My current layout design is point to point but I plan cheats to be able to do the loop de doo when I want/need to.
Its good for testing equipment when you don’t want to take it out for a full spin on the layout. Sometime you just want to kick back and let it fly then again you will want to dig and do some serious ops.
Continuous all the way,and it can be operated also.
I have 3 separate mainline loops on my main layout, and an extension room layout that is an end point with staging. I can run 3 trains at a time, but it’s challenging because of the mountain tunnel is single track, so I have to keep track of which train needs to wait for clearance.
When I complete the extension room layout, I will run trains departing from staging out to the main layout where there are industries, and a decent sized yard. And then return back into staging.
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My layout consists of four passenger tracks, which are continuous and meet under the same train station. They all enter a tunnel on the layout where they can be staged or layover and released at different time intervals, which gives the viewer the impression they disappear on a trip while another train is returning.
A freight line continues around the whole layout and through the locomotive yard and through the same tunnel and station. Again I have control when you will see it return.
Finally on an upper level I have a commuter line, which runs continuously around stopping at different stations. It shares the main station but on the street level.
What you are asking is not “operations” vs “rail-fanning”. It is “point-to-point” vs “continuous run”.
Continuous run, if you want it, can be achieved in a number of ways, even on layouts that are intended for point-to-point operations.
One fairly common way on layouts that nominally are point to point operations is having a shared double ended staging that functions as staging for both ends of the layout.
Here is a schematic of my layout:
Looks pretty point-to-point with three staging destinations (the arrows at the end of tracks), doesn’t it ?
This is how it actually is implemented:
So by running through staging, I have continuous run. Some variant of that is fairly common in many layouts that nominally are point to point.
You also have layouts which are true point-to-point, where there is no hidden connection or turnaround loop or anything like that. Where you go out to the end of the line, run your engine around (or use a wye, or back up your train) and then come back. Far more realistic.
But if your goal is to be able to sometimes sit back and just watch trains run, and you don’t e
Prefer single track main line, point to point operation but hidden through staging or return loops would be prefered over stub staging but NOT for the continous run option. My late GER was mainly stub staging and it was a bit of a pain to back the trains out of staging, turn the power and swap ends with the van and then back the whole thing into staging again.
However, having said that, forcing myself to carry out all the foregoing is a great way to test and examine your rolling and power outside of an operating session. You tend to spot stock that needs a little TLC sooner rather than later.
Hopefully, the next GER will be double decked with off stage staging, in the form of reverse loops, in another room.
It does come down to personal preference.
I can stand for an hour, hour and a half watching my trains go round and round and round easily, once I consit them together from my small yard. When it is time to stop play, I can de-consist them to my small pur yard to “put them away”.
The under the table top Xmas tree layou only has loops of HO and N scale, and both my other half and I can watch them go around and around and around for hours too. {so, too, unfortunately, can the cats who look at them as giant rats running around on a table and sometimes curiousity gets the better of them, and fortunately so NOT the better of our trains!}
I’m into operations and all of my current/past layouts have been point to point. Having said that, having continuous run on most of them would have been really nice in terms of recycling the trains. I couldn’t fit continuous run into the plans but it would have been nice had I been able to.
Lance
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Here is a plan I drafted up for a friend. It is basically a point-to-point industrial branch line, but I included continuous running with a little trick:
And so we again prove the diversity of model railroading. Those who are happy to run in circles, those like me who prefer point to point and prototype modeling. There is room in the hobby for both, that is the important thing to remember. I get bored with loops, some get bored with point to point, I get bored with hamburgers every day for lunch, others get bored with… you get the point.
Bob
UTLEY26,
I have some photos and can probably draw a simple track plan for you. It may take a few days since I have been ill lately.
Even though the layout is basically six loops I can lose track of a train due to the tunnels, scenery and cross over of tracks. It definitely is never boring.
Doc
Absolutely not. I cannot imagine a railroad not built for operations, to me that would get boring real fast. It really comes alive when you have a crew operating it the way you envision.
That said, my layout is really loop-to-loop since the staging at each end provides for a loop so all trains in staging are always headed in the same direction. Eliminates staging trains between sessions for me.
We went with a dogbone and hid the loop ends. Everything is designed for point to point operations, or we can run trains on “the party loop” to show guests.
