My layout is based on the Washington, Idaho and Montana Ry. Co. (WI&M) a 50 or so mile short line in the White Pine forests and wheat fields of the Palouse country in North Idaho/Eastern Washington. The WI&M never made it to Montana, but that didn’t stop them from thinking big. :lol:

There are three yards, one that interchanges with the GN and NP at Lairds, the western terminus, one that interchanges with the MILW at Bovill, the eastern terminus. The main yard for the railroad, as well as the engine service facilities and car barns is at Potlatch, about 10 miles east of the GN/NP interchange.

The “gouge” for TrainOps says that yards are “a place where ‘off-layout’ cars can enter or leave the layout.” In real life, empties enter the WI&M at either Lairds or Bovill. Since I really don’t want any off-layout cars magically appearing at Potlatch, is there a way to get around this?

Should I just not designate Potlatch as a yard, even though it is the biggest yard on the railroad? Many empties are stored here.

Steve,
The other thing about a yard is that it provides a destination for cars, as well as an origination point. If Potlatch is not designated a yard, there would be no reason for cars to go there.

So, if you want cars to end up there, you could make Potlatch Yard an industry and designate the car types that would go there; which might be all types. It sounds like the other two yards would be designated as such and would also be designated as interchanges.

I THINK that might work. Maybe Bob has some better insight?

If you’re not modeling Lairds or Bovill, I’d designate Potlatch a yard, since you want empties to go somewhere. If you have NO yards marked, then cars won’t get picked up and delivered there, except to industries.

The “a place where ‘off-layout’ cars can enter or leave the layout” describes how cars that go to a yard, and then go “off layout” for a while and come back there. Consider it a place where cars can go “somewhere else” for a while and come back.

Bruce’s idea might be the best, but you really SHOULD have at least one yard, otherwise your sidings can fill up with cars that aren’t needed, yet have no place to go.

It would be pretty easy to have Lairds and Bovill marked as Interchange Tracks. Mark Potlatch as a Yard and check “Return empties here”.

Thanks, this give me some ideas. Will check them out.

I am modeling both Lairds and Bovill, as well as Potlatch, along with a few of the sidings/industries along the way. I have a point to point layout, with a loop in the middle for when I just want to sit back and watch trains run with my grandkids.

Both Bovill and Lairds will be marked as yards and Interchange tracks, since the WI&M really didn’t have much rolling stock of its’ own beyond three steamers and some log cars for dragging the white pine out of the woods. Everything else was carried in foreign “bottoms.” Foreign cars would enter the WI&M either at Lairds via the NP or GN, or at Bovill via MILW. Usually, these loads would then be carried to their destination, though some might end up at Potlatch for a while. Empties would be collected at Potlatch for dilivery back to the parent RR.

What I want to try to do is have empties enter at Bovill/Lairds and then proceed either to their destination industry, or to Potlatch, until needed.

So, I designated Lairds and Bovill as a yard, deliver empties, and interchange, and Potlatch as yard, Deliver empties. That should work.

Next question, if I have a siding for a grain elevator, I probably should designate that as a “yard, deliver empties,” right?

Steve Featherkile said:
So, I designated Lairds and Bovill as a yard, deliver empties, and interchange, and Potlatch as yard, Deliver empties. That should work.

Next question, if I have a siding for a grain elevator, I probably should designate that as a “yard, deliver empties,” right?

I would think that it’s just a siding, not a yard. In other words, it’s an industry. It doesn’t accept any loads, put it does produce loads. So, you tell TrainOps that it produces x number of grain cars, but doesn’t need any loads. So, TrainOps will send it empties as needed.

In reality, some ““Elevators”” do accept loads… they receive loads of fertilizer, and seed… Most elevators are not just for loading out product, but also have a small farm supply attached with the elevator to provide the farmers with seed and fertilizer…