Designing Customer Rail Facilities?

[boleyd]

Designing the facilities at a customer's location... There is only room for a single ended track to service the customer. If the serving train drives in the forward mode to that track it will have to back out. That may place it in position to only dive backward to the next destination. A "Y" where the customer track (siding) joins the main track is a possible solution. But is that the best or only solution. The objective is to avoid long backing scenarios which I assume is normal rail practice?

 

[mtldrm38]

Backing in to a customer is a well known real life practice but I have seen many route builders using the multi industry and double ending the spur so they can load the cars more easier etc... But the issue is off a main line is the train going to run along the industry instead of the main in which majority of the time it does so you are forced with adding a trackmark on the main in which in turn slows the passing train down... choose your headache wisely...

 

[bcesarec]

Designing the facilities at a customer's location... There is only room for a single ended track to service the customer. If the serving train drives in the forward mode to that track it will have to back out. That may place it in position to only dive backward to the next destination. A "Y" where the customer track (siding) joins the main track is a possible solution. But is that the best or only solution. The objective is to avoid long backing scenarios which I assume is normal rail practice?

The scenario you describe is industrial siding and usually it's dead end. I haven't seen many real life places where they have an exit on the other side. Usually, the locomotive would back into the siding and then move on, while the wagons stay. When you have to go, you just couple the loco and you're ready to go. That's because locos are expensive and usually we don't have enough.
Like this: (the arrow points towards "front" where locomotive is)
------<-----\--------main
-------<----------------siding
What if you come from other direction (facing the turn)?
------>-----\--------main
------->----------------siding
Very bad idea as loco is stuck untill you finish (un)loading and it can take quit long time.
So, to solve this you have to run around and this requires one extra track:
turn from main to (1) as whole. Leave wagons and drive forward to the next switch and return to main. Reverse towards the switch and return to (1) and couple on the back and push the wagons to the siding.
----->-----\---------------- ------main
------------- ------>------/--------\ --------(1)
-------<----------------siding
That's why most industrial sidings in Europe aren't in the middle of nowhere, but quit close to the nearby yard or even passanger station, so you use these resources to manuver.
Don't forget that backing in real life requires one extra person for signaling (practically and legally) on the back, so you try to do as much as you can alone (running around) and than someone arrives to help you back as little as possible into the siding. That's also why they invented the yards... But that's other story.
Have a look at https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ for inspirations.

 

[wreeder]

Designing the facilities at a customer's location... There is only room for a single ended track to service the customer. If the serving train drives in the forward mode to that track it will have to back out. That may place it in position to only dive backward to the next destination. A "Y" where the customer track (siding) joins the main track is a possible solution. But is that the best or only solution. The objective is to avoid long backing scenarios which I assume is normal rail practice?

In America at least, local switching was done via a "turn" or an out and back trip with the train. The train would service all the trailing point spurs on the outbound run and upon reaching the end of the run at a small town or just a passing siding would run around the train and couple to the rear. It would then return to the yard working all the now trailing point spurs which of course were facing point spurs on the outbound trip. There by only having to back in to spot cars.

 

[boleyd]

Thanks... Good info on real rail tactics.