Model Railroading > Track Plan Review

Before I get too carried away laying track I wanted to ask for some feed back on my current track plan. I have attached an image of the plan that I am currently working with, HO scale, based on a branch line in western South Dakota in the 60s. Space is 8 feet by 10 feet and I already have built 3 2 x 8 portable modules with a 1 x 4 lift out section to complete the loop for continuous running. I have completed the track work along the main loop to test the module connections and everything works great so far. The layout will eventually feature a terminal yard that serves a small town, the "main line" that passes through another town and then into a future extension or a staging cassette. Curious what the thoughts are and if anyone here has a similar layout. I would like to have enough operating potential to keep a crew busy for a couple hours, but I'm not sure if this is possible. Let me know what you guys think. 
Thanks for the help,
Grant
 

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I would at the very least add a switch lead to your yard so that you can drill it without blocking the main. If 
you want to be more clever you could have the lead trail off into some  industry(s) or at least behind a freighthouse or
ramp. Also the depth of your scenes could allow you to place tracks along the back side of your scenes to
add some industry flats to give you more work and a scene block. A long one of these with many small spots
like say a Furniture warehouse, a beer distributor, a paper wholesaler, a cold storage warehouse and say 
end in an oil dealer or two, all on one  track along one wall would keep a person busy for a while. Also when
you get to it you may want to feature at least one larger industry to justify a yard. That should be a signature
of where you are. For example if your in the Northwest it might be a lumber mill. If it's in WI or MI it might 
be a papermill. If it's in West Texas it might be an Oil transloader or a sizable grain elevator. Those kind 
of things show up when you do your givens and druthers. Take a look at the LDsig web pages for more on that.
have fun with  your design process. 

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. The thought of a yard lead crossed my mind earlier in the design process, however I did not know if it would be needed. That being said is the yard itself even needed? Or is there a better use of that space. Is there a certain number of industries/traffic to justify even a small yard at the end of a branch? 

Do you have any Stuctures or Industries planned?
This may help your planning for South Dakota.

https://dot.sd.gov/transportation/railroads/current-rail-system

Thanks for the reply. I haven't planned out specific structures yet but notable industries along the route are lumber/wood chips, bentonite clay, and grain/feed products. These three seem to be the most notable for western SD. More general industries would be a fuel dealer, distributors, and maybe cattle pens, any other off line industries would be served by a team track. 

One drawback I see is you can only drill your yard from one direction, otherwise, a nice layout for switching.

I would put crossovers near the stub end in each yard long enough to crossover an engine to another yard track. this is typical of the small yards i worked on in design. in addition, an extra switch on the main could be used in the future also I've used diamonds near the entrance to the yard.you could use it to a stub track outside the main this way you could drill out one yard and cross the main to a side track.

just saw a few postings back showing a diamond in a yard.

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions. I have taken some time this afternoon to revise the plan and added a yard lead for the switch crew and a crossover in the yard for a locomotive escape track. These use #4 turnouts to save on space. I plan on dressing up the yard lead as an abandoned junction to another branch, I believe the C&NW did something like this in Belle Fourche, SD. The crossover allows enough room for a pair of Sd9s to make a run around move without cutting too much yard space.
I now see why the yard lead is important, at the very least I can sort cars on my own in the yard while a train plods along the main loop undisturbed, thank you for helping me see the light ;). I have also labeled a number of features on the layout to get a better grasp of what I'm hoping to achieve: 

1 Team track
2 Small grain elevator
3 Wood chip loading
4 & 5 Rail served distributors 
6 Fuel dealer
7 Team track
8 Connection to interchange or another branch line
9 Freight house/depot

5 online industries, 2 team tracks, an interchange and a freight house should make for somewhat interesting operating right?

Thanks again for all the help, let me know what you think of the changes.

 

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I think before you get too deep into the track plan you need to decide some of the basics of what kind of railroad do you want.

Are you a rail fan that likes to see trains running past you?

