North Yard

Yards are one of my favorite items to operate on a layout. So, I have developed some definite preferences for a yard. If space and traffic allow for it, I prefer double-ended yards, particularly if I have multiple switch engines working. This way, each can have a yard ladder to work, and any track can become a thru track as needed. Yard leads that do not interfere with mainline operations are nice, but I find the often presented rule that the lead should be as long as the longest track to be a bit unnecessary. Frankly, I don't often classify blocks of 30 or 40 cars in one pull. not only does it often overpower the engines, but it also tempts fate in pushing and pulling strings back and forth through turnouts. I prefer to have leads of at least a reasonable length, maybe 10-12 cars, and I am not unhappy if they are longer, but I do not buy into the leads needing to be as long as the yard. Finally, I avoid double slip switches like a curse. While they look nice, I see too many derailments and too many crews fussing with them to get them right.

The DRGW North Yard was built in 1948 as a primary classification yard several miles north of the original Burnham Yard and Shops complex.

Schematic of North Yard from Railblazer.

The whole yard is about 26 tracks wide with an engine servicing facility on the south (left above) end of the yard and a TOFC yard next to the Cargill elevator on the north end. To the east (bottom) is the BN TOFC facility and also to the south is Renneck Yard. I wanted my model to be substantial enough to produce the mass of the a classification yard, so one decision I made was to make the BN TOFC facility a joint operation with the DRGW.

One of the main features of North Yard was that this was a crew change point for coal off the Moffat to be either interchanged to head east (via BN or UP), or to be routed south over the joint line to be routed either to Kansas City, or to be interchanged there to head south to Texas. So, I wanted the yard to be long enough to also handle a coal train. I mocked up a number of coal trains, and settled on a target coal train length of 36 cars with five engines. Three of the engines will be on the point, and two will be a swing helper set on the rear. This results in a train about 15 feet long in N-scale. This length became my target design length for a coal train. I'd like it to be a bit longer, but that may not be feasible in many cases. Furthermore, I wanted to include engine servicing on the south end of the yard, the signature Cargill elevator to the north end, and the signature Denver North Yard Tower at the south end of the yard (at full scale).

Denver North Yard Plan.

My plan has 13 classification tracks, and 4 of these tracks are long enough for my target coal train length, although I may need to cut off the swing helpers to clear the ladders. I was also able to replicate a number of the spurs associated with the engine fueling facility on the south (right) side of the plan. Another schematic of these tracks proved useful to that effort. I still have some details to work out in this area.

DRGW North Yard Fuel Track Schematic.

I ended up adding a slight bulge to the benchwork on the right hand side to allow for a a full sized model of the North Yard tower to be included. This is another one of the full scale size structures I want on the layout. In fact, I plan to place one or more cameras in the tower so that the yard operations can be viewed on a monitor from the dispatcher's office.

The left hand side of the yard narrows so that the layout can pass through the existing doorway to the garage area. This doorway will divide North Yard from the Cargill Elevator complex. However, before I pass through the doorway, I need to include Utah Junction. Utah Junction provides a connection to the industrial north end of Denver, as well as the connection to the UP and until its demise, the Rock Island at Sandown Yard. Multiple locals could be sent out each day to the Belt Line, so it provides a significant amount of switching traffic in Denver. Furthermore, the crossings over the DRGW and BN mains are a signature design element at this end of North Yard. So, I worked them in by allowing a 15" minimum radius on this secondary trackage.

The crossings are 30 degree crossings, so they should be relatively robust mainline crossings. However, in order for this to work, it does mean that Utah Junction needs to be about 2.5" above the track at the start of south end of Renneck Yard. This allows the track exiting Utah Junction to come in above the Denver Union Terminal trackage serving Union Station, which is enough elevation difference to be one loop up in the helix. This can be accomplished with less than a 1% grade starting at the south end of Renneck Yard, and proceeding to Utah Junction. This means that both yards will likely have some grades in them, but that too is prototypical. In 2007, there was a runaway set of cars that destroyed two engines in the BN 31st Yard (to the south of North Yard).

Okay, not exactly the yards I am taking about, but nonetheless, these yards are all built come out of the South Platte River Valley - nearly flat, but not quite.

One last thing to note, I have allocated trackage to Caboose tracks, despite my 1987-1996 era. Generally, at this point most trains would not have cabooses. And I am a little undecided about whether I will limit my cabooses to the locals, or still use them on all trains. There is an argument to be made that it is plausible for cabooses to have run a few years longer on the trains through the Rockies, so I figure as I like them, I will at least leave tracks for them.

All told, my plan for North Yard has a capacity for 564 50' freight cars with 13 classification tracks. At 50% working capacity, that means that there will likely be close to 300 cars in the yard at any one time. I think that this will definitely capture the feel of a large classification yard.

Cameron Turner