Layout operating potential.

[crazynitwit]

I've just finished a layout with two sidings (so one point) and am wondering how much shunting I would be able to do. At the moment I've been able to do a little.

[Pete the Elaner]

More than I can. My layout has no pointwork in the scenic section.

I prefer to spend more time working on it than running trains anyway, so this suits me just fine.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I've just finished a layout with two sidings (so one point) and am wondering how much shunting I would be able to do...

The simple answer is enough to service a location with such small provision, there were such places. The one thing you cannot do other than by hand of God (unless you power all the vehicles) that may have made the operation work in reality, is perform moves by capstan, horse or pinchbar. The more modern alternative of a road vehicle as shunter is now achievable.

 

It is perhaps largely forgotten now that as late as the 1980s, freight vehicles in sidings far from a location boasting a shunting locomotive were moved around, the adapted road vehicle the most common method at the end. Or is it still happening? You can tell I no longer hang around sidings can't you?

[br2975]

You may wish to peruse this ?...................

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http://lancemindheim.com/2012/09/a-one-turnout-layout/

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Brian R.

[crazynitwit]

You may wish to peruse this ?...................

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http://lancemindheim.com/2012/09/a-one-turnout-layout/

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Brian R.

Thanks I had a read and it was really useful.

[JeremyC]

The simple answer is enough to service a location with such small provision, there were such places. The one thing you cannot do other than by hand of God (unless you power all the vehicles) that may have made the operation work in reality, is perform moves by capstan, horse or pinchbar. The more modern alternative of a road vehicle as shunter is now achievable.

 

You could fit one of these http://173.254.28.51/~highlev3/chris/Pages/flyshunterpage.html to a wagon and use it as a shunting 'engine'

[The Johnster]

I think the trick to this is your imagination as much as the actual facilities.  What traffic is handled, and how?  For instance, one road could serve as a very basic branch terminus platform road, but not operated by an auto or dmu so that the train has to set back off scene to run around in an unmodelled imaginary loop, then sets back into the platform ready for departure.  The other road runs the other side of the platform which is used as a goods unloading dock; something as basic as this probably doesn't boast a shed,  

 

The daily pickup goods if the star of the show, exchanging traffic in the loading dock and possibly placing vans in the passenger platform for unloading or loading between passenger trains; these give the extra operating potential of having to be moved out of the way somewhere offstage if there is no room anywhere else for them while the passenger train does it's stuff.  Or you can run 'XP' tail traffic on the passenger train that has to be shunted, or even a mixed train.  These were more common on some of Britain's more remote, and co-incidentally scenic, branches, where stations might serve as the railhead for a large but sparsely populated area. 

 

Or, as a purely freight operation, the idea lends itself to an industrial scenario as Brian says; his brother's inspirational 'Vopak' layout is not awash with pointwork!  This sounds more suitable for modern image, but there is no reason why it cannot be applied to an earlier period if needed.

 

If you have some space to play with (I have not used the word enough because nobody has enough space) and like main line stock and big engines, how about a part of a larger station with a platform and siding dealing with commuter traffic in the rush hours and parcels at other times.  A pilot engine for empty stock and van movements to release the big engines is now justified; a big city environment is probable.

 

Of course it all depends on the size of the layout you have just built and to some extent how much space you have on the single track side of the point, which will determine how long a rake of wagons can be shunted in one move.  I you can tell us this, we will be able to provide more suitable suggestions.

Edited November 24, 2017 by The Johnster

[HonestTom]

These kinds of layouts are nicknamed 'Tuning Forks'  for obvious reasons, and plenty of people have made them work very successfully. As was posted above, just give one of the sidings a number of specific locations for wagons to be dropped off.

 

For instance, an industrial location such as a factory, mill or brewery might have one loading dock for incoming materials, a second for outgoing finished goods and a third point where, e.g., fuel is unloaded. Bring a random selection of wagons in and then have your engine sort them to their appropriate locations.

 

Here is quite a good website for the basics of goods traffic. It's intended for N gauge modellers, but it gives a good indication of what sort of industries required what sort of wagons.

[The Johnster]

Good overview, Tom, thanks for the link. 

[DCB]

The amount of shunting depends on the length of the siding.  With a classic Inglenook operation is more like a card game than a real railway but with a good length of main line to use as a shunting neck you can have some prototypical "fun" as the wagons nearest the buffers need to be removed and to be really awkward if you have an end load facility a wagon needing to load or unload at it is arriving with no loop you could end up pulling 20 wagons out of a siding with a 20 wagon train. (My kind of fun) though I can only manage about 20 in total, and going out and back several times to sort the wagons.  Midford S&D station siding was an example of a siding off a single track main line without a loop.