The Transcontinental PRR

[MichaelWinicki]

Eric,

I have to say that I'm confused.  I don't understand why there is three yards in Altoona.  The hump yard is obvious, as is the arrival/departure yard.  What is the third yard?  If one yard was removed that might be enough to declutter the area and give you a little breathing room between Altoona and the Curve.

In my opinion, I don't see a hump yard working very well in N scale.  The cars will probably roll too fast or, if the cars are too light, you'll be dealing with derailments from uncontrolled hard coupling, especially if truck mounted couplers.  If you are going to build the hump, this would be one reason that it would be wise to have the hump yard up front.  Michael's point about a northbound and southbound hump should be well taken.  Potomac Yard was built this way, too.

My preference would be a flat yard for classification and an arrival/departure yard.

DFF

Hey Dave, Eric can correct me but I think he said earlier the third yard was for cars that couldn't be "humped".   The way they handled those in our hump yards (it was probably the same elsewhere) was to take the car to the other end of the hump yard and switch it in from the flat end.

As a matter of fact you can see the track that runs between the North and South humps and connects one to the other.  That track allowed the crews to bypass the humps... With cars that could not be humped.

Yeah, I would like to see a little more space between the yards and the "Shoe", the abrupt change no matter well you scenic the transition it going to be... Well abrupt.  One of the neat things about Horseshoe IMO is the "out in the middle of nowhere" environment.   

[eric220]

Eric,

I have to say that I'm confused.  I don't understand why there is three yards in Altoona.  The hump yard is obvious, as is the arrival/departure yard.  What is the third yard?  If one yard was removed that might be enough to declutter the area and give you a little breathing room between Altoona and the Curve.

In my opinion, I don't see a hump yard working very well in N scale.  The cars will probably roll too fast or, if the cars are too light, you'll be dealing with derailments from uncontrolled hard coupling, especially if truck mounted couplers.  If you are going to build the hump, this would be one reason that it would be wise to have the hump yard up front.  Michael's point about a northbound and southbound hump should be well taken.  Potomac Yard was built this way, too.

My preference would be a flat yard for classification and an arrival/departure yard.

DFF

when you're working with a hump yard (or any classification yard, for that matter), you need a minimum of three sub-yards:

1. An arrival yard.
2. A classification yard.
3. A departure yard.

The curved yard on the left is the arrival yard, the hump is the classification, and the flat yard above the hump is the departure yard.

Evidently, I really need to get cracking on this proof of concept to show that I'm not crazy for wanting to do this.

[pwnj]

Evidently, I really need to get cracking on this proof of concept to show that I'm not crazy for wanting to do this.

Wait, that's not a prerequisite? 

[eric220]

Wait, that's not a prerequisite? 

Nope. The hump yard is something that I want. The challenge is in figuring out how to make it work.

[Bsklarski]

Easy. About $5,000 in benchwork and each car exactly the same weight to the milligram. Benckwork needs to be perfect. Best to use steel and weld it all together. Make everything on lessening grades as the yard goes to the end. Its possible. Key is to make it look real. So the cars do no more than 10 scale MPH at any given time. That being said, I would love to see someone pull it off nicely. Why not you?

[eric220]

But I'm not going to do it that way. 

[Bsklarski]

Seriously, I would be interested in how it can be done. I have my ideas. Id love to ditch the B&M someday and model Conrail, and have Selkirk be part of the layout

[Lemosteam]

Rare earth magnets or controlled electromagnets under the track as retarders.   

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Rare earth magnets or controlled electromagnets under the track as retarders.   

Funny, I thought Eric was his own retarder 

The hump could definitely work--question will be how far the cars of various weights actually travel (and there's nothing wrong with a little "help" to spot)--but how well the "hump scene" fits in with the "God In An Alcove" Whoreshoe Curve immediately next to it.

Given that humpyards look cool when long, why not start the lead from the right side of the alcove as a drop in section across the mouth of the alcove?
That way plenty o' space for yard, and the trains will still go through the Curve when they leave the yard out the other side and loop around, yes?

Just spitballin' here.

[Lemosteam]

Funny, I thought Eric was his own retarder 

Aren't we all???

[peteski]

How about using jets of compressed air (between the rails?) to slow the cars down??

[Ian MacMillan]

How about using jets of compressed air (between the rails?) to slow the cars down??

Like the Dry Hill HO hump yard.

[davefoxx]

How about using jets of compressed air (between the rails?) to slow the cars down??

Isn't this what Steve King did on a former incarnation of his Virginia Midland?  You may remember the Virginia Midland as one of the three Appalachian Lines: the other roads, of course, being Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland and Allen McClelland's Virginian and Ohio.

[timgill]

How about using jets of compressed air (between the rails?) to slow the cars down??

I just had a silly vision of a hopper car rolling gently down a slope...*PSSHHHT*...the air goes off and sends it skyrocketing through the ceiling...

[eric220]

I just had a silly vision of a hopper car rolling gently down a slope...*PSSHHHT*...the air goes off and sends it skyrocketing through the ceiling...

Ha!  I actually had a car explode during the brief proof of concept that I cobbled together.  The problem should only affect a small number of cars, hence the need for a "do not hump" protocol.