http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/6401

I actually had read that idea earlier, and it may be a good way for center peninsula to go, just have to work on alignment since it wont be out in the open.

Rob

 Too little info on what you are trying to accomplish to offer much in the way of meaningful comments.

 What are you modeling? How are you planning to run trains on your layout?  What kinds of inclines and radii to get from one level to the next? How long trains will sidings, yard tracks and staging tracks handle sensibly? How many trains will be on the visible part of the layout at any time? How many will make a second run in the same direction during the same session, and how many will have to be fiddled (manually removing or adding cars)?

 First impression is "very long staging tracks, pretty narrow aisles".

 Smile,
 Stein

I'm curious do you need so many tracks?  I can see you could have 7 pretty long trains and at least that many shorter ones.  I'm modeling O scale, standard and narrow in about 22 X 24 (single level with large changes in elevation) so I don't have the luxury of so much room.

Peter

I see 7 "main" staging tracks plus a thoroughfare track and an access track for the stub yards below the peninsula. The 7 tracks seem to average around 26 feet or so in length.

Positives:

• The long tracks will hold either a single long train or a couple (or more) smaller trains
• You've done a good job in the main staging area of keeping the turnouts next to the yard -- an important consideration for lower deck staging

Negatives:

• More and longer tracks isn't as flexible as twice as many shorter (train length) tracks (unless you're going to run mostly long trains).
• The turnouts in the stub ended yards are far enough away from the aisle to become a maintenance headache if anything goes wrong with them.
• The aisle side staging track must be kept free of staged trains, so the stub ended yard tracks can be accessed.
• I don't think there's quite enough room to put the stub ended yards on a wye allowing trains to be turned (it looked like you were attempting to have the stub yards accessed from either direction.

Observations:

• Connecting the stub ended yards with a wye isn't necessary for turning trains because the staging area is configured as a reverse loop.
• I'd suggest running trains uni-directionally through the staging area -- say clockwise. That avoids the possibility of a cornfield meet. And lets multiple trains be entering staging following on each others heels. No need to wait for a train to be completely clear of staging.
• Although, the stub ended yards may seem like a good idea, I'd suggest you consider omitting them unless you're pretty sure you'll need the extra storage.

Questions:

• Will there be trains just turning around in the staging area an immediately reappearing as part of an ops scheme? If not then you can gain an 8th staging track by using the stub yard access track to stage trains -- gaining back about half of lost stub staging capacity.

Cheers,

Charlie

Thanks for your comments so far, 

To answer a few of them:

Eastbound: Hagerstown to Baltimore

I plan on running locals and some through freights for traffic as well as the occasional passenger consist. My thought was running coal drags from HAG to BALT with them terminating at a staging yard on the lower level. Some of the coal drags will be broken up in BALT for the coal dump that the WM had at Port Covington and loaded onto ships. However that may be eliminated and modeled "off stage". Also freights from YORK, PA will enter from staging go through HAG, do some type of interchange m ove, then continue on to BALT. 

I really want to do a dock warehouse area with car ferry in BALT so that is why I may eliminate the coal loader.

Westbound: Baltimore to Hagerstown

Trains would either enter via lower staging or made up in they visible yard in BALT., or a combination of both. Then head west towrds an interchange with PRR and RDG at Hagerstown and beyond. With these terminating at lower level staging.

Locals:

I plan on running locals both directions and switching the various industries and mines. I am working on the list, to make sure I can generate enough traffic.

Train length will be about 20 cars I imagine (any input on this?) I will mock up some things later.

Aisle width, I am going to change it to 30" min. I am in home improvements and on small kitchen design we try to keep a min. of 30" around an island pr peninsula, and that works well with traffic.

The stub yards under the center peninsula will probably vanish maybe just 1 or 2 for turning a train around

If a train starts in HAG and ends up in BALT I would like to be able to use it again and have it com back out at HAG ( I think, still going over this with sketches) Does that make sense to do it that way? They wont immediately appear during a session.

I will provide passing sidings for 25 cars so trains will have to meet for allow for bidirectional travel.

My big area of concern is the BLOB in the center peninsula. Is it necessary? I have been studying the Cliff Powers' MAG rout and maybe the second deck should be just square like his and maybe model more of Baltimore, not sure working on it. Oh and that where I saw the idea of stub ended staging yards in the center peninsula.

Hope this helps with any questions you have and maybe ask for some more info which helps me think through this.

Thanks in advance, and I appreciate every ones input.

Rob

Removing the "blob" will eliminate the ability to use the peninsula for mainline traffic.  This means you would have to run the mainlines across the base of the peninsula, which will strand the operator in the wrong aisle; he will have to run around the peninsula to catch up with his train.  This is a really bad idea, in my mind.

If you want more room for the blob, just narrow the benchwork on either side of it.  And you can certainly shorten the staging tracks if you want to run 25 car freights; those tracks are long enough for 40 car trains.

Blobs are nasty things that eat space. But Jurgen does have a good point that without a turnback curve at the end of the blob, at least on the main deck, your operators will need to dash around the end of the peninsula to follow trains.

The blob, as drawn makes the pinch points between the turnback curve and opposite benchwork uncomfortably tight. You'll need to put the opposite benchwork on a major diet to retrieve some aisle width.

Now for a little extra heresy -- an remember, this idea comes to you free and may be worth exactly what it cost you. Have you considered moving the staging ladder at the bottom quit a bit further to the right? This would allow bringing the return track back to the main track (next to the aisle) on the bottom instead of up at the top benchwork area. This in turn would allow using the longest staging track (the rear one) for staging instead of as a thoroughfare track. It would also make it possible to turn a train without having to go beyond the leading staging throat turnout. The drawback would be a large reduction in the capacity of each staging track. But if you're  planning on 20 cars trains, those tracks are probably longer than needed anyway (if those are 40' cars, the tracks are very long).  You might be able to make up for the loss of length by running the aisle-side staging track around the peninsula and pack a few more tracks in there on either side.

Charlie

Rob: Hi! Great layout idea and a great prototype division to model. Nice to see the Hagerstown roundhouse live again. I have been a fan of the Hagerstown railroading area and the Roundhouse Museum for many years. Lived in HarpersFerry/Charlestown area 13 years and now live in Strasburg, VA. Have taken our our 4 year old grandson [lives in Centreville, Va] to see 'Trains of Christmas' the past 3 years. He caught TrainFever that first year and I am doing my part to keep it going. Will get him into HO in another year or so. I hope to get out my armchair and built a small shelf layout later this year. Your blog put a needle under my chair cushion.  Will follow your progress with interest. Curious-- why did you pick WM RR Hagerstown area  -- Do you live in that area?    EFB

Ernie,

I live in Annapolis, MD so the WM was always an interest to me as a kid, I was around too late too see it run in its heyday. I have been to Frostburg numerous times and f\ridden the WM Scenic Rwy, and I also belong to the WMRWY historical society as well. I don't know how much justice I will do to the actual Hagerstown roundhouse, but i figure any decent representation will help keep the memory alive.