Im sorry but things like this dont impress me the scenery is top notch, yes, watching trains go in loops gets old very, very quick, one thing I’d love to see in one of these public displays, is how real railroads operate, showing a train being put together in a yard, being sent out over the road, terminating at an other yard, the train being broken up and the cars put into other trains, or being sent out to industries, if done correctly it could hold joe publics attention, instead of just sending trains in dumbed down circles.
“it could hold joe publics attention, instead of just sending trains in dumbed down circles.”
But that would lose the interest of Joe Public in no time, especially children. They want to see the trains move; operations are of little interest to most of them. Our club has a simple layout [circle with two passing sidings and three industrial sidings] for public display at community events. As long as the trains are running, you can keep spectators. But a stalled train, a derailment, or a long uncoupling movement and they are off to find the popcorn.
I agree about circles being dull, but as the former owner of a public display, anything else is cost prohibitive because of the labor. John Q Public still drools when he sees a choo choo, but we modelers need a bigger thrill.
That layout is AWESOME[8D][:p].To answer some previous posters,the public wants to see trains moving. They do NOT want to stand around for 20 minutes and watch a train be broken up and put away in half a dozen tracks!