In setting up trains to run in a loop as part of my layout, a question occurred to me. Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter?
Should I occasionally reverse the direction so as not to place undue wear on the same outside wheels?
Gulf
I’ve not seen that question asked before. Are you right handed or left handed?
My first two layouts were just ovals and it never occured to me to run anything but clockwise. Layouts after that had a reversing loop so I go both ways. [}:)]
If I wear the wheels off one side of my trains, I’m going to ask for recognition from Model Railroader.
Welcome to the forum. Your first few posts are moderated, so there will be a delay in them appearing.
This has been asked here before. Nearly everyone runs their trains in both directions, but it’s whatever you feel like.
Welcome to the forums GULF! I liked you better when you were B/A.[swg] Canadians may get that joke.
Yes, the question has been asked before and I think I was one of the askers so many years ago.
I run both ways as I have a balloon track and a turntable to swing things around. However, I do tend to run things anticlockwise for some reason and I have done that since Dad built me our first plywood Pacific.
For most (probably 99%+) trains, it makes no difference.
If you have Shay locmotives, run counter-clockwise!
I have one locomotive that does not like left turns, so it runs clockwise.
-Kevin
[#welcome]
I too run both CW & CCW. I have a reversing loop as well as a wye for reversing train direction. My norm is CCW mainly because I put my helix in the left side of my layout and my preference is to use the helix for downhill and the gradual 3½% grade for up on the right side of my layout.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I swear I never saw this topic before and I never heard that about Shays. Do left turns bind the mechanism?
More that you can’t see the fun side of a Shay if you run them the other way around.
Welcome to the forums, Gulf!
I have a double mainline, with trains running both directions.
However, if you follow sports or horse racing, it’s counterclockwise! For some reason, when I exercise, I walk the track counterclockwise, and so do most of the other people there. I don’t know why.
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It doesn’t matter, most run either direction, but all the prototype directional running situations I am familiar with, except for one, (where the railroad has two parallel routes and runs one in one direction and the other in the other direction), run the equivalent of “clockwise”.
North on the westernmost line and south on the easternmost line. The exception runs east on the southern line and west on the northern line.
In all cases on the prototype its a matter of grades and connections that determine which way they run.
Shays have a good side and a bad side. You always want to run them so you can see the mechanism and all the associated monkey-motion.
-Kevin
Both. On my layout, clockwise is West, counter wise, East. Trains run both ways, even with busy single track mains.
Mike.
Come to think of it, I usually set the train to run clockwise around the loop. This is not a conscious decision, so I guess it just looks better to me. But I also like to run them backwards which is usually counter clockwise.
Paul
It’s a good question, especially if a new modeler is considered the benefits and drawbacks of building the standard 4x8. While you can set up passing tracks that overcome the tendency toward a preferred direction. It’s often easier to set up sidings and spurs off the oval to all be trailing point moves in one direction.
Which direction doesn’t matter, just choose one and design to suit that basic rule. It can also be prototypical, as track being designed for significant flows of traffic will often be set up with. this same emphasis.
Runaround moves are interesting, but if you have to for practically every car then that can be limiting, YMMV.
Come to think of it, my layout has a long up and down and one way is slightly steeper than the other. Running CC is the easier climb, but only slightly. Both are under 2%.
Counter clock-wise … it’s a Nascar thing … [swg]
Mark.
Mike makes an interesting point. I’m working on a track plan for a 5’ 4" x 12’ HO oval layout without any capacity to reverse train direction. It just occurred to me that roughly half the spurs are set up in opposite directions. I’ll have to go back and make sure that I can actually use all of the spurs without trapping the locomotives regardless of which way the trains are running. I’m not averse to facing point moves. I’ll just have to make sure that I have the necessary run arounds.
Thanks Mike,
Dave
I just did a quick Google image search of tyco and Bachmann train sets. They almost all show the train going counter-clockwise on the box. Not all boxes had a curve that could be identified.
-Kevin
Thanks for your kind comments, Dave.
Sometimes you have to make compromises and making a small layout design so that it favors one direction is often a way to do that that’s frequently overlooked. This is especially so if the runarounds are limited, as they often are on small layouts. Eevn if you have them, sometimes you have to circle the layout to use them, which tends to detract from the impression of going somewhere.
I’m not sure I understand what you are saying here?
In North America most double track has always been run “right hand rule”, but there have been notable exceptions.
That would make the inner track of a double track oval clockwise and the outer track counter clockwise without regard for north, south, east or west.
And I do understand the modern idea of “two main tracks” rather than double track.
As for separate but parallel lines, geography would be a big factor, ruling grades, etc.
I’m an east coast double track modeler, everyhing is signaled for travel in both directions, but normal practice is to the right.
Sheldon