Cantilevered Staging Yard

When we NEONS display our layout at shows we want to run trains, loooooong trains of 100 or more cars, for as long as we can; and we want to have trains running on all three tracks continuously. Since most club members want an opportunity to run their trains when our entire 6+ scale mile layout is set up, we schedule one hour run times as the norm. The club had two 10’ long, 5-track staging yards that clamped on behind the sky boards of standard modules and accessed all three lines through a series of turnouts and crosses. Although each of these two yards could hold a mile long train, the arrangement was insufficient to satisfy our objectives. The crossover diamonds caused occasional derailments, trains on inner tracks had to stop while trains on outer tracks crossed in and out of the yards, and, even with staggered run times, members had a maximum of only 20 minutes to set up or stow their rolling stock. Clearly, two yards could not handle the traffic and activity of trains running on each of the three tracks and changing out every 60 minutes.

To maximize set-up and stowing time and to avoid the traffic problem caused by outer lines entering and exiting yards, we developed a cantilevered, multi-yard staging system. Our setup yards have been engineered so trains from the Red[*] and Yellow main lines can access a yard area without crossing or fouling another line. The cantilevered staging yard consists of three 6' frontage modules containing turnouts and yard access tracks plus two 4' yard modules teeing off the back of the center front module behind the skyboard.

The yard modules have two 5-track departure yards in the center, 2" above grade that overhang 5-track arrival yards on both sides, 2" below grade. With the departure yards cantilevered over the arrival yards, the 20 yard tracks can be on 1¼” centers and still fit on a standard, 24” wide module. Each yard has the capacity for over one scale mile of rolling stock. We are planning to add an additional 6’ yard section which will increase each yard’s storage capacity to nearly 2 scale miles.

The upper departure yards each exit over the Blue and Yellow lines and proceed into a 27" radius, 90 degree curve which goes down a 4.3% grade to the main track level, 2" below the yard level. Access tracks can switch the train to either the red or yellow line. Similarly, both the red and yellow lines can exit to the access track where the train will descend 2" at a 4.5% grade on a 25½" radius, 90 degree curve, pass under the Yellow and Blue lines and enter the arrival yards. Arriving and departing trains always travel downhill on grade changes. Through trains always stay on grade.

The two 2' x 6' modules on each side of the 2' x 6' center module contain the yard approach turnouts and begin the grade change. The center module has a 2' wide by 12" deep extension behind the skyboard which allows for the large radius turns on the approach tracks to the cantilevered yards. The Yellow and Blue lines stay on grade and swing to the rear, passing over the arrival yard approaches and under the departure yard approaches while the red line eases to the very front of the module. The center module has rural, hilly scenery which provides easy access to all tracks in case of derailments (which are very rare.)

Turnouts allow the Red and Yellow mains direct access to the set-up yards without interfering with running operations. Provisions were made so turnouts and a cross can be added in the future, allowing the Blue line to cross the Yellow line and access the yards. Track geometry was designed so that through trains on the Red, Yellow and Blue lines always use the straight leg of all turnouts and only use the diverging or thrown leg when interfacing with the yard approach tracks. All access track turnouts are Peco long radius. All yard turnouts are Peco medium radius. Both the clockwise and counter-clockwise access tracks and their associated yards have multi-position switches that select power from red, yellow, blue, off, or auxiliary power sources. Each yard has an on/off switch to cut power in that yard. An auxiliary power source allows for switching in the yards as well as allowing departing trains to leave the yard and pull to the end of the yard lead before the arriving train pulls in.

With the addition of these four new yards NEONS has met its objectives:

1) We have an arrival and departure yard for each of the three N-Trak lines. Red and Yellow main lines use the cantilevered yards and the Blue line uses our original clamp-on staging yards. Each of the three main lines has direct, unobstructed access from a departure yard and to an arrival yard.

2) With six staging yards, members now can spend their entire allotment of time actually running their trains. They have ample time for train set-up prior to their scheduled departure and for tear-down after their scheduled running time has elapsed.

3) There will be a train running on all three tracks all the time.

4) We add 18' of modules containing over one half scale mile of track per line and displaying new and different industries and landscapes.

The NEONS N-Trak club (North East Oklahoma N-Scalers) hails from Oklahoma, a mostly rural state famous for the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. To be true to our regional landscape, many of our modules acknowledge and celebrate the fact that a large portion of railroad rights-of-way are rural scenes, devoid of much development. In fact, most of western Oklahoma is semi-arid with little or nothing visible from the railroad right-of-way but scrub brush and red earth. That’s why you see rocky, sparsely vegetated and unpopulated countryside on these modules. We also try to tell a story and demonstrate interesting facts about railroading with our modules.

Crymea River -- On the left module the tracks roll by an old, dry oxbow of the fictitious Crymea River. (Yes, that’s a pun!) When rivers flood, sometimes the rapid current dredges a new main channel. As the waters recede, the old riverbed is left dry as a bone as is seen on this module. Unfortunately, there are many smaller riverbeds in western Oklahoma that are dry most of the year, not because of a change in the river’s course, but simply because there is insufficient rainfall to fill them with water.

Eddie Wye -- The center module demonstrates that to maintain a level grade, railroads often cut through hills that are not feasible to go around. Unless a hill or mountain is overwhelmingly large, it is usually more cost effective to blast a cut rather than bore a tunnel because cuts are easier to maintain. Cuts are made by drilling holes from the surface, filling them with dynamite, and then blowing the side of the escarpment away. This is done in tiers until the desired depth of the cut is reached. Look closely at the sides of the hill and you can see where the dynamite bores were.

Carl Junction -- The right module has an abandoned siding. Our narrative reminds spectators that different railroads sometimes share a common right-of-way, but other times take different paths to get to the same place. In this scene, two of the lines (yellow and blue) head to the rear of the module and one (red) skirts the hill along the front side.

[*] N-Trak standards call for three lines on each module, the front line (Red), the middle line (Yellow) and the rear line (Blue).