I have the tracks layed for my 21 foot shelf layout. I have runarounds, switchbacks and sidings. Even have an interchange section. But what do I do with my passenger stuff?
LIONS lake passenger trains. They come with lots of tasty passengers.
A nice passenger terminal would fit on a shelf layout. You would have the teriminal over here, and “out there” over at the other end. Commuter push-pull operations would work nicely, but so would an ariving longdistance train, it would have to be broken up by the switchers and the cars taken to the car yard for servicing and restocking, and then they would have to reqbuild the train for its next edparture.
If you are using back to back E units (or maybe a GG1) you could just run it around the consist at the other end and then bring it back. You could stage three or four pax trains off stage and bring them in as scheduled for rebuild and departure. Or you could just use the old 0-5-0 switcher outh in the staging area to get a train ready for its next inbound trip.
If you have a 90’ corner in this 21 foot layout you can built the city terminal at one end and an end of the line commuter terminal at the other end.
ROAR
Do you have any staging?
Staging is used by whole trains including the locomotives and caboose, if you use them. Trains in staging come onto the layout from elsewhere in the world, do their drop offs and pick ups and then return to the other part of the world that is off layout. Hidden staging on a shelf layout is better than an Interchange. Passenger trains can use staging. If they have one coach and a few headend cars, you can switch the headend cars like freight cars.
Staging can be added to an existing layout by using exchangeable cassets or a temporary shelf that can be removed when not in use.
Do you have room for a blob at the ends? Would be nice to have room for a return loop, but if you are limited just enough space for a leg of a wye to turn engines on could help. There have also been removable or tip down sections, that can be brought up and locked into place when running trains, but out of the way when not operating.
Good luck,
Richard
You can have a coach or sleeping car be picked up and moved to staging. As a kid the PRSL placed coachs at the three wildwood New Jersey stations for early boarding and picked them up one at a time as the train worked its way out of town.
Add a mainline and highball that passenger train on the through route.
Rich
LION has a lot of passenger equpment on his subway layout thae him will no longer use. Him is plotting to build a replica of NY Penn station under one of the tables to show off this pax equipment in a static display. You could make a model with the pax wheels in a static display of a station.
ROAR