Code 83 versus Code 100

[rogertra]

A yard is not a "staging place" not is a "storage place" for cars.

A yard is where trains are made up, broken up and re blocked or have blocks added or blocks removed.  It should be a place where you store cars.  If you need a place to store cars, then you have too many cars on the layout. 

A yard should be fluid, not static.  There should always be cars that are being made ready to place in upcoming trains.

On my old GER, I had five main staging track, three were required for scheduled trains and the other two held 16 car trains with van and locomotive.  The locomotive was either a "big" steam, by Canadian standards, either a 2-10-2 or a heavy 4-8-2 or a two diesel unit locomotive.  I had another 50 freight cars on storage tracks below the layout as well as extra locomotives that I could use to ring the changes once in a while.  50 locos for a 12 x 16 foot model railroad. 

However, they all will be needed for the next GER.

[jward]

not to nitpick but have you ever heard of storage yards? they can serve as a place to stage cars until they can be loaded, repaired, etc. they were and still are quite common around pittsburgh..... these are different from classification yards where cars are sorted by destination.

also, it should be noted with regards to rail sizes in yards, that the busier the yard, the more likely it is to have heavy rail. also, the type of trains run through the yard have a huge impact on the rail sizes used. yards which see alot of heavy cars like loaded coal and ore hoppers would have heavier rail than yards which saw mostly boxcars. hoppers are  usually loaded to their weight capacity but boxcar loads tend to "cube out" that is the available cubic footage of the boxcar will be filled before the load ever comes near the weight rating of the car.

[skooksteve]

guess I still don't have an answer to my question...

[rogertra]

guess I still don't have an answer to my question...

About what code is EZ track?

It was answered earlier.

[Desertdweller]

Steve,

As Roger said in his post, HO E-Z Track is code 100.

Storing cars is a common way for modern shortlines to raise a little revenue.  There are two basic ways this is done:  a daily charge for each car stored; or a track lease to the car owner.  Otherwise unused sidetracks can be seen filled with cars for this reason.  I even worked for one railroad where the west several miles of main line track was used for car storage!

While this might result in more on-line cars for your model railroad, it is not conducive to action.

On the subject of yards:  Cars that are sitting in yards are not making money for anyone.  Ideally, yard tracks should be kept as clear of cars as possible-so the cars are actually being used in trains where they can generate revenue.  Some cars are always going to be found in active yards (being sorted into trains), but they should not be the same ones from one day to the next.

The current trend in full-sized train operation is to minimize use of yards.  A major railroad will try to make do with only a few major yards.  Emphasis is on dedicated trains all carrying the same type of cargo:  unit coal or grain trains, for instance, or intermodal trains operated for one major shipper.  The mixed-freight type train that requires switching yards is becoming less common on Class One railroads, as short line and regional railroads take over this type of business.  These smaller railroads sometimes operate trains over Class One railroads to handle traffic the big railroad does not want to deal with.

Les

[rogertra]

Steve.

What Les said. 

[akinght]

I see this is where my ignorance of rail operations is going to come shining through.  Please do forgive me.  A "line" that butts up to an industry or business that requires rail support is then called a spur?  I'll use two different examples to cover a wide range of potentials.  An industry such as a newspaper company that takes delivery of massive rolls of paper via a box car and a mining operation.  For the newspaper operation how then does the paper product get from the main line to the business?  Would the product be dropped at a rail yard then a short line operation move the product to the business?  A mining operation would fill ore cars for processing on a "spur". Once the consist had been completed how then would that consist make it's way to a processing plant.  Would the consist roll on the main with a dedicated loco or would the operator of the Class One line delegate how the ore got to its processing plant?  I guess the bigger question here is might there be a good book detailing rail operations at a basic level that I should read.  Suddenly the idea of putting together a layout seems slightly more complicated...if I wish for it to resemble something close to an actual rail operation.

[jward]

in the case of the newsprint cars, they'd make their way to and from the spur on a local freight which stops at all the spurs as needed to service he industries. these originate and terminate at a yard, and often run as "turns" which end their run at the same place they started from. at the yard, the locals cars are sorted, at least by direction to destination if at a small yard, with further sorting done at a major yard.

the mine is a bit different. now, most mineral trains run as unit trains and shuttle back and forth between mine and customer. but originally they were serviced by local trains called mine runs, which ran as turns out of a yard. at the yard, they were sorted similar to the newsprint cars.

it should be noted that some commodities, coal and plastic pellets come to mind, are loaded well before they are needed by the customer. these cars are then staged in a storage yard until needed. as an example, when i worked with the railroad i regularly worked with a coal train which served a power plant. the power company played the spot market, and when the price of coal dropped they would order as many trains as possible. but they were only able to unload one per day, so there were times we'd have as many as six trains staged in and around our home terminal.

[skooksteve]

Sorry, I had a semi-senior moment and didn't see the info in the quote box. Thanks to all of you for being kind to a new guy who's still learning the basics. I should have started this hobby when I was younger but life derailed me