Staging: Pueblo, Kansas, UP Wyoming, Utah and Granby

In any layout like mine, the staging plan is important. In my case, from Denver, I have staging connecting to Pueblo/Kansas (DRGW), Wyoming (UP), Montana (BNSF), Utah/Granby (DRGW) and what I am calling Phippsburg for the DRGW Craig Branch.

The main line from Tabernash enters the helix and make a loop to drop down to the upper staging yards representing points west. I named the two yards Granby (the next town west) and Utah (the ultimate destination.

Western Slope Helix Entrance. Point A, connects to the next lower lap of the helix.

Granby/Utah Staging Interface with the Helix. Point B continues down several laps to the Pueblo/Kansas staging yards.

Granby and Utah Staging Yards.

The Granby Staging Yard consists of 10 stub ended tracks, each between 181" and 196" long. The wye connection to the helix allows trains to enter from or depart to the eastern end of the layout (down the helix), or to the western end of the layout (up the helix). To turn trains, the Utah staging yard is used, and is connected to the helix also via a wye. Trains can easily pass between the two staging yards to be turned with limited impact on the helix. The Utah Staging Yard has 5 loops between 394" and 423" long, allowing for trains to be staged elephant style. Utah and Granby reside below Winter Park and Fraser on the layout.

Taking a couple more turns of the layout via point B, allows access to additional staging yards.

Pueblo/Kansas/Wyoming Staging Yard Connections to the Helix.

The Pueblo/Kansas and Wyoming staging yards connect similarly to the helix as the Granby/Utah staging yards. The primary difference is with the Wyoming Staging Yard for the UP connections to Denver. It is accessed from the eastern end of the layout only and so receives or dispatches trains only to that end of the layout.

UP Wyoming Staging Yard.

Trains to/from the UP in Wyoming use a stub ended staging yard on the western wall of the layout room. These trains will not automatically restage and will need to be worked between sessions. However, these trains represent yard transfers to the DRGW at North Yard, and so four tracks should be sufficient for two operating sessions and restaging may simply involve swapping power end to end. The tracks range from 110" to 118" in length. This yard ends up below the line between Fraser and Tabernash.

Pueblo/Kansas Staging Yards.

The Pueblo and Kansas staging yards look identical to the Granby and Utah yards above with 10 and 5 tracks respectively of the same lengths as the yards are the other ends. I may decide that a single set of yards is sufficient, but extra staging is usually useful. One thing to note is that the Kansas Staging Yard also will be needed to turn BNSF trains southbound on the Joint Line to send them to the BNSF Montana staging yard located elsewhere in the layout space. This is the result of the configuration of Prospect Junction with respect to the helix, which directs Joint Line trains to climb the helix, while the BNSF trains headed North out of Denver drop down to a lower staging yard.

To complete the overview of these staging yards, I also have included the next helix lap down below the Pueblo/Kansas Helix interface. This gives a complete picture of how trains enter/exit the Pueblo/Kansas Staging Yards.

Lower helix connection to the Pueblo/Kansas Staging Yards. Note the line at D, which connects to the Pueblo Staging Yard.

All in all, finding a configuration of yards that gave me the capacity I wanted, along with the flexibility to turn trains and exit either east or west, was a challenge. But it works. These staging yards all fit in on shelves above the scenic sections of Renneck Yard/Union Station on the lower deck, and below the scenic sections of Winter Park and Fraser on the upper deck.

I have also mentioned Montana and Phippsburg previously, but I will save those for the next post.

Cameron Turner