View attachment 177355
I am trying to design a small yard with services for steam era power. The images are what I came up with. It is in N scale. I have the 130 foot turn table that will have a roundhouse, next to it is two track to a machine shop, the gray box is the are for the ash pit, sand, water and coaling tower. I like the top on having a separate yard area for stuff like the caboose track, MOW train etc. I'm not sure on which would be closer to prototypical. I'm not running any specific road names as my plan is to create a fictional railroad so no specific area, towns or regions. Thanks in advance for any advice and feedback.
JSamm:
Good comments from all above. Maybe the question to ask is 'why is this yard at this location on your railroad'? Consider the pix:
Parkwater, Spokane WA Google Maps link as this is to big to see the small stuff. In other words, click the link, zoom in and move around.
Yardley/Parkwater is a divisional yard and crew change. To the West ( Left ) the main splits Southeast to Pasco/Kennewick, and Eastward to Wenatchee at Sunset/Latah Junction. To the East ( xNP ) about 60 miles it splits to the xGN HiLine ( The Fish ) and xNP, xMRL to Missoula at Sandpoint. UP also has trackage rights from the North ( not shown ) at Napa Street to the East toward Hinkle at Latah JCT. BNSF also has a line coming in from the North ( xGN ), Kettle Falls turn.
Bottom of the pix you will find 2 Mains and about 5 A/D tracks. The upper right is TOFC/COFC of which if you are steam era, probably not needed. All the MoW and shops are inside that loop top center. The smaller yard above the main yard; kinda left center are for car storage waiting for their E/W movement. To the right of that, looks to be materials loading and RiP. Turntable is still there and you can see the footprint of the NP roundhouse. There used to be fuel tanks going around that loop on the right side, but long gone. Fueling is now a BIG facility East 15 miles or so at Hauser. As you can probably tell, this is a
busy place.
This is probably not exactly what you want, but all the parts are there for what is described above. From the amount of class tracks and that small holding yard, your yard is gonna be a busy place also. This needs planning to work smooth. So with that in mind, consider:
2 Mains by-passing the yard
1 ( hopefully 2 ) A/D tracks the length of your longest train, usually siding length too.
Yard lead on each end for your longest train for yard dog(s)
Yard dog does not foul the main and can work unimpeded breaking/making trains.
If movement is terminating, engine(s) can make it to fuel/cinder/oil/maintenance without impeding the yard dog or Main(s).
Note that because MRR's have limited space, the smaller yard does not have to be double-ended and the yard dog can pull stuff out when needed; cutting cars in/out as warranted. You can see from the pix above, that smaller yard is double ended with ways back to the main yard on both ends. Ya, they have the space.
In any event, have fun with your design!
Oh, and also note that once you zoom in above, you will find all sorts of industries served.
Later
[edit] and I forgot, the TOFC/COFC part also has A/D tracks but probably not what you want. The main yard A/D is now used for crew change although I have seen a yard dog grab stuff out of them at times. Those A/D's can fit a 2 miler coming in from both ways and not occupy the Rail/Road crossing at Park Road to the East, nothing to the west except the Amtrak Station. At one time, there were 100 trains a day coming/going, less than that now.