There are smaller branch line and industrial yards that are less than 50 cars capacity. I like the idea of a small yard with industrial switching added in. A lot of yards were put in for groupings of industries.

My preferred operating position when visiting friends layouts are either industrial complexes or yard operations. One friend has a decently large yard keeps 2 yardmasters (essentially a class yardmaster and run-thru yardmaster), 2 lead and one utility job busy. It's a blast. As Dave said earlier, the key is a feed of working trains from staging yards plus turnaround locals and interchange. Scale it to your aspirations.

There is an advantage to going a little old school at Tamaqua. CNJ and LNE both had interchanges at Tamaqua (CNJ at Haucks IIRC). Through freights had tonnage adjusted for the grades west of Tamaqua (add or reduce cars and locomotives as appropriate. Locals and mine runs worked there. Coal was weighed and classified. Reading had through freights for Newberry, Williamsport, Rupert, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Reading IIRC.

Have fun whatever you do. I think yards are fun.

My 5-track yard serves as the heart of my operations.  Situated on what I call the North end of the layout, it receives intercity trains at the start of an op session.  These get dissected and built into turnaround locals, which then head out to switch lineside industries or the steel mill.  It takes ~90 minutes for local crews to complete their switching activities, then return to the yard with the cars they've picked up.  Outbound intercity trains are then built and sent back out over the main line to staging at the South end.

While the local crews are out, the yard crew has plenty to keep them busy by switching cars in the engine terminal for sand and fuel oil, dissecting incoming loco consists, and preparing new consists for the later outgoing trains.

I remember back in the mid 90s David Barrow did a series of articles for MR talking about building a small modular model railroad that was a yard and some industries. The industries were mostly flats along the backdrop. Granted it was a point to point design with one of the modules being for staging but it did seem like it would be an interesting way to operate in a small space.

Check it out here - http://lvnyharbor.blogspot.com/

Is there a track plan anywhere on your blog Ralph?  I didn't find one with a little quick clicking around.

Ken, unfortunately, no, as I never drew one (computer or otherwise). Instead, I used property and Port Series maps to guide my track plan. And, as you can see, the blog hasn't been updated in a VERY long time! Much more recent portings are on my FB group, if you're able to see it - https://www.facebook.com/groups/LVRR1951/.

My main yard (float yard) is approximately 14 feet long by 2 feet wide (9 track in the widest part), and the smaller support yard is about 6 feet long by 1 1/2 wide (5 tracks wide at the widest). There's also a small LCL and team track yard.

Sounds neat Ralph.

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