AussieJimbo Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) For my latest floor layout I wanted to put together a nice functional marshalling or classification yard to help manage my locomotives and rolling stock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_yard I had a general idea what I wanted to do but found Mike Smith's Beginners Guide to Model Railway Goods Services to be an excellent resource, particularly the page on marshalling yards and the facilities they usually contain. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/8-yards/y-marsh.htm Larger Image from site above So with that as a basis I set about seeing what I could build within the confines of my lounge room. Overview Larger The "ladder" runs up from the arrival/departure sidings at the bottom of the picture with a return to the main line middle left and to the Sofa Canyon branch line top left. The ladder leads to a head-shunt on the far righthand side of the picture, with the engine sheds and turntable at the top. Arrival/Departure Sidings Larger I had to angle the arrival/departure sidings out the door. The main line continues around to the left. Sorting Sidings and Brakevan/Caboose Storage Larger The use of crossover pieces generally works well and gives a flexible, compact layout however the resulting squiggly ladder is a problem when shunting the largest trains. Even with dual motored engines I can't shunt the container train in one go. Next time around I'll go with regular switches and a straight ladder track. Engine Sheds and Fuel Siding Larger I built a new 2 bay engine shed for the shunter along with a fuel siding for diesel locos. The leftmost exit from the turntable should lead to an ash-pit and a coaling station (it'll be hard to emulate LT12v's one) but there just isn't room. You can also see the breakdown train and the Sofa Canyon branch line exiting to the left. Services Gantry Larger As in real life there is often the need to reroute essential services. This time the classic bridge truss pieces help carry internet, power and AV cables over to the coffee table. Rolling Stock Larger Thanks for looking. Feedback always appreciated. :classic: Edited March 13, 2012 by AussieJimbo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted March 13, 2012 There is a lot of points eh 'AJ' ? Excellent work, though how do you live in your living room and what does your partner think ? Keep up the great railway designing 'AJ' and Brick On ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AussieJimbo Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) Thanks LT. Fortunately the only one who has to put up with it is me. There's still room for living but the layout has to be put away in the next couple of days. I want my floor back. :classic: Edited March 14, 2012 by AussieJimbo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
asleepatheswitch Posted March 13, 2012 Very nice, now you can make a bigger layout if you get rid of the furniture! What good is it? :laugh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted March 13, 2012 Thanks for sharing it with us. IMHO the marshalling yards/fiddling areas of any train layout are the most interesting areas. There's always stuff to be moved around and shunted and re-organized. I have a much smaller set of switches so my layout choices are more restricted, but it's where the action is! Brick on! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pingles Posted March 13, 2012 I wonder how much it would cost to rent a small commercial space just for my train layout... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Train 12 Volts Posted March 13, 2012 Www third is TOTALLY COOL! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Legoroni Posted March 14, 2012 Wow! Great layout. I wish I had the track to do things like this. I wonder how much it would cost to rent a small commercial space just for my train layout... That would be pretty awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpw Posted March 15, 2012 That is a very nice layout. I'm jealous of those six (if I counted correctly) double cross-overs. The round table is interesting, does it turn? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piranha Posted March 15, 2012 Wow this is certainly an impressive project and I look forward to following it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AussieJimbo Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Cheers everyone for your great comments Very nice, now you can make a bigger layout if you get rid of the furniture! What good is it? :laugh I see the furniture as natural obstacles that I have to work with. The rug is always a challenge too as I have to climb a couple of bricks high to get on top of it. IMHO the marshalling yards/fiddling areas of any train layout are the most interesting areas. There's always stuff to be moved around and shunted and re-organized. I have a much smaller set of switches so my layout choices are more restricted, but it's where the action is! Same here. I've had lots of fun shunting wagons about and assembling trains. I'm jealous of those six (if I counted correctly) double cross-overs. The round table is interesting, does it turn? I was lucky enough to pick up a few of them around the time they were discontinued. Yes, the turntable is manually operated but otherwise fully functional. It works really well and is so useful to be able to quickly turn a locomotive around rather than sending it off to a turning spur or balloon loop. You can see a few more pics of it here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=55176&view=findpost&p=983586&hl=&fromsearch=1 I'm about to pack this layout away but I'm sure there will be an updated one at some stage with improvements based on the lessons learned. Thanks again for your feedback. :classic: Edited March 15, 2012 by AussieJimbo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