Our layout started as a continuous layout, but my oldest son and I converted it to an operational layout with a class yard at each end and industrial yards throughout the layout. I missed having the trains running continuously, so we expanded to make it continuous, but with yard to yard switching included. What we did was first, we double tracked the entire mainline, and added a few passing sidings that could hold a 20 car train, then we extended the mainline past each class yard. Now, we keep 4 trains 2 eastbound and 2 westbound on a continuous schedule as through trains, and we mix in our locals and passenger extras in between the through trains. When we expanded, we chose to keep a fairly long runner on each end of the yards for the switcher to use without interfering with the mainline trains. When I was yard conductor at Buffalo Creek a few years back, I knew how many cars I could get off the mainline to switch out without fouling the signal at Conrail’s CP Draw in Buffalo. We were good for 14 car cuts that we could then switch out for classification.The good thing is the learning experience my sons get. They know the trainmaster will be on their case if they cause an unnecessary delay to the through trains!
If you are running through the country, mountains, or across the prarrie, mainline loops are great.
It’s when you start running in the city, industry, or in small towns that point to point operations are more prominent.
As others have stated, there is zero reason why you can’t do both. Build a mainline loop, keep most of it hidden in the “busy” areas, and then build a branchline which focuses on point to point ops.
On my layout, I initially designed it as a continuous loop, but since getting into operations (http://chatanuga.org/WLMRops.html), it gets run like a point-to-point. While I have a train running around on the Chicago-Pittsburgh route, I can be classifying cars in the yards. I use dividers in the main yard to keep track of which cars are actually in Mansfield, which are in Pittsburgh, and which are in Chicago (or other western parts of the railroad). The continuous run basically gives the trains a longer run than a true point-to-point would give me in the basement that I have, especially since I enjoy running full-length Amtrak passenger trains as well as 15- to 20-car freight trains.
Kevin
Here is a good example of how both can be done on a layout (photo from an ops session last night)
The yard on the right foreground (behind the two yard operators) is the staging. Trains go out in either direction, run around the layout (there is another room you don’t see) and back into staging from the other end. If the owner had the urge, he could run a train around-and-around as a continuous run layout.
I think the essential point here is that just because your tracks connect end to end doesn’t mean that all you do is watch your trains go around in a circle.
My layout is a C shape with a large loop at either end of the C. There are double crossovers on the long side of the C, where the sides of the loop are close together. In addition to staging, there are short stub tracks representing connecting lines, which can be used to store / drop cars, as well as 6 industries, a turntable / roundhouse, and maintenance yard served by their own or shared sidings.
When my boys and I operate the layout, one of the things we do is put a cruising passenger train just doing a “roundy roundy”. Being a passenger train, it has absolute priority over all freight traffic. The challenge is to complete your switching operations, move off the “mainline” and reline the points before the passenger train comes by again. And just in case someone miscalculates, we have a cab set to the passenger trains loco number at all times, so that we can slow or stop it short of a collision / massive derailment.
But those who point out that just watching a train go around can get boring have a point. That’s why we generally don’t have a dedicated “engineer” for the passenger train (although my 7 yr old sometimes volunteers so he can subtly speed up or slow down the passenger train to throw off your timing).
Now, is this an accurate simulation of prototype railroading? Not really. But it’s a heck of a lot of fun, intellectually challenging, and a pretty good abstract model. Just look at the NE Corridor today. Amtrak and various commuter trains are zipping along at regular intervals, while the poor old Providence and Worcester and the odd CSX train try to get work done.
I find that trains circulating can be peaceful, and a loop will likely be used to do that.
When I build my dream road, I’m doing a point-topoint line that interchanges with a loop. Call it a baloon on a string or something. That way, I can a train in motion on the East-West Chessie mainline while my little Class 3 is trying to switch industry on the point line, having to get across and work around a regular Chessie line.
I like your idea CTV’ using a passenger going around and then working on a freight and not derailing the passeneger.Sounds like fun.I have a shelf around the walls of a 12x22ft room with double mainline and many spurs to industry and yards.I do like sometimes to just get a train going around the mainline while I play in the yard building up another consist.I find point to point to get boring real quick.So having both options of a loop plus point to point a plus.But in all reality just running a train anyway is better than no train at all.