Lehigh and Hudson River (sorta)

[asciibaron]

What is the time frame of your layout? Just before the bridge fire, they were down to one train a day each way. Plus a local. Not a lot of staging needed then.

i'm doing 1967 - PRR and Reading run thrus still happening on occassion and 2 locals a day each way on top of the CSD and Alphabet trains.  i'm content with doing the flip-flop locals 2 laps around from Hudson to Maybrook with the middle pass of the yard being Warwick.  if i only had more space... 

-Steve

[3rdrail]

In 1967, the PRR was still running AST-1 and -2 between Cedar Hill and E. St. Louis and JET-1 and -2 between Cedar Hill and Chicago 59th St. on a daily basis, so that's two PRR run-throughs daily over the L&HR in each direction.

[wm3798]

Before you figure out the physical plant issues, first you have to consider what your traffic flow will look like.  The diagram above shows what a basic flow would be for a layout that features a lot of through traffic.  The staging would ideally be in the form of reverse loops, so a train that leaves the east end of the layout would return from the same direction.  That makes writing waybills a whole lot easier. (Car leaves to go to Boston, then comes back from Boston via the same route)

In my case, this is important, because trains leaving Hagerstown to go east would have Reading power, while trains leaving to the west might have N&W power.  Using reverse loop staging means I  don't have to re-stage trains between sessions.

You can make the reverse loops fairly narrow, maybe 30" or less.  At 30" you can easily accommodate three staging tracks in each loop, each long enough to hold a 15 - 20 car train.  Switch machines with extra terminals for indicator lights and a modicum of detection would be useful, although the throat end of the loop would be narrow enough that you could easily manage this visually.

To climb up to the layout level, you could make a simple two turn helix, again, 24-30" in diameter.  Given the layout size, I don't anticipate you'll be hauling any train lengths that would be seriously compromised by this limited spec.  Two Atlas diesels with a 15 car train should go without any serious trouble.

Once on the layout, your staging leads would tie into the scenic loop, where you can use laps to simulate distance.

Here's a less complex approach...


This way, you avoid the helix and the return loops (and the 36" blobs they would require) and the staging can be tucked behind a skyboard, or just beyond a scenery block, such as a low ridge or a block of warehouses.  This allows you to have loaded hoppers forever moving east and empties forever moving west, although you'd have to fiddle a bit with through trains.

Does that give you something to think about?
Lee

[asciibaron]

In 1967, the PRR was still running AST-1 and -2 between Cedar Hill and E. St. Louis and JET-1 and -2 between Cedar Hill and Chicago 59th St. on a daily basis, so that's two PRR run-throughs daily over the L&HR in each direction.

there were 4 regular freights in each direction; CB-1, NE-3, OA-1 and WA-3 westbound - CB-2, NE-2, HO-6 and WA-4 eastbound.  the WA-3 and WA-4 were Warwick-Allentown locals, HO-6 and OA-1 were not switched at Warwick, the others were.  WA-3 and WA-4 worked the zinc mine branch to Odgensburg.  All but HO-6 and OA-1 interchanged with the PRR at Hudson yard.

CB-2 would come up the Bel-Del from Trenton and be handed over to the L&HR at Hudson yard.  cars from the LV BJ-10 were added and the train headed to Maybrook where it was handed over to the NH.  CB-1 was the return trip of the L&HR power and the train was handed over to the PRR at Hudson yard.

CB-1 and CB-2 were the hottest trains on the railroad and were permitted a max track speed of 50 mph between MP 7 and MP 44.


-Steve

[asciibaron]

i can think of no way to add staging that does not result in hidden trackage that would prove difficult to clean and even more difficult to extract a derailed car from.  thanks for killing my weekend Lee.  just for that i give you this, may it's image burn holes in your retina.



and then there's this...



sleep well

[wm3798]

You... Dirty.... BASTARD!!!!

My EYES!!!  AAAEEEEAAA!!

[DKS]

i can think of no way to add staging that does not result in hidden trackage that would prove difficult to clean and even more difficult to extract a derailed car from.

IIRC, a long, long time ago in a track plan far, far away, there was one wherein the staging yard ran along one wall and part of another, and was simply hidden by a low backdrop of buildings. Perhaps that's an idea worth revisiting...

[asciibaron]

IIRC, a long, long time ago in a track plan far, far away, there was one wherein the staging yard ran along one wall and part of another, and was simply hidden by a low backdrop of buildings. Perhaps that's an idea worth revisiting...

do you have that plan handy?  i think it was problematic because it ate into the main and reduced the layout to a single siding - i can either have a racetrack with staging or a layout with some industries and a yard but no staging.

my wee brain is fried - Model Railroading is Fun, right?

-Steve

[wm3798]

You could even raise the elevation of the staging yard by an inch or so to improve access over the view block, and fully scenic it behind your view block so it's less stagey looking.  The key would be to have a clear view of the throats at each end, the rest of it could more or less be invisible, as long as you can get to it in the event of an earthquake.

Lee

[DKS]

IIRC, a long, long time ago in a track plan far, far away, there was one wherein the staging yard ran along one wall and part of another, and was simply hidden by a low backdrop of buildings. Perhaps that's an idea worth revisiting...

do you have that plan handy?  i think it was problematic because it ate into the main and reduced the layout to a single siding - i can either have a racetrack with staging or a layout with some industries and a yard but no staging.

my wee brain is fried - Model Railroading is Fun, right?

Sorry, that one didn't make it into the archives. So I mangled your existing plan, real quick like...



It's still fun, BTW.

[3rdrail]

The track to the left in this photo will be my staging. Two tracks eleven feet long, that will be behind structures and hills.

[choochin3]

Steve,
That shot of Port Covington was just CRUEL!
I spent many an hour standing on the Hanover St. bridge watching the yard action,after riding my bike from Catonsville.

Carl T.

[wm3798]

I shot this after Chessie the Knife was done doing her cruel work... circa 1988 or so.

Lee

[Bob Bufkin]

The WM passenger special to Myersdale, PA used to run out of there.  There were some tight switches in the yard.  Coming back from one trip late at night I was sleeping in the seat when we took a switch at a fairly fast speed and it thru me onto the floor.  If I was awake I would have probably broken something.  I never did take an photos at the time, thinking that it would be there forever.

[Chris333]

There was a HO scale B&M layout in MR that was bedroom sized. He had staging all the way around the whole layout behind low backdrops.  I will look for it, he also has photos of the layout online.

Edit:
Found the plan:
http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=1527
http://www.trains.com/mrr/objects/pdf/gmr-a04_western-route-of-the-boston-_-maine(1).pdf
Western Route of the Boston & Maine Originally appeared in the 2004 issue of Great Model Railroads.

Double edit:
Found his pics online:
http://members.fortunecity.com/gknowles2/layout/mh/mh.htm