of the outside track as an interchange for northbound or southbound traffic.

Even if this switching layout is never included in a larger layout and no mainline trains pass through or no roadswitchers work the interchange tracks, you could still simulate such occurances by starting and ending your operating session with some cars on the interchange tracks.

You may want to adjust your sidings so you have at least one industry that has at least 2 tracks...one track for loading/unloading, and the other for holding cars that need to be loaded/unloaded. This means you can rotate (1 or 2?) cars from the yard or interchange tracks to the industry holding track, move 1 or 2 from the holding track to the loading/unloading track, and move 1 or 2 from the loading/unloading track to the yard/interchange track. Set up such a rotation to minimize the frequency/duration the industry switcher will need to cross/occupy the center (Main) track.

To ease overall switching in the yard, add a left hand escape crossover from the 6th to the 7th yard track. The 6th track should be long enough to hold all cars that will be pulled from or spotted at industries/interchanges for one switching job. (For example, if you can hold 6 cars in the 3 lower right industries, then you should make your 6th yard track and your run-around track on the right side industrial lead long enough to hold 6 cars without having to put any cars (only the loco) on the center/Main to complete the switching job.

Do you plan to have 3 separate industrial switching jobs?
1. 3 lower right side industries and southbound interchange (one pull across the center/Main track and one run-around to pull the cars back to the yard)
2. 3 upper right side industries and northbound interchange (one pull from the yard to the right side industry lead and a run-around on the main before returning all pickups across the main to the yard)
3. 2 left side industries with north or south bound interchange traffic (one pull from the yard tracks, one push back to the yard tracks--or one pull from the yard, runaround, then one pull back to the yard tracks).

 

sysdfg:
Great link to the system maps!!

Questions about track configurations and prototypic switching of the Bremen Ave industries:
After looking at the Terminal RR maps and blocking instructions, I suspect they had the 3 left hand crossovers at Bremen Ave because trains originated (or at least started working the industries near Bremen Ave) in the Old Bremen Yard, which is labeled "Walters" on the Bremen North and South industry map, page 94.
:embarassed:1:1 RR guys would have a MUCH better understanding than me!!...but I'm guessing the Bremen Ave industries were switched by starting at Old Bremen Yard and:
1. working any trailing point industries on the west side of the mains (Gunther Salt and Rimco),
2. pulling across the Westbound and Eastbound Mains to Track 1,
3. working the trailing point industries on the east side of the mains, (Strategic Mat'ls, Beelman, Grossman, and Lange-Stegman),
4. running around on the EBM to work the remaining industries (Ryerson, Bulk Services, Keisel, Phillips, and Midland),
5. pulling back across the mains to the Old Main in front of Walters/Old Bremen Yard to work Mallinkrodt and Cash,
6. and then pulling back to the Old Bremen Yard.
**These are only my speculations!!**
Someone who actually works on a railroad or on this RR in particular might be able to explain to us why the blocking order had cars for Ryerson (on the east side of the mains) blocked after cars for Mallinkrodt and Cash (which are on the west side of the mains).
To the Pros: Would it be typical to have another movement on the Eastbound Main to spot Ryerson cars before crossing back over the mains to the Old Main?

Modeling considerations:
If the Bremen Ave industries were, indeed, switched starting from the Old Bremen Yard, then you may want to model 4 or 5 tracks of the Old Bremen Yard along the outside half of the bottom shelf of the L, hidden by easily removeable view blocks of trees, low hills, and/or building fronts but visible if you lean in over the shelf a little bit and not covered so you have easy access for maintenance and 0-5-0 adjustments in staging. The turnouts to the yard would be visible near the corner of the L, but the majority of the tracks would be behind the view block.

Both the EBM and WBM could be modeled (or selectively compressed to a single mainline), but would stop just behind the Old Bremen Yard view block so you would have space for 1 or 2 more yard tracks.

The Rimco siding could point toward the corner of the L and the industry itself would not need to be modeled because, according to the industry spotting instructions, the cars were all spotted outside the Rimco gate.

Both Mallinkrodt Chemical sidings could be modeled in about the middle of the vertical part of the L, with Cash's Metals and Gunther Salt closer to the top of the L.

If you bend the EBM and WBM toward the back of the shelf, you could model Ryerson, Beelman, Grossman and Strategic Mat'ls along the top 2 or 3 feet of the L at the inside/front of the shelf, but you probably won't have space to put in the Bulk Services tracks (which might not be necessary anyhow if you model Lange-Stegman Fertilizer at the other end of the layout).

On the inside of the L where you currently have the yard, you could put the Lange-Stegman Fertilizer Plant or the Midland/Phillips complex (and work the M/P complex from the south instead of from the north as is shown in the map).

[Hmm...another thought... If you are willing to use some of the space on the inside of the L, you might model the Midland/Phillips complex on a short and narrow peninsula (forming a layout footprint like an upside down F instead of a backwards L).

 

Is this worth a 1000 words?:teeth:

Since the run-around on the east side of the main is only 5 cars long, you may want to slide all the turnouts in the corner about 2 car lengths down, so the run-around is longer (and all tracks in the Old Bremen Yard are only about 8 cars long).

Note how this track plan only has 2 sharp S-curves (the crossover by Grossman's--which I think will only be used by a loco and cars to Ryerson's--and the 1st track into Lange-Stegman) and one gentle S-curve (into Mallinkrodt's).

Note also that the crossover near Lange-Stegman from the Main to the Old Main is not a prototypic S-Curve and it sends the Main through the diverting leg of the turnout. I know some people don't share my view, but, I think the saved space and improved reliability through the crossover will make up for these liabilities.