Are you an operator that wants to service industries?
If an operator do you want to run solo or with two to four friends?
Will you have paired industries (lumber mill to lumber yard, Grain silo to flour mill) or 
  will all your traffic come frome off layout (if so you'll need staging maybe a car float, a casette or interchange tracks?)

Once you make decisions like these and many others, based upon your available space your track plan will begin to form to achieve these goals.

Mike Stewart
Oakley,  CA

 

There is a type of yard called an Industry Support yard if you have a large industry. It adjoins 
the industry; like an auto plant or papermill; and the Jobs work out of there.That includes the local mainline
work, not just that industry. There are also city Yards that just serve what ever is around in that area.
One of the Beauties of the area you are choosing is it hasn't changed much. You can hop on Street
view and look thorough towns at the tracks and business for ideas. 
Three things. 
I would not make the switch lead run off the edge. The nature of switching is that your are 
watching the other end of the train in the yard, not the power end. So just make a nice long
house track and put a bumper on it. Trust me (lol)
Consider for space saving building a your yard so that one end disappears under a bridge or
the like and just have the ladder on one end. It give you the beyond the basement feel. The
side of the yard you don't see is the rest of the world. Worth considering and saves on 
switches and give more space for cars
Finally the area you chose has a lot of Bentonite Mines. One of the processing plants
and loadouts could be your major industry. Also with your era you can use a fleet of those
billboard cars like Volclay or American Colloid. Just a thought. 
Have fun. 

Good start but every yard needs a tail track to switch it without fouling the main.

I think your added tail track is fine. Easy enough to add some sort of stop to keep your loco's from experiencing  certain doom. I can tell you that occasionally having to use the main when switching the yard, when you have another train running the main adds some interesting excitement to operations that's not a bad thing.

I would put that yard lead right along the mainline..making it look like a second main. The yard lead in Vancouver WA ends right in front of the Amtrak depot.  You didnt mention landscaping but it would be nice to have a hill between...say the end of the yard lead .....and the start if the next yard..
RB

While this plan probably has way more track than you desire, it may give you some ideas. I designed and help build this HO 1950's layout for someone that desired a mainline with staging (4 tracks behind a low 4" backdrop), a passing track for meets, multiple industries for switching, a branchline connecting to the main and all in a space of 7.5' x 11.5'. All turnouts are #5 and the mainline curves came out to 27" or 28" and the branch at 24". He is able to run a passenger train with an Athearn MT-4 4-8-2 and 60' passenger cars through the siding with no problems. The staging yard holds two multi-diesel freight trains with 10-12 cars and a local for the branchline. There are tracks to store locomotives and cabooses too. It's a fun layout to operate with plenty of mainline action (although the run is short), switching and local work to do. 

Don DeLay

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Hello gtsyverstad,

the second diagram looks much better with the curved lead. For any bumpers at the layout's edge I suggest smaller pieces of plexi glass. This may make the layout look a little more open. Also, try flipping track 10 over, making it a crossing of the mainline, with a connection of course, with hidden staging for a loco and one or two cars in the far corner. If space and taste allows you may also set the yard up in a curve even protruding a little into the aisle. This way you can pretend that a foreign line crosses the mainline. Have fun.

Cheers

kbs651
 

Thanks again for all the replies. I really appreciate all the suggestions and it has given me some good points to consider. I will continue to keep tweaking the design until I find something that suits me. I hope that maybe someone working in a similar space can draw some inspiration from this thread.

Posted from iPhone

One thought I always felt when I was designing any layout, never have tracks parallel to the edges.  Takes away some of the mechanical feel.  Not just a loop on the floor kind of feeling.  Just my thoughts.

Robert

I sketched this up just so you could see some other thoughts and some of what I meant.
Use it or discard it or whatever you want. If nothing else it may help with getting juices flowing etc.
 

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>One thought I always felt when I was designing any layout, never have tracks parallel to the edges.  Takes away >some of the mechanical feel.  Not just a loop on the floor kind of feeling.  Just my thoughts.

That has never really bothered me, there is too much curvature in most layouts already due to walls getting in the way, lol!