Laying out Industries

 I am trying to layout industries on the layout. My initial plan is to have two urban districts at each end of the layout connected by a TTTO regulated main line.

I would like to develop some type of “Rule of thumb” that I can use to plot out industries on the benchwork. Something like “If the industry in question has two tracks with 12 car spots it will occupy five feet of benchwork (Including the turnout off the access track, what ever that track might be), assuming allowing 12” for a #6 turnout.

I hope/plan to have double track in front of a lot of the urban industries. How will that effect the space? I understand that there will need to be an additional turnout. 

On several layouts I’ve recently operated I notice double slips. I have seen QUITE A FEW of them on layouts built in the Eastern US (Although I experienced the first at Jon Cure’s Mojave Yard. Jon Lives in Moorpark, CA. I would consider Jon to be one of the best thinkers in Model Railroading, so unorthodox ideas, that turn out to be excellent solutions, probably come naturally to him.) How much space will I save with a double slip?

Should I abandon my personal rule of “No turnout smaller than a #6” and use more #4’s in my tight urban areas? I have to say I do not plan that ANY Locomotive larger that a switch engine will be working these areas. Will I save significant space with #4’s? Will be able to achieve better “Track geometry” using commercial turnouts (I do not plan to hand lay ANY track) with #4’s?

Using a different layout/geometry in 6’ I can get roughly 14 car spots plus a small space is created in the benchwork for some sort of associated tiny structure, roughly 4” x 6”. I believe the scenic advantages to this layout are worth the loss of one car spot.

Using a double slip to access industries THROUGH the middle of existing tracks I achieve 26 (or 27) car spots in 9’-6”, which is a net increase of 2-3 car spots. Also it looks, at first glance, that while it would take four feet of benchwork to cross over (from the running track, across the first industry track, and reaching the second industry track) with conventional turnouts, it only takes TWO FEET of benchwork to accomplish the same thing with a double slip. 

I will need to mock this up, as I have NO experience with double slips.

Using convention #6 turnouts to create a cross over to access all the industry yields a geometry that is 10’ long and has 26 car spots. So in the SAME space, using a double slip yields three more car spots, I THINK.




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