The trains should be able to run Eastbound for a while, then Westbound for a while.
Or you can say the trains are running Northbound, then have the next trains run Southbound.
Empty cars in one direction, loaded cars in the other direction.
Yeah, my first layout, a 4’x8’, had an elevated crossover to effect a change of direction, and an inside loop to perform the same task.
Perhaps that’s why I never saw any appeal to NASCAR racing. [swg]
Wayne
I usually run clockwise. I never really gave it any thought until now, but I guess I just like the way it looks from my perspective better than counter-clockwise. The only exception to this would be my Shay, which I usually run counter-clockwise so I can see the Shay motor on the loco’s right side when it runs past me.
Wayne, gotta agree with you on NASCAR racing. BORING.
That’s why I used to love stock car racing so much. The stock cars ran CW and CWW simultaneously. [(-D]
Rich
Yup, no matter what your layout’s track plan is, Shay Locomotives can only run facing one direction.
-Kevin
Unless, you’re modeling the Chicago and Northwestern, I’d run clockwise. C&NW would run widdershins, Ya know, we have a problem, we’re raising a generation that may have never seen an analog clock face, just digital, and have no idea what we mean.
I have nothing but analog clocks in my house, I like to be able to see the passage of time, not just numbers changing on a display.
Through decades of kids coming over to our house… all of them could read a clock face and tell time.
I think people will be able to read a clock face for at least another generation or two.
-Kevin
And —
DIAL a phone.
Regards, Ed
Although I had 2 loops on my last layout to both is the answer, as a child when I had one now I think about it it always went clockwise.
I do prefer to run both ways though from a wear point of view on my steam locomotives. Paranoia, aspbergers or good mechanical sense. Who knows.
On my first HO scale layout back in 2004, I modelled the C&NW, so I ran trains counter-clockwise on the outer main and clockwise on the inner main. I have retained that directional theme on my current layout even though the C&NW is not the main road name on my layout anymore.
Rich
A railroad runs in both directions, but as you know, a freight train never runs back on the same track pulling the exact same string of cars…[;)].
An oval with a reversing loop is the same thing as an oval without a reversing loop, unless you run passenger trains.
What about a monorail? Don’t they run in one direction and circle the same place over and over again?
The only Monorails I have ridden are in Seattle and Walt Disney World Resort.
In Seattle, they go back and forth, at least on the route I rode.
In Walt Disney World, the original route goes in a loop from ther parking lot, to the Contemporary Hotel, to the Magic Kingdom, and then back to the parking lot.
Newer routes added in the resort can be loops or back and forth. All WDW monorail trains have control cabs at both ends.
-Kevin
Yep. I was really happy when I finally put my balloon track in, as it made it really easy to get things running in both directions.
They had a balloon track around the roundhouse in Vancouver to turn’em around or it would be a dip in the Pacific.
Though my trains run both CW and CCW on the same lap.[:O]
The one I used to take to work in Kuala Lumpur was an out and back set up with cabs at both ends, but the one I worked on in Riyadh was a loop. So both set-ups are out there.
Oh, yes, this topic has been going on for at least 50 years that I’m aware of. I remember going to a couple bars in my youth where the patrons would request the dancers to “get 'em going in both directions”.