Re: (erielack) Tools for calculating yard sizes (sorta EL related, at least t...

["Henry W Jarusik" <hwjpa_@_fastem.com>]

Paul:

Surely you'll include Silver Lake :)

What I can't figure out from the original post was whether you're going
to do your layout as a point - to - point or as a loop.  [my plans = a
loop, since I've already framed a 12 x 33 area out of the basement
finishing project]

Henry






On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 19:59:21 EST, Dlw1el2_@_aol.com said:
> In a message dated 12/16/2004 3:47:15 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
> paultup_@_lucent.com writes:
>  
>  
>  
> Paul
> In the real world the number of tracks would be decided by the number of  
> blocks ( blocks of cars ) that you needed to classify.  Most modern and 
> large 
> hump yards are always maxed out on there classification tracks.  Many 
> times a 
> given track humped on third shift has cars destine for destination  A. As
> soon 
> as that track is made solid and pulled by a crew, Usually from the  other
> end, 
> it will then become a designated track for destination B. It may even 
> change 
> a third time on the next shift.  Usually this is for  smaller
> destinations or 
> destinations which have only cars coming in on one or  two trains to be 
> humped.  Sometimes when space is real tight, a track will  be slushed
> together and 
> then rehumped or switched from the other end, further  breaking down the 
> destinations. This is basically a no, no, and something a real  road
> would try to 
> avoid, but sometimes the reswitching time is more beneficial  than taking
> the 
> cars in a big slushed block to a destination that has far less  tracks,
> is flat 
> switched, and just plain time consuming. A good example of this  was the 
> Dover Crews and the local Trainmaster trying to get the M&E cars 
> classified as a 
> separate block at Allentown, instead of the Dover crews having  to drill
> them 
> out of the Dover Block, over one switch, usually at Washington.  The
> Dover 
> crews never won that battle. Allentown always insisted there were not 
> enough 
> tracks available.
>  
> So, your first contemplation should be on how many blocks  you will need
> to 
> have for freights starting out of Croxton.   Blocks  should be calculated
> by 
> the number of cars destine for that location, or  distribution point.
> Some 
> Possibilities might be:
>  
> Silver Lake,   If your going to  have the Orange Br?
> Boonton  :)   Naaaaaa  LOL
> Dover or Denville,  for those local  customers.
> CNJs,   for Lake Jct.
> Port Morris,  for westward locals out  of there?
> Wests,  For cars destine west of Port  Morris.
>  
> Or if Port is going to be a big yard, and location of locals, then all 
> but 
> Silver Lakes could be classified as Port Morris cars.  Your  option. The
> EL 
> dropped cars via the through freights at many  locations.  Under the
> Lackawanna 
> this would never have happened, or not  nearly to the same extent. Almost 
> everything would have been sent  to Port Morris, and then classified to a
> local out 
> of  there.
>  
> To make for a more realistic operation I would consider robing space from 
> your classification yard to have an authentic receiving and departure
> yard or  
> shall we say tracks, since you probably can't have three separate yards.
> Just  
> having several long tracks for the latter two functions might be suffice,
> if  
> space and confinements require.
>  
> Just some thoughts. :)
>  
> Bob
>  
>  
> 
> Hi  folks,
> 
> In doing my every-so-often layout planning, I was  thinking ahead to 
> operations. I plan on modeling, as many of you already know,  the Boonton
> Line, from 
> Croxton to Port Morris. West of Port Morris is  represented by a staging
> yard, 
> but the east end "is" the staging yard. Trains  would terminate at
> Croxton 
> where two crews would go about breaking down trains  and making new ones
> to be 
> sent out (for example, road freights would arrive,  crews would break up
> the 
> trains into locals, which would then go out and  disperse the cars, then
> return 
> with cars to go out, Croxton would arrange  these into westbound road
> trains, 
> and repeat).
> 
> My  question is, has anyone ever done any sort of calculating to figure
> out 
> how  many yard tracks you'd need for a typical operating session? I
> originally  
> envisioned Croxton as a 12- or 13-track yard (how's THAT for selective  
> compression!), with 15-20 foot tracks. Then my analytical mind started
> going,  and 
> I began to wonder about the following variables:
> 
> *  Accounting for trains coming in off the "Erie side" (staging)
> * Accounting for traffic fluctuation (7 car trains one day, 23 car trains 
> another)
> * "Bottleneck" times - when many road freights  arrive in rapid-fire
> fashion, 
> will there be enough yard room?
> 
> I was  contemplating doing some Excel spreadsheets to figure out what's 
> happening in  the yard, but then the variable and other factors made this
> a 
> non-trivial  task, so I was going to write a database-driven application
> to simulate 
> a "day  of operation." It would show the yard at different times of the
> day to 
> see how  clogged/capable it is in terms of handling the traffic. I can
> also 
> do "what  if" scenarios to see how elastic the yard's capability is. The 
> database would  contain the trains, train arrival times (for road
> freights), train 
> time "out  on the road" (for locals), and eventual car destinations (down
> to 
> the local  train level, not town). The program would then be able to
> easily flag 
> if the  yard would be able to handle the traffic desired for the session.
> If 
> not, I  could modify the number of yard tracks, length of tracks, or
> number of 
> trains.  Would anyone be interested in this? (freeware, if I actually 
> complete  it)
> 
> Yes, it's tangentially EL-related, but to me, it's completely 
> EL-related, so 
> any advice anyone can offer is greatly  appreciated.
> 
> - Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
- -- 
  Henry W Jarusik
  hwjpa_@_fastem.com

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