Breakthrough in Lindenwood Yard Design 



I recently picked up a copy of Model Railroader's Model Railroad Planning 2005. In that issue on page 80 is an article by Kenneth Anthony titled Managing S curves. I read through the article and decided to review my layout for lurking S curves. I knew I had a situation where the design was less than optimal for two reasons. At the east end of my Lindenwood Yard, the track curves around almost 90 degrees back towards the wall to head into the closet and down the helix to the lower level. I had designed a crossover at that end of the yard to allow an eastbound train to crossover from the left hand mainline track to the right hand track. This does two things, it maintains right hand running and has the train traverse the inside of the helix on its way down to the lower level. The problem was, I placed that helix in a short section of tangent track that ended up in the wall seperating the room from the closet. I would have to mount switch machines and view the positions of the turnouts inside the wall, not the best. Compounding the problem was that this created a poor S curve situation. Crossovers create natural S curves, but I was curving away and into the crossover from the wrong direction. After reading the MRP article, I took a look at the plan and came up with a much better design. I moved the crossover to the exit of the yard, and by using Ken's suggestions actually eliminated the S curve. In addition, I added another crossover (also without an S curve!) to provide a way for westbound trains to travel through the yard on the left hand mainline. I can see a situation where a through train might want to do that while a eastbound departing train is waiting or being made up. Take a look at the two drawings from my layout design in 3rd Plan It and see if you agree! Also, my thanks to Kenneth Anthony and Tony Koester and all the folks who helped put this year's MRP together. That article alone was worth every penny I invested.

Layout Design Before:


Layout Design After:
 

Posted: Sun - March 20, 2005 at 01:50 PM          

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