For those of you still following this thread, I think we're almost at the end. As it was, going clockwise was cumbersome, so I added two more crossovers in the right-hand corners. After adding those, I decided to add the modifications I'd make if this were my layout. I've enclosed photos of 2 versions; Photo 2 is 55" version and Photo 3 is expanded 60" version. Things to note are the width of bottom decking and the width of aisle around peninsula. The 55" version accommodates up to 25" engines, the 60" up to 35" engines. Given that Bob wants to be able to pull his 30" engine into the roundhouse, I'd learn to live with the tighter aisles. Since the aisles are less than 24" to begin with, living with them as shown shouldn't be too difficult. A lot of folks like 36" aisles so 2-3 people can mill around easier, but he doesn't have that kind of space.
I also added a photo without the green upper level (Photo 1) to hopefully make it easier to see how the turntable, roundhouse and yard areas work. What you might not notice right off is that I changed the coaling tower section and the small yellow siding inside the upper green loop. ALL turnouts and curves on the lower level are now O-72 or larger to accommodate any engine he wants to run, those he buys or those his friends bring over.
As you can see, I added crossovers to the other 2 corners for a total of 4. I knew there had to be an easier way to operate and a question he asked about crossovers prompted me to rethink things. I don't know if he didn't see the lower left crossover or just thought there should be 4, but it doesn't really matter. I added the shortcut from turntable to yard, but you can operate just fine without it. Here's how I now see operations:
Counter-clockwise using shortcut
- take engine off turntable going forward using shortcut to yard
- back up to pick up consist
- pull cars out of yard going through lower leg of wye
- that's it, just keep going.
Counter-clockwise without shortcut
- take engine off turntable going backward through upper leg of Wye
- back engine past lower leg of Wye
- back engine through lower leg of Wye to pick up consist with rear coupler
- pull consist forward through lower leg of Wye
- that's it, just keep going.
Clockwise using shortcut
- take engine off turntable going backward using shortcut to yard
- back up to pick up consist with front coupler
- pull cars out of yard going through lower leg of wye
- park cars between 2 bottom crossovers
- run engine though right crossover to outer main
- run engine around consist using outer main
- run engine through left crossover to inner main
- back up to pickup consist with rear coupler
- pull consist forward
- that's it, just keep going.
Clockwise without shortcut
- take engine off turntable going forward through upper leg of Wye
- back through Wye past lower leg of Wye
- run engine through lower leg of Wye to pick up consist with front coupler
- back cars out of yard going through lower leg of wye
- park cars between 2 bottom crossovers
- run engine though left crossover to outer main
- run engine around consist using outer main
- run engine through right crossover to inner main
- back up to pickup consist with rear coupler
- pull consist forward
- that's it, just keep going.
NOTE: The only real difference without the shortcut is using the Wye to make 3-point turns to pick up a consist with the appropriate coupler (front or rear).
Cheers, Dave
Photo 1 - minus upped level
Photo 2 - 55" version
Photo 3 - 60" version
