Staging is often treated as the 'necessary evil' of model railroads. Every railroad is a network of point-to-point routes, and modeling them requires a place to hold trains entering and departing the routes, whether mainline trains just passing through or trains being switched out. Typically, staging is 'off-layout' - either in a separate room, above or below the main layout or off in a corner. Staging - especially if it is 'passive' train storage - can take up nearly as much room as the featured layout. When I built my first layout, recognizing staging as a big 'waste of valuable space' for modeling, I reluctantly added it as an afterthought. That was a mistake and raised a big question for railroad modeling . . .
Is the evil of staging its necessity or how it is relegated to the shadows of a layout?
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| Staging yard, modeled scene . . . or both? Current coach yard showcasing one of the new Pullman 8-section buffet-lounge cars from The Coach Yard (2025). These specialized cars will allow Pullman operations to shine with their own facilities, which are featured in the background. This view illustrates how a coach yard performs both duties of staging and active operation, which is called 'active staging.' |
Rethinking staging's place
I got a lot of operating experience under my belt after I started building my current layout, which taught me a lot about the critical role of staging in a good operation, as well as the how different staging methods work. As I got serious about building for operation, I quickly learned how much any operation depends on having the right staging capacity and integration into the routing of trains on/off the layout. Staging needs the ability to access and change consists, ability to turn trains to change directions (a unique requirement in operating passenger trains), and the capacity for a multiple of trains and cars that are on the layout at any given time. The more I built and operated jobs on my layout, the more I had to stop and think about staging, and the more it became a problem.
Put simply, staging can make or break layout operations. So, if staging is necessary to good layout operation, why put it 'off-layout?'
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| A panorama of the staging yard on the current layout shows it to be below the main terminal. While it has the right length (22' average) of track for handling large trains, it can use more capacity. |
Staging is a yard function
No matter how they operating, staging areas are yards. They have other functions, including troubleshooting and consisting trains, positioning/turning them to enter the layout, and, of course, storing trains before and after their runs. Most layouts have a main yard of sorts - usually a freight yard - for assembling trains or transferring between trains. I've observed that operators love yard work (not necessarily the garden variety, though). That means that a typical layout has at least three yards if one counts the staging at either end of the mainline route. In many ways the difference between staging and working yards on a layout is simply in the choice on which is worthy of modeling.
Staging is a core passenger train function
As my passenger modeling matured over time, the yard function became even more critical to effective passenger train operation. But passenger trains put special demands on yards above and beyond what freight handling requires. Specifically, passenger trains are consisted by types of cars (headend, coaches, sleepers, dining/lounge) in specific order, requiring the yard to handle the train lengths and keeping consists in order. Also, passenger trains are long and directional, where cars (coaches especially) need to face forward as determined by a railroad's rules.
Furthermore, vestibule orientation (front or back of car) matters, so cars need to be switched to protect that orientation. And passenger train yards require longer tracks and leads to handle 15-car trains and power, keeping all correctly-oriented. All of these nuances put special demands on passenger yard construction and operation. This is equally true for yards on layout and staging, and prototype railroads relied on coach yards to perform these operations.
Promoting staging from back room to main attraction
My layout was built to showcase passenger trains and their operation. The new layout will do the same, incorporating the many lessons my first layout taught me. First and foremost, staging will be promoted from an offline to main function of the new layout. And it will be modeled. Prototype railroads used coach yards to prepare trains and store extra cars as needed for increased demand and protecting essential train functions, most notably dining/lounge cars, sleeping accommodation. My current layout added a stage yard for performing these operations, but its limited capacity hampered its function. This will be corrected in the new layout.
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| The coach yard in Cascadia has a capacity of 35 cars over 6 tracks. Though impressive, its function is limited by not having enough lead, runarounds or ability to turn cars. |
Coach yards were the nerve centers of passenger train and depot operations - especially at major terminal cities. Cascadia being set in the Pacific Northwest, one only needs to look to Seattle, Portland and Oakland as examples of major terminal hubs for modeling. Additionally, Pullman Pool operation, with its 1800 pool cars together with the hundreds of cars leased to the Pool from the railroads, required space in major yards, as well as its own network of facilities strategically located at major terminal hubs. The interaction between the railroads' own coach yard function and Pullman fleet operation added a unique dimension to passenger train operation worth modeling.
