You are correct that a #6 switch should be longer than a #5. However, if the #5 is built with a very generous lead length (from points to frog) making for a very gentle divergence, and the #6 is built with very skimpy lead, what you've observed could concievably happen.

However, a really short lead on a #6 defeats much of the purpose of a gentler turnout. I'd look around for a different set of turnouts.

Cheers,

Charlie

Hello HO Dave here is a web site that may answer many of your questions about layout design.

http://macrodyn.com/ldsig/wiki/index.php?title=Drawing_Your_Layout_-_Man...

Personally I use a plastic HO layout assist drawing tool you can get at most hobby shops. It has #4, #5, #6, & #8 turnout templates on 1/2 in to the foot scale plastic overlay. this 6' X 8" square tool make drawing your yards very easy. until you get one or start useing a CAD program to draw with the computer this web site should help.

Dan

If your railroad is going to use 89 foot freight cars, #4 may be too tight.  If you are running mostly 40-60 foot cars, it may not be a problem.   It would be a compromise, but it might work to have the straightest track in the yard designated for the larger equipment.  I'm presuming that you will only use small 4 axle switchers to work the yard, and put your bigger road power on the train only after the switcher has placed it on the lead. 

I think both Fast Tracks and Proto 87 have blueprints of the various types and sizes of turnouts on their web site for download and printout free.  Just print out what you need and put the paper cutouts on your bench work to see how everything fits.

Thanks Charlie, Dan, Russ..I printed the templates from fast track's website..thats where I discovered the #6 to be shorter than the #5.......

Note that some of those templates (including the #6) are sized to print on Legal sized paper. If you printed it on Letter size, Adobe Acrobat may have shrunk it to fit. Check the scale printed in the corner to see if it printed full size.

The #5 is designed to print on Letter-sized paper on multiple sheets -- not sure why they didn't set up all the templates to print on the same sized sheets of paper.

You're not the first person this has confused.

I believe that the FastTracks templates are generally designed after the NMRA recommended practice. The HO recommended practice page shows the #6s are indeed longer than #5s.

So how does one figure out at what angle the ladder track branches away from the Arr/Dep track in the yard?   

In the simplest case, it will simply branch off at the "natural" angle of the first turnout. It is possible to steepen the ladder a bit by placing a slight curve in the ladder track and corresponding curves in each body track.

But the gain in overall length is modest. This is fuly described in the Armstrong book you have.

Compound ladders help more, but for a small number of yard tracks, the effect may not be as much as you hope in terms of preserving yard track length.

And how do I figure out how many tracks I can fit in a given width/length(simple/compound/split ladder?).

The number of tracks in a given width doesn't vary with the type of ladder used, of course, but does effect the useable length. If you are using 2" centers, allowing for a bit over 1" clearance from the back wall and 3 or 4 inches away from the edge of the benchwork, you have a remaining useable depth of about 19". So that's about 8-9 tracks, without accounting for the length of the ladders. But the ladders will reduce the useable length of the shortest tracks, of course.

The tools Armstrong provides in the book about estimating by the "squares" gives a good, quick approximation.

It certainly helps if you make some of the classification tracks single-ended, as in this small design.

Usually, the best guide for yard design is understanding how the yard will be used. If you are thinking of simply storing full trains there in between "laps", one sort of yard design works best. If you are planning on making up and breaking down trains, another configuration of yard tracks may work better.

Busy yards benefit from a yard lead, which impacts length slightly. More lightly-used yards, as the one above, can dispense with the yard lead.

Best of luck.

Check your paper size and make sure to turn off the "scale to fit"

..Everyone. Very helpful.=)