Yard design

[MIGN-Todd]

For some reason, I have a rainy day hobby of looking at rail yards and disecting which tracks are which and why it was laid out the way it was. Many tracks over time are removed due to modernization (coaling tower, ash pit etc.) which throws one for a loop sometimes. How does one go about designing the yards or how did they do it back when...? There are a number of rules like - not blocking the mains, yard leads, etc. and it is a hell of a lot more complicated than most people think. Size of property is a big concern too. Most model railroaders get the construction of these wrong on their layouts too IMO. Did the Engineers have a certain rule or guide book that they followed or would they have used a model to work out switching problems then commit to a 1/1 build? Thanks in advance

[CSX_CO]

For some reason, I have a rainy day hobby of looking at rail yards and disecting which tracks are which and why it was laid out the way it was. Many tracks over time are removed due to modernization (coaling tower, ash pit etc.) which throws one for a loop sometimes. How does one go about designing the yards or how did they do it back when...? There are a number of rules like - not blocking the mains, yard leads, etc. and it is a hell of a lot more complicated than most people think. Size of property is a big concern too. Most model railroaders get the construction of these wrong on their layouts too IMO. Did the Engineers have a certain rule or guide book that they followed or would they have used a model to work out switching problems then commit to a 1/1 build? Thanks in advance

One thing they try to do, if real estate permits, is have the lead into the yard equal in length to the longest track in the yard. That way, a train doing flat switching won't have the mainline tied up while they 'do their thing'. At Avon we have pullout leads longer than our longest class track, which also affords us the chance to double up cuts in the smaller tracks.

I know that in times past, when labor and track was cheap, they 'over did' things as far as routes, crossovers, etc. As traffic patterns changed, train sizes increased, etc a lot of the physical plant was rationalized to fit the flow of traffic. One need only to look at Stanley Tower in Toledo for a prime example of this.

Avon is one of the 'newest' yards on the Conrail system, having been built by the NYC in the 1960's. Almost immediately, the yard was expanded to include longer receiving tracks (and more of them) along with more departure tracks. Gone are the tracks used to get cabooses from one side to another, and one end of the yard to another. It seems as the cost of track upkeep goes up, the rationalization of the physical plant goes up too. While there was thought put into the design, often times they had to come back and beef up what they built once it was in place.

Practice Safe CSX

[MIGN-Todd]

Thank you kind Sir

[esprrfan]

CSX CO is right most of the classifcation yards are built so as not to block the mains a few of our (NS) tha i frequent are set up that way too such as Bellevue, Elkhart and Conway. However then you have the smaller "non hump" yards that often do have to "foul" the mains at times to make doubles or do some switching a few examples are:

Airline (Mega) any work at the east end of more than a FEW cars requires headroom on the Chicago mains. The divisions mainline from Detroit west runs through Mega you hear that route called as "3-16-inbound" and its blocked almost hourly by the yard jobs.
Fort Wayne yard too requires headroom for bigger cuts or double, lil side note with Ft Wayne when working there with 34/35N your always blocking a main as you work off of it.
Motor/Ford and Maple Heights in the Cleveland area are also often worked of the mains thus blocking a main
Homestead in Oregon has the main running right through the middle of the yard.
55th street in Chicago also uses headroom daily at CP518.

To me some modelers take "the rules" as set in stone when it really isn't the case. For example about never blocking a switching lead ok ummm, then how are trains switched and built up??????? I'm sure CSX CO can tell you leads do get blocked up when trains are doubling or even setting out B/O's.

Keep in mind to that in the model world trains are never held out of yards, blocking a main, always have the right # of cars to fit and the yards are never plugged. Modelers tend to want every yard to be a major hub then try to fight with the "rules" . I mean hell I'd love to have the space to model SP's Roseville yard but I couldn't aford the house to go over it Now in this age we live in modelers can use like bing or live earth to look at yards in an area like they are modeling to find more yards that would fit their space limitations better. I bet they'd have more fun too.

[Buster Manning]

Yep, I remember working East Wayne yard; the longest track held about 95 cars while you could only hang onto 30 cars when switching the east end of the yard without getting into the interlocking that protects the diamond and connecting tracks. The west end I believe you could handle around 40 if you used the Snake track to avoid blocking the NKP mains, any more than that and then you would get onto the Wabash mains. It was also easier to handle 20-25 cars when kicking them too.