About the only thing that has changed from the above diagram is a reconfiguration of the industrial trackage on the inside branch, and the addition of another crossover in the yard that mirrors the existing crossover and creates a runaround track. Now, a little bit more about the plan...
Overall, the obvious thing to note is a double-track main line. I mentioned that one of my primary design goals was a "glorified test loop" and there it is in all its glory. I know the "roundy roundy" isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I find watching trains run to be very therapeutic so....there you go. There are two crossovers utilizing curved turnouts which I think just look very cool even though it's not a common occurrence in real life...and they actually performed very well in my testing.
Next up we'll discuss the yard. It is absolutely the bare minimum amount of trackage that I could include and still have it look and at least somewhat *function* as a yard. The real yard being modeled--called Mockingbird Yard--is a small but fairly busy yard that has belonged to shortline Dallas, Garland, and Northeastern (DGNO) since 2005. It has some adjacent industries that I've also included in a VERY compressed manner. The siding on the lower left is a corn syrup trans-load track (one of two, 2-track facilities in reality) that can hold 3 of the AZL 40ft syrup cars. The industry spur on the lower right receives plastic pellets in the big 4-bay hoppers like AZL makes, and two of them can be spotted there. Finally, the real yard has locomotive tracks and a small sand offload facility on the far east side. (right side) Two of the shorty AZL corrugated gons will be spotted there. (the track configuration has changed a bit there too...just trust me on this one.)
As far as how the yard operation works, well it's a lesson in imagination and flexibility. So there are four tracks that make up the usable yard trackage and we'll number them 1-4 from the top. Track 1 also happens to be part of the doubletrack mainline, so any time yard switching is going on the layout is reduced to "single track with one passing siding" status. This is not unlike the prototype, as there are sections of single track scattered along the 34 miles. SO, Track 1 becomes the Arrival/Departure track in our yard scenario. Track 2 is the only dedicated, full-time yard track that serves no other purpose. Track 3 is fairly "dedicated"--at least between the crossovers (recall I mentioned there is an un-diagrammed left-hand crossover between Track 4 and Track 3, which starts approximately where the "3' " is on the ruler)--but it also serves as part of a runaround track (together with Track 4) if needed. And finally we have Track 4, which serves three roles: as the leads to the industrial spurs and engine track, as part of the runaround mentioned previously, and as a classification track when performing yard switching duties like building outbound trains or tearing down incoming trains. In that pure "classification" scenario, we have Track 1 as the A/D track and Tracks 2, 3, and 4 as classification tracks.
Next up is the industrial branch. The design here has undergone some pretty serious revamp, but I'll do a quick rundown of how what you see here fits in. So the inside loopback track and resulting tangent that parallels the backdrop are still intact, as is the first facing point industry that tucks inside the loop. Also, the Coca-Cola plant (red building) also stays as-is for the most part...set back against the backdrop though, and the obviously interfering spur is no longer there. The parallel-to-backdrop track will now run all the way behind/"under" the Coca-Cola plant and serve as a hidden interchange track (2-3 cars) to represent industries to the northwest. (coil steel, lumber, and boxcars of whatever) The rest is still under debate, so I'll cover that in later posts.
So that basically covers "Side A" of the layout. (note the backdrop, darker blue color) Prototypically speaking the model railroad runs east to west as you proceed clock-wise around the circle. So from Mockingbird Yard as you go left and loop around you are heading west and approaching the crossing of a tributary of the Trinity River. This is the signature scenic scene on the layout and--as with everything else--exercises significant modelers license and compression. Here is a compressed/photoshopped satellite image of the scene for some bit of perspective...
The approach trestle to the right will actually be curved on the layout, as another example of a small concession to be made.
And finally we come to what will be the western terminus of the layout, consisting of two industries placed against the backdrop. The one to the right (closest to the backdrop) is a generic warehouse with spots for two boxcars/covered hoppers and the industry to the left is Frito Lay, which receives covered hoppers of grain and tank cars of vegetable oil.
So that's it for now....more updates soon.
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