HO Layout Update #10

We are revisiting the staging deck to add some potentially critical turnouts, before it's all covered with another deck above it, and made inaccessible for modification.
This modification paves the path towards potentially adding a shelf on the long wall, and doubling our staging capacity. Future proofing...eh, eh?
As always, thanks for watching!

[@johnwhatmore163]

The autoreverser section might be a single long block of the back mainline track to include the back leg of the wye and the cross-over turnout(s) near the helix. Operationally, a train coming in to the stub yard could drive into track 1 of the left yard then shove back into the stub tracks. That way, trains in the stub yard will always be ready to go. A train leaving the stub will head straight through the wye on the back mainline to the cross-over, chosing onto either track of the helix. A double cross-over would give a little more routing flexibilty for incoming trains but it would work with a single.

[@TrainzLuvr]

Thank you for the comment, and as they say "Great minds think alike". Because this is exactly what I've done this past weekend - added the interlocking before the helix (double crossover). It will do exactly as you suggested and allow for routing flexibility for any direction of travel. I will have a video following-up this week about it. Right now I'm in the auto-reversing hell because the two tracks have different polarities, and despite adding several PSX-AR units to all needed sections, I still get a short when a train crosses over. I posted about it on the MRH forums at forum.mrhmag.com/post/help-needed-with-electrically-complex-intrelocking-wiring-13507013

[@johnwhatmore163]

@@TrainzLuvr Have been through the eye of the needle on this one, suggest look at the back mainline as a single long AR block, from wye to helix interlock…, double rail joints at the key locations. Might need a diagram…a picture is worth a thousand words etc. I’ve scratched my head for months on some of these conundrums…

[@mpeterll]

1. Always plan for more staging than you think you will need. 2. Switch machine location isn't a problem. As it's a hidden staging yard, it can be surface-mounted up-side-down, off to the side.

[@TrainzLuvr]

I do try to pick all these tidbits from your layout design and build videos. And I'm sure you can appreciate, as someone who is probably as tall as I am, the necessity of doing this now before another deck is put up 14" above it (and how painful it would be making track changes with a 28"+ deep benchwork there). Thanks for your comment!

[@tracksidemike]

Great share looks like it will be a fair size layout looking forward to seeing more progress here enjoy your day

[@TrainzLuvr]

Thank-you, will have a video soon about the track plan for the rest of the railroad!

[@chrisbarr1359]

Here's a trick for keeping the polarity correct as you wire... Put a box car on the layout. Mark "red" on one side and "black" on the other side. Then push the car along as you wire the track so you do it correctly. I will really help as you go thru turnouts, cross crossovers, wyes, etc.

[@TrainzLuvr]

That's a good old trick, indeed I should switch to a car on the track rather than keeping my track polarity on a random piece of paper. 🤣 Thanks for commenting!

[@mattw9667]

Hi, for your additional staging why don't you have a single track run behind your workbench and then add a third, lower crossing to your swing gate? This would connect to one of the double track lines exiting the helix. That way you don't need a reverse loop to the left of your work bench? (4 by 4 foot space)

[@TrainzLuvr]

Thanks for the idea, I also thought of that as well, and if I can figure out how to tie to the track on the helix side of the gate, I'll do it. Problem is that I would have to make the passageway between the helix and the peninsula even tighter by adding another track around the helix. And I can't go outside the room unless I'm granted more land rights to encroach into the hallway by my S/O. 😄

[@dkaustin98]

2 points. In the corner that you say is not wide enough, what happens if you put a corner module in with an angled front to it? So, it cuts across the corner. Would you gain enough depth to balloon the corner? What happens if you put a crossover between the studs for the inner tracks? Do you gain any operation? Just bouncing some ideas off the wall.

[@TrainzLuvr]

Both good ideas, thanks! Any way you look at it, the corner needs 50" across to make a 24" radius loop to turn back. The benchwork above that area will only be 24" deep, or about 33" diagonally to the corner, which would leave it inaccessible if there was a 50" deep shelf below it. And at 28" height of the ground that will make some really painful memories for those who hit their knees there. For the crossovers between the studs, I chose to make the crossovers before the helix instead. If they were between the studs they would've been somewhat out of reach, if something was to derail. Also, whether the crossovers happen between the studs or before the helix, I run into an issue of reverse polarity on those tracks (remember two staging yards baloon around), which is a subject of my next video as I build the crossovers...

[@sid21177]

Use a headshunt on the stub end to pull the engine out and reverse it on the wye - you will need 1 free passing line on your yard

[@TrainzLuvr]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did think about it, but couldn't rationalize in my head potentially giving up a whole track for a passing siding. I also thought about making a shared passing siding (splitting two yards with it) but the two incoming tracks are of opposite polarity and can't be connected to each other without an auto reverser.

[@sid21177]

Use an unoccupied line in the yard to pass so you don’t need a dedicated line - of course this won’t work if the yard is fully occupied - but will that be the case more often ??

[@TrainzLuvr]

​This would depend on the operating traffic, which I haven't figured out yet. There's also an issue of the caboose at the end of the train. I will still have to 0-5-0 the caboose to the other side of the train, and at that point I might as well do the same for the loco and not worry about any free tracks. 😆 There are other concerns regarding all of this, such as accessibility of this staging shelf. It will be located 15" below the main yard which is 24" deep. Depending how deep this new staging shelf is, reaching into it beyond certain depth will most likley pose a problem. Never enough space...🤣

[@williamheber2118]

If it's going to be a Double Deck Layout , why not have a lower staging and a lower staging?

[@TrainzLuvr]

Thanks for the comment. I presume you meant lower and upper staging - I'd love to!! But my ceiling height is only 6 ft 5 in and there was no room above to climb up more, or elsewhere outside the space either. So I crammed everything at the bottom. The inner loop of the helix is a non-stop connecton between the staging and the upper deck, while the outer loop stops at the lower (middle) deck, then goes to the upper deck.

[@dodo1opps]

Are you speaking English?

[@TrainzLuvr]

Are you trolling me?