Storage Yard Help

[Schooner]

I'm in the early stages of designing a layout for which a fairly involved storage yard will be required. The trackplan shown below just sort of evolved, and while it's far from perfect I'm struggling to improve on it. As this neck of the forum is home to rather clever people, including some who have experience of getting the required capactiy out of the available footprint in 12":1', I thought I might ask for inspiration. I hope the challenge is of interest...

 

Assumptions:

Wagons: 90mm

Coaches: 130mm

Locos: 130mm 

 

No track or radius restrictions, but second radius (438mm) preferred, particularly on the passenger routes

 

Space available: 8' x 4' U. See pic for details.

 

Must haves:

Loops (the yard represents both ends of a system) to hold:

2 x 8+-wagon trains (the more the better!)

2 x 5-wagon cuts (6 max, as layout can't handle more)

3 x 3-wagon cuts (3 max, ditto)

1 x 3 coach train + loco

 

Would like:

On-scene timber siding. Location shown (lower RHS) is coherent with the prototype, but not a requirement.

On-scene shed for 2 locos

650mm cassette (to allow for 5 coach passenger specials)

Loop for 5 coach train + loco

Visual seperation of goods and passenger lines 'above' sightlines.

 

Context: For reference, the setting is London's Dockland in the 1880s, inspired by South Dock Station and environs. Short wagons, four-wheel coaches, tiny tank locomotives  The passenger service will be two trains, sharing a circuit but traveling in opposite directions. One loop is on-scene (station), the other would ideally be in the storage yard. The goods trains are to provide a sense of a wider system, travelling through the scene between un-seen marshalling yards and docks. The cuts are to go to and from the modelled quayside, one of which is set up to make and break trains of up to 6 wagons, the other to shunt short cuts of up to 3 wagons to particular spots. The cassette can be used to change stock in operation, lay on special trains etc, but also provides the through road for the yard.

 

Physical constraints:

The indicated area is available for trackwork. Access is from the lower side; operating well to the top. Sightlines are governed by view blockers (large buildings) rather than tunnels etc, and the whole layout would be scenic'd. There is some scope to increase the depth of the yard (push the lower edge further 'down', but I'd rather not if at all possible. Width is fixed at 8'.

 

Story so far:

Colours refer to use. Numbers refer to number of wagons or coaches (passenger line only, in bright yellow) that could be stored in that road.

 

Thanks for looking. All suggestions welcome!

 

Schooner

Edited September 11, 2020 by Schooner
Improving accuracy

[Chimer]

I'm not sure I've got your intentions absolutely clear in my brain, but you seem to envisage passenger and freight operations as completely independent.  If so, couldn't you keep the tracks completely separate, perhaps even having the passenger circuit and loops at a higher level?  This could be visually appealing, look "very London", and allow you to simplify the storage loop arrangements considerably.

 

My other immediate thought is that you could do with the cassette-fiddling area adjacent to the operating well if at all possible - reaching over 5 storage tracks full of trains with a loaded cassette seems a high-risk activity to me .....

 

It goes without saying it will be interesting to see your ideas for the fully scenic section when you're ready to share!!

 

Best of luck.

[Schooner]

Cheers @Chimer

 

In theory passenger and goods effectively separate systems, yes, and your suggestion is a great one...if I wasn't so wedded to the idea of representing South Dock Station reasonably closely, which is all on one level.

 

I agree about reaching with cassettes! There is clear access to the cassette-side of the layout, which I'm keen on using to keep the (rather snug) operating well as free as possible. There will be plenty to keep the operator occupied without needing to change stock through a session, but I like the idea of cassettes in general to minimise stock handling and make it easier to switch entire trains rather than spend time fiddling

 

I could do with a guinea pig to see if I can describe the layout in a useful way. Mind if I PM you with a bit of info and a couple of pics later on? If it makes sense then I'll go public!

[Chimer]

26 minutes ago, Schooner said:

I could do with a guinea pig to see if I can describe the layout in a useful way. Mind if I PM you with a bit of info and a couple of pics later on? If it makes sense then I'll go public!

 

Feel free! 

 

Chris