Model Railroading > New switching layout plan

Hi all,

I have just completed planning my new freelance switching layout. It is modern Union Pacific.The layout will be mounted on shelf brackets along two walls of a single garage, and measures 4.6 meters x 2.2 meters.

The Industries are:
Hugh Logistics: Loads, and Unloads boxcars. 4 loading bays, cars have to be spotted to specific bays as requested by the customer.
Swan Foods: A local health food manufacturer that receives various loads in Grain Cars. Spur can hold 4 cars, two in unloading bay.
IceTek Cold Storage: Loads and Unloads Reefer cars, 3 loading bays, cars have to be spotted to specific bays as requested by the customer.
Geeves Construction: Receives Centerbeams of lumber, Flat cars of pipes and machinery. Loads out machinery and equipment going to distant worksites.
Scrap Metal Loading: This as yet unnamed industry loads out scrap metal in gondolas.
Cargill Foods: This is a Corn Syrup unloading facility, that provides product to several local food manufacturers. Corn Syrup comes in varying grades and cannot be mixed. As a result there will be numbered unloading spots and tank cars will have to be switched to the correct slot. The spur will hold 4 – 5 Tank Cars.
Sterling Yard: This represents the local yard (and outside world). Plan provides for easy expansion to a double ended yard if more space becomes available in the future.Consists of 3 Yard tracks, a run around track, and engine service/storage track. 
All thoughts appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Craig
New Zaland UP modeller
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/15 19:50 by nzupfan.

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Looks like it should be fun to switch. Could you fit a team track (general delivery) in somewhere -- the corner section, perhaps? That would allow nearly any sort of freight to be transloaded from rail to truck (or vice versa).

I like it, that should be a good layout to operate. I would suggest doing some type of scenery (red board, crossed ties, ballast pile) with weeds to make it look like the line used to extended further past Cargill ad Ice Tek but has been shortened.

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Thanks for your comments. The mainline will run to the edge at the right with a temporary stop of some sort so more modules can be added in the future if/when the layout moves to a larger location.
 

Looks pretty neat!  For some ideas, check out my modern day UP switching layout here.  If you can, try to include some staging somewhere. Maybe squeeze a track or 2 behind the industries if possible. You can never have enough staging. 

Looks fine but you don't much yard capacity and just enough room to move an engine to the engine track. You could consider using a  curved turnout or turnouts to add more cacpity. A pinwheel style would be interesting and a run around track on that end too would be beneficial. In order to put cars in the yard after switching industries are you going to push them back to the yard?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/15 22:15 by wabash2800.

I don't want to be overly critical, but I see a number of shortcomings with this design. You yard is way too small, and can only hold maybe 10 cars over 4 tracks. Figure about 9" on average for modern cars.  You also failed to make much use of the corner area, where most of the real estate was located. Frankly I would swap the yard to the right end of the layout and foce it to the front edge of the layout with a industry behind it. Your shortest yard track should hold at least 4 cars. I would use #6 switches, with maybe a #5 in a tight spot for modern cars. the yard ladder should be #6 switches for sure.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Has lots of potential, you should also consider filling in the area around the curve with industrial buildings and one or two more switching opportunities.

Hi imrl,

That's a great looking layout you have there.
I agree with the need for more staging, I hope to add to these modules in a couple of years when I move. In the meantime I want to get this up and running.
Do you have any newer pics of your layout??

Regards,
Craig

You guys need to look at Lance Mindheim's layout designs. ( http://lancemindheim.com/ ) He does not use corners for industry tracks, he uses them for scenery to separate industry areas. You don't have to fill every space with track to have fun. It's also not about how many cars you can fit on the layout either. You can have a lot of fun with just a few cars BUT multiple spots at each industry for those cars. This requires the possibility of having to pull a car at the end of the track while leaving the one in the middle spotted. It's called using "Hold" where a car may not have gotten loaded or unloaded yet and must stay spotted. You can also utilize "Off Spot" where too many cars come in for a specific industry and must be set aside for spotting in the future. 

My modern switching layout looks a lot like this track plan except I have NO YARD! Amazing that I can have 20-25 cars on my layout with NO YARD and have a lot of fun. Not all industrial parks have yards. They can have one or more A/D tracks in which incoming and outgoing cars are parked on. In my case, my industrial park is switched by a shortline so it receives cars from the BNSF and UP on A/D tracks, spots them, and sends cars out via the same tracks. It takes a minimum of 2 hours to switch my 2' wide by 16' long layout. I do rotate cars on and off the layout to keep some variety but my 'staging' is simply some shelves off to the side, one represents BNSF and the other UP. I also employ a Trackmobile to switch my reverse siding as Lance has indicated the prototype does not use reverse sidings. By doing this it allows my crews to have to park the switcher and run the Trackmobile giving them more interesting things to do while also making the switching take a bit longer. You also don't have to switch every industry every operating session. On the prototype some industries may not get switched on certain days so you can have 20 industries but might only switch 8 during one operating session. 

There are other fun things you can do to simulate prototype operations but one thing is for certain, you DON'T need to fill up your space with track unnecessarily nor have a super large yard in order to have fun. Remember that the prototype railroads set things up for efficiency in getting cars spotted. We model railroaders seem to think that more track or the more complicated the switching is the more fun we have. It's simply not the case and it's very unrealistic.

I for one think this track plan is excellent and expect that you will have a lot of fun operating it! Just consider using a Trackmobile for the reverse siding with the scrap gondolas and the industry opposite it.  

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 09:40 by RioGrandeFan.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes Lee your lines of thinking are exactly what I was thinking, in as far as the corner module being more for scenery.
The Yard at this stage is just indicative of what may go there, but really is just staging. Ideally it would be two modules long so a run around could be incorporated. At this stage though I may have to just move the engine by hand from one end of the train to the other. The layout will be modern 2005-2015 Union Pacific so there is no need for a caboose.
Also not all industries will be switched each time. With it being an Industrial Line it will be serviced twice a day (early and late trick). Each time the train will only be up to about 6 cars in length.

Craig,
New Zealand UP modeller
 

Thanks for filling in the details. Let us know how it works out.

Looks great! Sounds like you put some thought into the industries to maximize your car types. I try to do the same thing, picking industries that use the fleet of cars I have
Chris