Does my yard have to be flat?

If it's single ended and downhill toward the bumpers it's fine, it would just help keep cars parked in place.  For obvious reasons you don't want it downhill away from the bumpers. 

If the yard is double ended, I would want it flat so cars don't roll around.  

I agree with BoilerMaker's comments.   Up to 2% downhilll toward the bumper might be an acceptable limit, you are much less than that.

It is best to keep the turnouts on the level, when you can.

I agree with the above with a couple of comments.

Is the yard setup with classification tracks as part of a switching layout, or is the yard more a staging yard?  I personally think if you plan to do switching in the yard it needs to be flat, whether single or double ended, to prevent cars from coupling when you don't want them to.

If it is a staging yard where full trains are parked and will stay together, the engine would keep the train from rolling on a shallow grade like that.  This is assuming you don't change your trains very often.  If you regularly build trains or take them off the track in a staging yard, go with the above advise from BoilerMaker.

Neither yards nor sidings need to be flat.  A bell crank (below the surface of the layout) can raise and lower a wood or metal rod high enough to prevent a car or cut of cars from rolling in either direction. When you want the cars to remain in place, raise the rod above the height of the axles. When ready to roll, lower the rod.  John in Lansing, ILL

The true test of this question is, do the cars roll on that amount of slope? My guess is that 1" in 144"  (0.7%) isn't enough to make a car roll. Try it.

Not sure if it is till being done but real life RR's have used what is called a hump yard. As mentioned above the bumper end of the yard tracks were down hill. The main switching turnout was up hill. Cars would be pushed until gravity took over and they rolled on their own. By selective routing through turnouts the car would go to the yard track it belonged to. This saved a lot of time and money operating the yard switcher.

Joe

Some video tips......

Click here to learn about model train yards.

Gary

Yes, you can park a cr on a sloping track.  It will stay put if the rolling resistance is less that the component of weight in the downslope direction.  The easiest way to determine how much slope your yard can tolerate is to:

1. Take a straight piece of track mounted to a straight piece of wood,
2. Then individually place different cars on the track,
3. slowly raise one end of the board until the first cat starts to roll,
4. Mark/measure the height that you raised the end,
5. Repeat with other cars until you find the lowest height to start a car rolling.

You can compute the slope of the angle from the height ans length of the board.  You have basically computed the static value of rolling friction.  There is the kinematic value of rolling friction which is less than the former.  What it means is that if you bump a car it will take off rolling and not stop.

So choose a slope about half that you computed above.  You can check by taking your car that rolls the easiest and set it on the sloped track, bump it, and see if it stops.

Much has been done to reduce friction, Derlin wheels, needle point axles, etc., so I don't expect

Jan

Don Merz 070317 posted:

Newbie building a layout following a plan from CTT. I notice that the yard rises left to right about 1 inch in the original plan over a span of about 12 feet. Is that okay? Or should I ensure that the yard tracks are completely flat?

Don

 

That is only a .007% grade.  Nothing at all to worry about.  Very few if any o-gauge are going to ride that slope solo.

Don,

I agree with everyone, you shouldn't have a problem.  Please bring the plan along Friday when you come to my house.  If it is from CTT in the last 4 years. I should have a copy.  We can look it over together.

SantaFeJim posted:

Don Merz 070317 posted:

Newbie building a layout following a plan from CTT. I notice that the yard rises left to right about 1 inch in the original plan over a span of about 12 feet. Is that okay? Or should I ensure that the yard tracks are completely flat?

Don

 

That is only a .007% grade.  Nothing at all to worry about.  Very few if any o-gauge are going to ride that slope solo.

Pesky decimal points!  One inch over 12 feet is actually 0.7 percent.

I don't know how much of a problem this will be, but if you are trying to couple going downslope, the car waiting to be coupled may drift downhill when the couplers make contact and not couple, 

Jan

Find a hump yard video on youtube and watch.

You might want to add slope after that, lol.

If I ever do another yard, it will have at least one hump track, no doubt's.

Bob posted:

Pesky decimal points!  One inch over 12 feet is actually 0.7 percent.

You are correct sir.  Next time I will clean my glasses before using my calculator.  Do you think the IRS would buy that as an excuse?