Expanding operations: Wanting to model a fully-functioning coach yard as the natural extension of a major passenger terminal, the new coach yard will become the new hub of passenger car switching. The coach yard is active staging, where trains are consisted and readied for their journeys on the mainline. Like the prototype, the coach yard with Pullman service hub will become the busiest place of the layout for passenger trains. A full capacity coach yard keeps the layout busy as well but efficient, with depot operations kept to the fast turnover of mail and express terminal jobs, and transfers of cars between trains.
Multiple specializations: With passenger trains being the main attraction of the layout, its staging operations will follow the prototype and become a central feature of the layout. And it should be modeled as a coach yard with all of its specialized facilities and the jobs associated with them. Facilities include:
- Car shops with transfer table for keeping the fleet safe and service-ready
- 'Locker' buildings for for keeping the supplies of fresh linens, toiletries, and various sundries used to provision the many car types - particularly sleeping cars (Pullman operated)
- Commissary for dining and lounge car provisioning (railroads took pride in their food and had signature food items, such as the 'Northern Pacific Big Baked Potato,' 'Southern Pacific Salad Bowl,' etc.)
- Pullman Commissary for provisioning its fleet of 'restaurant cars' (see previous post)
- Pullman office and section house for its traveling staff of Pullman porters and conductors
- Electrical and battery house for repairing the complex electrical systems on cars
- Mechanical shops for keeping the cars in good working order (major repairs sent cars to the car shop)
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| View into Southern Pacific's Mission Yard (Los Angeles) ca. 1954 shows a coach yard at its finest - a vast prototype staging area for passenger trains with the volume and variety of cars needed to handle the fluctuating demand of passenger travel of the era. This picture of a major facility illustrates how the coach yard is the hub of a good passenger operation. |
Moving cars among these different tracks and their work can be a job in itself. Add to that the daily routines of switching out passenger trains for their next job, switching Pullmans to meet demand fluctuations, and building trains for special events such as tourist specials, convention specials and holiday travel, and the coach yard becomes the busiest part of the passenger operation.
So let's take the coach yard out of the shadows and put it in the spotlight. . .
Staging plan for center of operations
Extensive research of prototype coach yards - both railroad terminal and Pullman fleet hubs - has yielded a design that combines passenger train staging with active coach yard operation. This design features the coach yard as a layout in itself, fully modeled and operating like a prototype, and incorporated into the overall operation of the main layout with its towns and mainline journeys. In a designated 'room' strategically located at the east and west ends of the mainline run, this coach yard with integrated freight yard will be the heart of the layout. Here's the plan:
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| Conceptual plan for the new staging operation on the Cascadia 2.0 layout shows how it will be modeled as a major city terminal yard complete with full-capacity coach yard with engine facilities, reverse loop for turning trains and cars, together with local freight sorting yard and main yard for both passenger and freight trains. The room's generous dimensions enable multiple operators to move freely to perform all of its essential functions. |
My plan being to have a special room built for the new layout, it will offer a number of advantages over the current plan. First and foremost, the entire layout, including this yard operation, will be on a single level, with track height at 48" above the floor. My older knees, along with those of many of my friends, are already thanking me. Also, at 12' x 30', the yard room is large enough to provide ample leads and for all switching jobs and wide aisles (5.5' minimum) for crews to move freely to get work done. At a single level, the yard will have switching panels, portable desktops, clipboard slots and card locations to make operations easier and fun.
When positioned as a central feature of a layout, a prototype-grounded staging yard that can handle both freight and passenger trains is a modeling opportunity. Cascadia being a busy convergence of multiple railroads with a variety of passenger trains, the main terminal hub that feeds it would be placed on the West Coast. Portland and Seattle in the 1950s handled at least six major railroads with their passenger trains, including: Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Spokane Portland & Seattle, Milwaukee Road.
My freelanced interpretation of these combined hubs and their terminal yards will be aptly named as 'Seaport' (a hybrid of these two terminal cities). As a West Coast terminus of all the railroads, it will be located as the western point of the operation and serve as the hub for passenger train switching. Because it also must connect the eastern point of the mainline, this yard will collect eastbound trains and close the loop, which is another function of staging. All arriving trains either will be switched and rebilled or just rebilled for their next assignment. This busy hub will be fun to model as the heart of a big West Coast city.
When I visited George Sellios's Franklin and South Manchester layout in July 2024, I got to see first-hand how a staging yard can come to life when modeled, and I leave you with these images I took of it (all photos by this author):
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| Series of images taken by the author of the main staging yard of the Franklin and South Manchester layout. These images illustrate how staging can be modeled to become a main attraction of a layout. They also showcase how a staging yard presents an excellent opportunity to capture the excitement of big city railroading through the creative use of ground cover and details and many backdrop types and techniques. |
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