Rail yard...newbie here

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I think that for the size of your plan you shouldn't consider anything called "staging". Staging is where trains wait until they are scheduled to appear. At 7x9 there isn't room for that.

I disagree, I've seen 4x8s with staging tracks in them! The trade off was that the staging was literally almost half of the layout, leaving only one side sceniced with some industries. However, it held two short passenger trains and two "thru freights" on top of the local.


That said, you're probably right that he'd be better off using all real estate as "modeled" space.