An interesting clinic presented at the NMRA MCR “Thoroughbred Limited” Convention May 13-18, 2015 by Philip Gliebe.  It’s interesting as this is an American looking largely at UK branch line layouts for inspiration.  ‘Shelf layouts’ in the USA are often (but not always) the equivalent to the UK terminus to fiddle-yard layout.  Some of his favourite layouts look a little ‘obvious’ to me, but there are some good design tips here.

I have always liked ‘Albion Yard’ and it’s as good in the flesh as the design is interesting.  British goods only layouts are not as common as in the USA, perhaps simply because we have more passenger traffic?

I also liked the simplicity of Fisherrow Yard – it sort of tempts you to buy a Dapol gauge ‘O’ O8 shunter…..

And these slides of advice for shelf layout are pretty sensible…..