As I get bored easily, I like to swap out one consist for another when playing trains, which will require a small storage yard to hold trains that are waiting to come ‘on stage’. Now that the lower level ‘benchwork’ has been plated over, I’ve been fiddling around with my 8 points to see what sort of hidden storage yard might be possible, noting:
- Two (ideally left handers) are committed to the passing loop ‘up top’
- As for train length, the 12 car coal train plus two locos is 80cm long, and this seems to be about the limit for these locos. However the newer Y25 bogies ‘seem’ to run more freely, plus longer container wagons, some being two-unit articulated jobs with three bogies, might allow longer trains to be run.
- Passing tracks are usually more functional than dead-end sidings that you have to push things in and out of
- A transfer table is probably impractical here.
- Points are often the weak link where the most derailments and electrical issues occur. I’ve no idea how good these Micro Trains things are, or how they’ll hold up over time.
The above gives me two 100cm and one 140mm ‘departure' tracks at the bottom, and another 60cm track on the ‘arrival’ track which could potentially be longer or skipped altogether - two trains could queue up on that long arrival track. The ‘up top' track is about 120cm long, so that could be an issue if longer trains prove feasible. It could be extended, but this would further reduce the visible track on the already shortened upper level by The Command Post.
The points are fairly well spaced apart from the two at bottom right that are next to each other, and all are pretty accessible for hidden trackwork.
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