Operations: Direct access from classification to main?

[wm3798]

Good lord, man.  I know there's a "prototype for everything" (That sound you just heard was Ed's lifeless body collapsing to the floor) but you'll be hard pressed to find a terminal operation with the scope of work you describe that doesn't have a double track main, or at the very least a long passing siding to help manage traffic passing through.  In a model railroad scenario, it's even more critical.  If you're stuck you're stuck, but you might consider finding an alternate route for at least the passenger trains to take to bypass the yard.

My yard is based on Hagerstown, Maryland, which has been substantially downgraded by CSX compared to the good old WM days, but there's still two tracks from behind the Lowe's off Halfway Blvd. all the way up to Church Street near North Junction.  Judging by the fresh ballast I saw on the Google Map image, they're putting a third siding in for the same distance.

When I was working with the crew here to design my yard, that was one of the issues that came up... Where do you stick trains when you're not ready for them yet, and how to trains get through the area if they have minimal or no work at the yard.  Three full length tracks is the ideal, especially with full interlockings at each end.  I can bring a train in from either directions, and have access to any one of the three tracks for a through maneuver, a dump and run, or to actually work the train without clogging up the A/D tracks.

If you've only got one track, the simple answer is to reduce the frequency of your traffic.  Or have a couple of longish sidings out on the main where you can hold trains before you're ready for them.  That might be your best answer.

When I'm running my layout by myself, I have the luxury of holding a train out on the main indefinitely until I've got a track clear for it in the yard.  But in practice, the three tracks around the yard actually can serve as a third staging yard!

Lee

[MVW]

I may be overly ambitious, Lee. And I apologize if I finally pushed Ed over the edge. 

I should explain the passenger station is a stub-ended affair, seperate from the freight yard. Only west-bound trains out of the passenger station will pass by the yard. East-bound trains leaving the passenger station will only have to traverse about a foot of single track mainline before reaching a turnout to about a 15-foot-long passing siding (although obviously it would usually be freights taking that siding).

West-bound out of the station, it's single track all the way past the yard, and probably for another 6-8 feet before hitting a siding.

If I'm expecting to milk too much out of this track plan, well, like Jack Nicholson said in A Few Good Men, "Don't I feel like a #@%&in' @&&*%$#."

It's mostly theoretical, at this point. I'll learn more as construction progresses and operations become increasingly interesting. The good news is I'm not set on getting x number of freight trains into and out of this yard each session. I'll settle for what's physically possible (as long as the track plan is reasonably efficient). But I think a bare minimum would be 6-8 freights through the yard in a three-hour period (plus local industry turns). I thought a maximum possible might be 10-12 freights, but that could very well be a ridiculous assumption. You'd know better than I at this point.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You know, there's also this option: different operating sessions.

If you're constrained by your physical plant, but you want to do passenger and freight ops, one week do one, one week do the other.

This means that while you're running your passenger schedule, you're not being fouled by freight movements (or maybe only have a token freight train or two), and vice versa when you want to focus on freight.

[MVW]

I'd never thought of it precisely like that, Ed, but it makes sense.

Whatever train sequence/timetable I work up, I'll need flexibility for those days when I'm short of operators.

It occurs to me that planning operations is a lot like track planning. You start out with what you'd really like, and you end up with what's physically possible.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

Jim