03-26-2009, 04:19 PM
Loren,
I pondered potential staging solutions all the way home last night and pulled out the MRP & other resources this morning. Found a great article on the cattle industry, btw.
I think you may find the best enjoyment from doing away with the hidden staging. Here's why:
1. I get the sense you really appreciate seeing the rolling stock you have, and you can't do that when it's hidden away. There isn't room for visible staging off layout, so it's either hidden staging or a visible alternative on the layout somewhere.
2. Operations. Bringing a whole train out of a staging area, going through a switchback to get into the yard, servicing the road power while the yard goat breaks down the train, etc. only works WELL in a couple instances. To begin with, you have to either repeat the runaround in the staging area, or pull the whole train between 'sessions' and shuffle the cars. Fiddling the train consist and putting the engine at the other end of the train works best in an open, visible staging area. See #1. Having to remove a row of buildings or hillside or whatever to reach over the yard and perform this operation isn't ideal. Pulling the train between sessions and fiddling the consists in the yard isn't great for this reason:
3. Where will you keep excess rolling stock when it's not on the layout? If it's in a drawer beneath the yard then fiddling the train between sessions in the yard can work fine. But consider that you're running basically the same maneuvers to bring it out and reset the cars as you would during an operating session.
Here's an alternative idea. First, open up that area that currently holds the staging tracks and use it for something else, either expanding the yard, making a main street shopping area, something. Maybe an animal watering/resting area, or additional icing platforms or both. Now make a runaround siding on the track on the north side of the riverbank (the switchback out of staging). Above the siding on the wall, make a set of shelves to hold rolling stock for display between sessions.
Here's how it operates. The yard switcher goes out to the siding and picks up cars, then sets out cars. It's that simple. Between operating sessions you simply take cars off the display shelves and set them on the layout, and put some back on the shelves. The shelving represents the rest of the world. You can even plug the shelved rolling stock data into the operations software, so it will tell you which cars to pull and which to place on the layout. The siding represents an interchange track.
In a different world there'd be some way for another roadname or through freight, or something to come onto the layout and set out the interchange cars. However there's just no room for that with the benchwork/space constraints. I'm not so keen on that kind of operation anyway, personally. Off-layout staging takes up alot of real estate if visible and specialized sensors, etc. if hidden. So you just pretend that work has been done sometime in the middle of the night, and the morning yard crew goes to the interchange and gets them, just like your current shelf layout yard, only the switcher goes away from the yard to get the interchange traffic before bringing it back and blocking it for a road crew.
Whaddya think?
Galen
I pondered potential staging solutions all the way home last night and pulled out the MRP & other resources this morning. Found a great article on the cattle industry, btw.
I think you may find the best enjoyment from doing away with the hidden staging. Here's why:
1. I get the sense you really appreciate seeing the rolling stock you have, and you can't do that when it's hidden away. There isn't room for visible staging off layout, so it's either hidden staging or a visible alternative on the layout somewhere.
2. Operations. Bringing a whole train out of a staging area, going through a switchback to get into the yard, servicing the road power while the yard goat breaks down the train, etc. only works WELL in a couple instances. To begin with, you have to either repeat the runaround in the staging area, or pull the whole train between 'sessions' and shuffle the cars. Fiddling the train consist and putting the engine at the other end of the train works best in an open, visible staging area. See #1. Having to remove a row of buildings or hillside or whatever to reach over the yard and perform this operation isn't ideal. Pulling the train between sessions and fiddling the consists in the yard isn't great for this reason:
3. Where will you keep excess rolling stock when it's not on the layout? If it's in a drawer beneath the yard then fiddling the train between sessions in the yard can work fine. But consider that you're running basically the same maneuvers to bring it out and reset the cars as you would during an operating session.
Here's an alternative idea. First, open up that area that currently holds the staging tracks and use it for something else, either expanding the yard, making a main street shopping area, something. Maybe an animal watering/resting area, or additional icing platforms or both. Now make a runaround siding on the track on the north side of the riverbank (the switchback out of staging). Above the siding on the wall, make a set of shelves to hold rolling stock for display between sessions.
Here's how it operates. The yard switcher goes out to the siding and picks up cars, then sets out cars. It's that simple. Between operating sessions you simply take cars off the display shelves and set them on the layout, and put some back on the shelves. The shelving represents the rest of the world. You can even plug the shelved rolling stock data into the operations software, so it will tell you which cars to pull and which to place on the layout. The siding represents an interchange track.
In a different world there'd be some way for another roadname or through freight, or something to come onto the layout and set out the interchange cars. However there's just no room for that with the benchwork/space constraints. I'm not so keen on that kind of operation anyway, personally. Off-layout staging takes up alot of real estate if visible and specialized sensors, etc. if hidden. So you just pretend that work has been done sometime in the middle of the night, and the morning yard crew goes to the interchange and gets them, just like your current shelf layout yard, only the switcher goes away from the yard to get the interchange traffic before bringing it back and blocking it for a road crew.
Whaddya think?
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!