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Vertical clearance for staging Benchwork and roadbed
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Prolific poster 5,302 posts jimfitch Prolific poster 5,302 posts
jimfitch

On my last 10x18' layout, due to space and grade constraints, I had about 7 1/2 inches from track to ceiling in my staging yard.  It was workable but obviously restrictive.  Here you can see that vertical clearance and the ramp up to it which had a max grade of 2.9%.  Upper left in photo would have been about 7 1/2 inches.

With a larger space and bench-work planned to start later this year, I'm wondering what would be a good vertical clearance this time around?  Of course the more the merrier but the trains will still have to travel a helix at one end and a long nolix to get there from the other end.  The more clearance, the more grade or more turns of helix, which naturally I would like to minimize.

I'm guessing 14 inches may be sufficient with a 2 foot depth and a max of 11 tracks deep.  I was fairly satisfied with the yard elevation at 50 inches so I expect I'll be keeping it in that ball park.  That would but the elevation of the staging with the proposed 14 inches clearance at 35 inches elevation above floor (allowing for the 1-inch thickness for the yard plywood/Homasote sandwich.

Comments?

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Jim Fitch
northern VA
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Cadmaster Frequent poster 867 posts
Cadmaster

I think that would be

I think that would be realistic Jim. I presently have about 7-8" and when (not if) I build another it will either be totally open staging or have at least double what I have right now. I have a good friend that has two staging decks stacked on top of one another and he has approx 14-18" of space between decks. on the off chance we have to go back and look for an issue there is plenty of room to see what is going on. As an added note, he does not have any tortoises hanging down they are all top mounted. Not that big of a deal for the bottom deck but is nice not to have them in the way hanging down from the top.

Neil.

Diamond River Valley Railway Company

http://www.dixierail.com
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jimfitch Prolific poster 5,302 posts
jimfitch

I don't plan on any switch

I don't plan on any switch machines hanging down from the above yard - plan on hand operated or manually operated turnouts.  For clearance, 14 inches would be about double what I had on the last layout (pictured above in a construction photo).  There was just enough space at 7 1/2 inches to reach across trains to get to tracks in the back, but far from ideal.  Considering I only planned to be in that home 4 (5 max) years, 11 staging tracks was total overkill but it was good practice.  I don't think I ever used more than 5 or 6 then, but I do have a lot of trains and want to have as much "on the rails" capacity as possible.

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Jim Fitch
northern VA
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Virginian and Lake Erie Super User 9,270 posts
Virginian and Lake Erie

12 would likely be good but

12 would likely be good but 14 would be better if you have to work on things in the back, many folks are using 12 to 16 for depth between decks with scenery. I would consider the size of any tool you are likely to need in the back of that layout and size your clearance with that in mind, think of a drill, a hammer etc. and then you should be fine.

Rob in Texas

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jimfitch Prolific poster 5,302 posts
jimfitch

Rob.  Good point on tool

Rob.  Good point on tool clearance.  I'll check those to see if they fit in-line with the 14-inch proposed clearance.

Again, depth from front to back wall is planned at 24-inches.

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Jim Fitch
northern VA
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