Operations is a part of trackplanning, right? I'm planning to build a quick, down and dirty shelf layout with an urban industrial switching theme. I was thinking of Mike Fisher's shelf layout design: Seven industries, only 4' x 6", interesting trackage. I could really dress it up for a nice gritty urban feel. It's just what I was looking for. But I began to wonder... How would a layout like this be prototypically operated? I'm sure there are many real world examples - the Kingsbury Branch in Chicago comes to mind as one. And, sorry, I'm not a fan of "Timesaver" switching puzzles, nor would I want to operate it like one. What I would like to accomplish is the correct prototypical switching operations. Let's assume the lower right track with the re-railer is the interchange... Some questions: If a string of 7 cars was sitting on the interchange, would a switcher pull as much of the string and start dropping cars or would it just pull one or two cars, set them, go back and get the next two, set them... etc.? I think the latter is the way to operate if there is street running involved. I cannot see just leaving cars blocking an intersection while the switcher is off working elsewhere. Similarly, if a switcher did desire to pull a 5+ car string, is it acceptable practice to foul a switch if it doesn't affect or interfere with its own moves? Hey, no one else is working there, right? I can't believe that just because there are 7 industries means all 7 would have rail cars at their docks (unless business was really good!). Perhaps, more realistically, only 5 have cars. Some are outbound, some are staying put for a while and some are inbound. I'm trying to avoid 7 cars sitting at dock doors, 7 cars waiting at the interchange and lets see how we can exchange them, one for one. It just doesn't seem real life to me. See how I'm thinking? Any suggestions or am I doing OK here? Am I posting this in the wrong place?
This seems like an awfully complicated trackplan for someone who does not like switching puzzles. I would use a staging track as a start/end point for trains. It can be just a removable single straight track on either side.
I would do like magicman suggest, use a staging track for start and end points. Not all your commerece is going to need cars at the same time and not all are going to be ready to move to out bound staging at the same time . Only other thing you might think about is , do any of these business ship to each other and vice a versa instead of say shipping out of the area . If this is a compressed scenerio , it is possibe a business that uses raw material makes a finished good ( adds value) and then ships to another business to sell it . IE. freeze plant gets veggies from the farm processes and freezes the product and sends some/ all of it to grociery store chain at the other end of the pike. Time to get a dispatcher out and fiqure who is going where with limited motive power and rolling stock eh?
So I built this up in XTrackCAD to play with it. Label the industries A, B, C, D, E left to right across the back, F and G left to right across the front. There's only room for 5x 40' boxcars on the "interchange" track (the one with the rerailer). Three total (four in a crunch) at A and B, one each at C and D, two at E, two at G, and two at F if and only if have somewhere to put them when you need to clear that switch. Since you can only fit 2 cars on the "tail" at F, and 3 cars in the runaround, you're going to have to break up the cut and work on it in pieces. This would get really puzzling if you are simultaneously picking up and setting out. In some cases you might even have to move a spotted car and then put it back after a move. You won't be able to pull the whole cut and work on the whole thing, unless you can extend the "tail" at F farther. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a "puzzle" but it would certainly be a "challenge" to work.
Thanks for the suggestions and yes, I would plan to have a staging track to use as an interchange. My "switching puzzle" comment was not to put them down, but the way I've seen them operated they looked very UNprototypical. To me it seemed it was more of a race to get the job done ASAP rather than simulate true operations. It irks me when I see cars couple and uncouple at 30 scale mph. Makes it look toy-like. Never thought about cars staying local to the layout. Good one. I kinda answered my own questions on some of the other points. Here's what I'm thinking: Not all cars will move. Not all docks will have a car. Some may be waiting for one though. Only small cuts of two or three cars will be moved at a time rather than longer strings. I plan to have some streets and, again, I doubt a car can sit on a road crossing while the loco is doing a run-around move. My thoughts are still percolating but I think I'm heading in the right direction. Thanks for the input.
TwinDad - I must have posted seconds after you and didn't see your post 'til now. I did the same as you and modeled the layout on my PC (I use 3DRR) and found pretty much the same as you. To answer one point, yes, I can extend tracks if needed. I'm thinking of extending it to 6' to give a little more breathing room and to lessen the "puzzle" feel. I'm thinking "concrete urban industrial canyon" for this with a few street crossings. The street crossings would validate pulling shorter cuts of cars. Again, it's not desired to leave a boxcar sitting in the middle of the roadway! I read a post recently where a business was located on a runaround track. The point was made that the business owner would be pretty upset if his car was moved every time a loco had to make a runaround move. I'll definitely give it some breathing room to avoid such things and as you mentioned, moving cars after they are set. Just trying to build it and operate it like a real railroad would.
