From what I have seen and read in Model Railroading magazines is that prototypical railroading consists of two main lines for operation. I have three main lines on my layout just for the fact that I like to see trains move,and alot of sidings for switching cars at various industries. I would like to get some thoughts on this and are there any others out there that do the same thing.
The vast majority of mileage of main tracks in the US consist of a single main track. During the early 19th century a large number of them were double tracked and operated as “double track” meaning current of traffic operation (trains only went one direction on one track and only went the other direction on the other track). In the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s traffic patterns changed and railroads started large scale instalations of CTC, and on a lot of territory, went from double track ABS current of traffic to single track CTC. In the 1980’s, 90’s and 2000’s rail traffic rebounded. Some single track lines were “double tracked” as two main track CTC (on a real railroad “double track” and “two main tracks” are different animals from how they operate). But since traffic patterns had changed, many of the lines with two tracks were not the same ones that were double tracked in the 1930’s. In addition with all the consolidations, many roads picked up parallel routes that were used essentially as double track, generally called “directional running” where one route carries mostly one direction and the other route carries mostly the other direction. A lot of the UP’s operations in the midwest are arranged that way (north on the MP, south on the MKT, north on the MP, south on the SSW, north on the MP, south on the CNW, east on the UP, west on the CNW).
Four main tracks were probably more common than 3 main tracks, but there are stretches of both , mostly in the eastern half of the country. Many 4 track streches are being CTC’d and cut back to 3 main tracks.
Dave H.
baron9, you are off to a good start. The biggest part of layout planning is the research. Asking yourself a lot of questions, and writing them down, about the era or time frame you want to run in guides the consists and train size, the location dictates the style or focus of operations and the typical trackwork. As you write these answers out you may find conlicts that you can resolve with your choices, ultimately it is “Your Railroad”. That said, There are large areas especially in the western states that are still single track or, with the mergers, often separated directonal single track running, with the occasional long passing siding. Eastern railroading is really quite different due to both the terrain obstacles, and the many railroads serving similar areas. The differences in era are easier to distinguish as in the '50s you had many more manifest freights and LCL freights along with the seasonal demand for empty reefers and loaded “Perishable” drags that even took precedence over 2nd and 3rd class passenger. In those days the other closest thing to the unit trains of today were the coal haulers and the seasonal wheat trains of the prairies. Cars are a lot bigger now and we have more of the unit trains for containers, spine cars for lumber products, automobile carriers, and the huge traffic in coal. The key to a good railroad is in the planning each detail. Enjoy the paper chase! jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA