Best Of Yard Layouts

[DKS]

Well, I was going to modify the plan to reflect the final changes. But... the application threw a rod when I clicked on a piece of flex it didn't like for some reason, whereupon it deleted everything on the screen and corrupted the backup file at the same time. I've never seen anything like it. Proves the old adage that you get what you pay for, and that freeware has its risks.

it had nothing to do with a comment Lee made in another thread, that's good to know

No, I suspect it blew up when I tried to draw the closet so I could put the shops in there...

[asciibaron]

No, I suspect it blew up when I tried to draw the closet so I could put the shops in there...

Lee firmly believes in keeping things in the closet that need to stay in the closet.

[DKS]

No, I suspect it blew up when I tried to draw the closet so I could put the shops in there...

Lee firmly believes in keeping things in the closet that need to stay in the closet.

Ya think?

[wm3798]

...and Steve is one of them...

Lee

[DKS]

...and Steve is one of them...

Ha!

Well, Lee, if you need a revised Right Track drawing of the yard, let me know, I'm happy to do it. If not, it will save me the trouble of starting from scratch.

P.S. Steve's Achilles Heel is the sump pump, BTW.

[wm3798]

No need.  I'll splice your west end onto my east end, then start clearing off the work bench in the garage.  I've already got 8' of L girder frame built out there.  Just need to sort out the elevations, how I'm going to deal with Elkins, and then start squirreling away change from when Laura sends me out for a gallon of milk...

Thanks for everything!
Lee

[DKS]

I'll splice your west end onto my east end...

Not on your life, big guy. We haven't even met.

[DKS]

BTW, just before Right Track went off the rails, I'd revised the west end to get both the RIP and MOW tracks facing the same way, in response to comments. It looked a little like this...

[img width= height=]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_F9IuZckKa2c/SaWU2gEm-5I/AAAAAAAAHoM/MtpF3VGefyE/s400/lee_yard_final5a.jpg[/img]

[wm3798]

I'll splice your west end onto my east end...

Not on your life, big guy. We haven't even met.

Is this that closet thing again?

[davefoxx]

No need.  I'll splice your west end onto my east end, then start clearing off the work bench in the garage.  I've already got 8' of L girder frame built out there.  Just need to sort out the elevations, how I'm going to deal with Elkins, and then start squirreling away change from when Laura sends me out for a gallon of milk...

Thanks for everything!
Lee

Lee,

Maybe if you forgo the L-girder plan and go with open framing of 1" x 4" (or 1" x 3"), you'll be able to slim the thickness of the benchwork, and it'll be easier to fit Elkins in underneath.  By the time you have L-girder and joists, your benchwork is easily 7"-8" thick plus risers and thickness of the roadbed.  To me, that's overkill for N scale, and those few inches that you get back might keep Elkins off the floor or allow better visibility between decks.

Food for thought,
Dave

[wm3798]

Yes... however, bear in mind that the section will be largely constructed off site...  The frame that's built is 8' x 32", and I'll extend the table out to 36" overall, and 39" where the turntable area meets the lift out.

The front 10-12" will be Elkins.  Then the table will rise about 2" (more if I can swing it) to the Hagerstown deck.  There will be no below decks staging.

Plus, there's the consideration of stability as the whole mess is being lugged up two flights of steps for installation.  Modular homes are pretty solidly built, because they have to travel over the road at 60 miles an hour before they get dangled in the air an placed on the foundation...  Well, the good one's are anyway.

Why build it in the garage?  Mainly so I can stand it on its side to install the switch machines and do the wiring.  I'm not laying on my back lining up Tortoise machines...

Lee

[wm3798]

Ed, thanks for resurrecting this discussion.  For those of you keeping score at home, here's the latest iteration, as seen recently in N Scale Magazine...



A couple of comments... 
1:  Roundhouse location.  At the time of the earlier discussion, the roundhouse was a matter of conjecture.  The superstructure (and it is SUPER!) is now built, and the scale drawing prepared by David reflects it's true geometry.  The outside radius was simply too grand to be able to tuck it into the corner as shown in the earlier drawings.

The result is that the east yard throat ends up behind the roundhouse, much to the chagrin of the switching crew.  Here's my solution:  The turnouts will be controlled by DCC encrusted servos (see the 'Tom Servo' thread in the DCC section for Ian's excellent dissertation on these bad Johnsons) And, since the ceiling over the throat is at a 45 deg. angle, I can slap a mirror tile or two up so the point alignments and car clearances can be observed visually by the operator.

Another benefit of this arrangement is that I can re-use the yard platform from the original Ridgeley, including the hole punched for the turntable pit, with just a little modification.

2:  West throat location: 

This is a major difference from the plans discussed here previously.  The throat is now pushed well to the east, shortening the class tracks.  This is drawn this way for a couple of reasons.  First, again, it takes advantage of existing benchwork.  Second, it allows for a much longer drill track, with a length appropriate to the length of the class tracks.  This also allows for a bit more of a feeling of distance between new Ridgeley and Cumberland along the front wall.  As it happens I have another 24" x 48" frame that would allow me to push the throat further west, but there are also access considerations for the staging yard throat that exists below this part of the layout.

3.  Fewer class tracks:  While drawing things out on the computer, even as accurately as possible is nice, nothing gives you a clear picture of what fits like putting track down on the panel.  The drawing here is based on exactly what fits in the space provided.  While there are in fact fewer tracks compared to the old yard, they are now all through tracks, which effectively provides more working space, since east and westbound trains no longer have to share the same throat as they did before.  Also, given that there are two main tracks and two through A/D tracks, it's possible to press one of the A/D tracks into class service on an as-needed basis.

4. East throat location:
This remains the weak link of the operation.  The main advantage here is that the bridge at the dreaded closet door is now a simple 1x6 with straight cuts in the track, but the main disadvantage is that there's no quick escape track from the east end of the yard for engines bound for the ET.  This is a particularly painful compromise, because the east end of the yard IS where the ET was at Hagerstown.

But alas, the yard panels are still in a pile in the garage, so there's still time for the thinking to evolve.

So there's your update!

Lee

[wm3798]

A few notes to update this thread to be as current as possible.

First, my apologies for all the broken links and missing images.  I believe these problems are the Achilles heel of the Internet, and I don't know how to resolve them here.  I suspect that at some point, all of the images will be lost, and the usefulness of this thread will be reduced to idle banter about who's doing what in the closet...

Anyway, while they're still available, here's some links to my Google galleries that chronicle the actual construction of the yard, engine terminal, and the staging tracks below.  We'll start with the staging tracks, since that also shows the benchwork.  I believe Google rigs it so you can't view the images unless you have have a google account.  If you don't, I can't help you.

West Staging Construction Gallery:  https://photos.google.com/u/1/album/AF1QipMdyfjuwJo_trZo1-YAT7cjqAAH4UzEClBUoPvM

Ridgeley Engine Terminal Gallery:  https://photos.google.com/u/1/album/AF1QipOq5-Umo5z0NTwMjoeLQJYhzb5BP_NnRrMJzX8_

Ridgeley Yard Construction Gallery:  https://photos.google.com/u/1/album/AF1QipOJXGA-2MED74-6TbIfC9X57LDgLpqia2WtgWDh

Drop Leaf at the (dare I say it...) Closet! Gallery:  https://photos.google.com/u/1/album/AF1QipNsMPo6fngN0yhzNwyZMzHaSzLwACtlzAJXp-jk

I'll try to add comments and note various details in the captions so you can play along at home, but please be patient.  It took about 2 years to build the yard, it might take that long to caption all the pictures!

The good news is that while most of the rest of the layout met an untimely demise due to my divorce several years ago, the yard itself soldiers on as the centerpiece of Ed Kapuscinski's Windsor Street layout, viewable elsewhere in these pages.

While much of the discussion in this thread has been rendered useless by the missing images, I hope you can at least follow along the with the operations discussion, and see what we actually ended up with.  The yard really was a pleasure to operate, and was quite functional for the few operating sessions we enjoyed running on it.  I'm looking forward to sneaking a couple of speed lettered geeps over to Ed's to run on it again.

[MVW]

Bummer about the missing images. This thread was really helpful when I was figuring out the design of my own yard.

Jim

[wm3798]

One more gallery.  This one includes an overview of the final arrangement of the yard and layout, with descriptions, along with pictures of the take down, and how parts were salvaged by other modelers.

https://photos.google.com/u/1/album/AF1QipM4MvkOjONVAuSae8raUGQ_t5PGFacCQakZKPdD

Enjoy the tour!

Lee