Hi Vince,
My Intermodal yard has 3 arrival tracks that run alongside each pair of multiple ramps. I usually run 1 ramp to unloadand the other to load.
The yard has 2 of these setups.
The reason for the arrival tracks is that you cant split a long train into sections by pulling it through the Cranes.
You can have one crane cover the whole train but it is boring and takes forever.
When a train comes in it drops the wagons and gets out of the way.
The switcher is situated at the rear end of the ramps. It comes into the rear of the consist uncouples a cut and pulls it into a lead. Then it pushes the cut to the front of the front ramp.
The crane is waiting at the front of the ramp.
The switcher needs to uncouple quickly because once the crane starts work the loco gets frozen and cant be controlled.
The switcher goes back and makes another cut and places it on the second ramp.
It then gets the final cut and places that on the last ramp. The cuts are 19,19,22, because the Uncouplez From has a maximum of 20.
Each ramp has a bypass track with crossovers between each ramp so access is available at front and rear of each cut.
Once the cranes have finished with the cuts, I go to the rear of each one in turn and pull it off the ramp onto the bypass track until it clears the ramp work area.
Then the switcher pushes it back to the front of the ramp again. At this point the crane is at the rear of the cut.
When the crane starts working again it picks the first container in front of it and carries it to the front wagon and then goes on and loads the wagons as normal from the front trucks.
Origially I pulled the wagons from the front of the ramp. but I found the crane worked from the back and this not very efficient.
The other thing I do while the cut is out of the ramp, is to throw the switch that controls which truck it needs ,loaded or empty. By the time the cut is back in place the ramp is almost filled again. I run the trucks at 1 minute intervals.
It takes 45 to 50 minutes to unload each train, then about the same to load it up again.
I run 4 switchers and dont have any signals controlling them. Mostly they are under full AI control . I just need to keep an eye on them and intervene if they have a disagreement.
The JR scripts and assets are trully great and very realistic in operation. It is a pity they have not carried it further to handle trailers.
Hope this helps you understand a bit better.
Cheers,
Mike