I'm designing my layout. Mainlines... No problem. Well some problems, but they aren't too bad. I then take the rest of my space and fill it with "yards". I am quickly realizing that I can design really expensive layouts, but I have little to no idea if my "yards" will be anything more than places to keep short trains stored. Any good books? Websites? Thanks
Unless you can change the space or elevation then you are limited in the type of yard you can create and still maintain a double track mainline. If you raised the loops then you could run yards under the main.
After just a short time browsing this forum and seeing layout designs that people offer for critique, I wind up with a large collection of pictures from which to borrow ideas! For real life book in hand I started with Track Plans for Sectional Track from 1976. There must be a handful of up to date books at the local hobby store or amazon.
I like to first figure out where I'm going to model. I then figure out what industries my railroad needs to serve. Then, I work on using design elements that make people think that they know where I'm modelling because of something familiar. I'm not a big fan of yards that you can see unless they're actually functional. I'm more of a fan of the interchange tracks where you leave a cut of cars so you railroad can work them and then your railroad leaves cars to be picked up by whomever. I like the hidden/semi-hidden staging tracks so multiple trains can run through the layout from different ways and interact with my railroad. I've just always felt to do a yard right, it just takes up way more real estate than I have. These of course are my opinions and not meant to tell you modelling a yard is wrong. If I had the space, you can bet I'd model an operating hump yard with all the bells and whistles. You can always model a small 3 or 4 track yard as an interchange so you have both--an reason for your railroad to be there and a place that generates traffic for your industries. Why don't you post a track plan or at least your ideas and I'm sure more than a couple of guys here will chime in with ideas.
I'm actually not sure where to direct someone first. I'll just offer a few pieces of advice right here. - All track off the mainline isn't "yards". - In yard design, few long tracks are better than more short ones. A working yard should have a yard lead. Engine terminals are generally associated with yards, and most don't have the turntable and roundhouse anymore. - Staging yards are a modellers' invention. They are not meant to be switched. They are often hidden, because they don't exist in real life. Some beginners try to put engine terminals and such on them. This is pointless. Their whole point is to store complete trains. As such, having each track long enough to fit a whole train isn't just desirable, but necessary. - Coach yards are another real type, much less modelled. But a yard for passenger cars still must be functional. Generally found in association with large... - Passenger stations. Most have through tracks. Some are stub terminals. - Spurs and switching areas. These are not generally for storing cars, but for getting freight cars to and from their destinations. These will be the most common type of off-main tracks. - Interchanges with other railroads. Can be represented by full staging yards, or just by (sometimes hidden) tracks able to hold a few cars.
When I was starting out last year, I used TB as my guide. I looked at all the different in-progress threads, proposed layouts, etc. Then, I did what is always suggested, wrote done my needs and desires, and started playing in AnyRail (later moved to XtrakCad). I had a number of different 2-door layouts worked out, which would be semi-modular, until I was lucky enough to convince the true boss that I really needed a room of my own, rather than something that was able to be put away. That sent me back to the beginning, eventually resulting in the JACALAR. My yard and sidings aren't realistic, but that wasn't what I was going for. I like passenger trains, and wanted them running (plus wanted the roundhouse/turntable). So, I made sure I had plenty of long straight track to store passenger trains on, and, with the TT, I'm able to swing the loco back around them.
THE best book, the place to start is Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong. Been around 30 years, I have read it over and over and over, and then gone back and refeered to it, looked something up. This is the basis of how and why to plan, how the real railroads do, how you can translate that into a layout. It is not a "this is how to build THIS layout." It is how and why to design YOUR layout, for YOUR space, for YOUR scale and interests.
To save the trouble of posting it again, I posted something about yard design here: Yard help - Page 2 - TrainBoard.com And just try searching this site for "yard design" or similar terms. what I'd like to do in N. please critique - TrainBoard.com Okay, that's what you're thinking about. Operationally, what do you want to do with the layout? That's the main determiner of what types and quantity of off-main tracks you'll need.
Even more amazingly, this book was actually originally published in 1963, so is almost 47 years old! David
