Fully scenic roundy roundy with no hidden sidings, how does that work?

[DCB]

Browsing one of the April mags I found a large continuous run layout fully scenic with no hidden sidings and no non scenic staging or fiddle yard.  How does that work.   Most of my stock loses bits if you pick it up.  Its completely the opposite of my likes, which is train passes from A to B and comes back later from B to A ideally with a different loco.   Does the guy just run a train round and round until he gets bored then laboriously put it back in its box and use another.   Can someone enlighten me as I don't want to spend a fiver on the mag to find out.

[AndyB]

I guess it's a broad church. And if it gave him pleasure making it and watching a train go by then it's maybe not for us to criticise? 

 

[fulton]

All sorts of different ways to operate, as above it's a broad church, my small Railroad Crossing layout, single board no hidden sidings, train arrives, (already on layout), shunts sidings, train departs, (still on layout), repeat, have had many enjoyable exhibitions. Similarly my Fulton Terminal layout, which has just been at Alexandra Palace, has no hidden sidings, all stock on view, carfloat (train ferry) departs with train, then returns, with a "new" train. There must be an, unintentional,  theme to my layouts as I am currently building a new prototype British EM layout without hidden sidings, the main line is effectively the staging, with the focus being the industrial shunting to and from the exchange siding, one benefit is that stock does not need to be handled.

[MattR]

I have a continuous run with no hidden sidings. Yes, when I'm bored I switch out the locomotive/stock. I don't put it back in the boxes. My layout sits on a bureau. The third drawer holds a plank of wood onto which I've nailed some old brass track. This holds all my locomotives/stock and I can easily take it out and swap it out with what's currently on the track. Maybe I'm weird, but I enjoy taking out the stock and setting everything up. Aside from a few oddments, all my stuff is post-2000 manufacture -- steam and diesel. So far nothing has broken off anything in the three years I've had this setup going. 

[Legend]

Yeah as long as you are careful I dont have issues with anything dropping off locos - even the Accurascale Deltic , which is probably the most at risk 

 

I think there was a large layout in Hornby Mag last year that didn't have a fiddle yard . It was a large roundy roundy with terminal station . it did feed into a large sidings area including mpd that acted as the fiddle yard . Very effective I thought .  But as Andy B says , each to our own , what may suit others might not suit you .  I do like destinations which is why on my roundy roundy trains travel from one station to another . As I have no space for the equivalent freight yards , goods trains are doomed to orbit until i get fed up !

[RobinofLoxley]

You can have a through station where trains arrive and then leave the way that they came. This can be via bay platforms or where the platforms can hold 2 trains in addition to the basic scheme. As long as the pointwork allows all the options. Maybe the roundy lines loop behind the station??

 

Personally I always had all the stock on the layout. I have a large area so this can easily be done, and at the moment I dont have the urge to buy more stock than can be operated, allowing for maintenance/repairs. Surely concern about losing bits cant deter from operating your chosen way.

 

 

[russ p]

6 hours ago, Legend said:

Yeah as long as you are careful I dont have issues with anything dropping off locos - even the Accurascale Deltic , which is probably the most at risk 

 

I think there was a large layout in Hornby Mag last year that didn't have a fiddle yard . It was a large roundy roundy with terminal station . it did feed into a large sidings area including mpd that acted as the fiddle yard . Very effective I thought .  But as Andy B says , each to our own , what may suit others might not suit you .  I do like destinations which is why on my roundy roundy trains travel from one station to another . As I have no space for the equivalent freight yards , goods trains are doomed to orbit until i get fed up !

 

Think that was my layout.  It does have storage sidings which have been enlarged since the article 

But for remarshalling freight trains its done in the yard which has 2 reception roads and 6 sorting sidings with a headshunt so can be done quite prototypical. 

The storage sidings has various cross overs if I want to mess with long trains. I also have carriage sidings with a headshunt for changing sets 

You can see pictures in my layout link below 

[Legend]

13 hours ago, russ p said:

 

Think that was my layout.  It does have storage sidings which have been enlarged since the article 

But for remarshalling freight trains its done in the yard which has 2 reception roads and 6 sorting sidings with a headshunt so can be done quite prototypical. 

The storage sidings has various cross overs if I want to mess with long trains. I also have carriage sidings with a headshunt for changing sets 

You can see pictures in my layout link below 

 

No it wasn't Cley On Sea , although I  have seen that layout and your YouTube videos. I had forgotten you don't have a fiddle yard . Fantastic layout , really great to watch .  I just looked up the layout I had in mind and it was called "Peaksdale" from the October 21 Hornby Mag .  

[F-UnitMad]

For home layouts, why be 'conditioned' to expect them to conform to the norms of an Exhibition layout?

My American O Scale layout has an oval of track and no hidden track. I thought long & hard about it and asked what was the point? It would mean up to half the layout being non-scenic, and as sole owner/operator I am under no illusion as to where trains come & go to, or even what's coming next, as I set up the train myself!! This is a totally different situation to viewing a layout as a punter at a Show.

As I stand in the middle of my layout, I can only really look at one side at a time anyway, so both long sides are modelled as different locations, which could be miles apart in the imagination, rather than the few feet they are in reality. The oval allows trains to rack up some miles, or test engines, or just run for the sake of it at times!!

It works for me, and I'm the only one it has to work for. 😁👍

[Keith Addenbrooke]

On 20/03/2023 at 04:39, DCB said:

Browsing one of the April mags I found a large continuous run layout fully scenic with no hidden sidings and no non scenic staging or fiddle yard.  How does that work.   Most of my stock loses bits if you pick it up.  Its completely the opposite of my likes, which is train passes from A to B and comes back later from B to A ideally with a different loco.   Does the guy just run a train round and round until he gets bored then laboriously put it back in its box and use another.   Can someone enlighten me as I don't want to spend a fiver on the mag to find out.

 

I can’t speak for others, but I find the only problem I have with continuous running is I just don’t get bored.  I simply enjoy watching a train build up the miles as it keeps on going.  It’s not tail chasing (to me), it’s a journey I like to follow.

 

It means I don’t mind that the same train passes the same point multiple times - my focus is on the train, not the place.  I also run American trains, which quite often won’t reappear later the same day running in the opposite direction anyway.

 

It’s not for everyone - and at exhibitions (and online) I’ll spend ages watching layouts operated exactly as @DCB likes too, but in my own little world I can live with the obvious tension created by building a model of a single station, then running it as if it represents any / every station on the line.

 

I also keep my trains in their boxes, partly as I’ve not had a permanent layout, and partly to keep them free of dust.  This means I also don’t mind handling them (the downside), but also that I can have more trains than I have space for (I believe I may not be alone in this).  I agree that handling some of the latest highly detailed and more delicate models is not ideal.

 

The inspiration for my operating philosophy comes from the pioneers of North American railroading (something I wrote about in this Forum a couple of years back when trying to plan a GW Branch Line Layout).  In the 1940s of course having too much stock was far less likely to be an issue.  

 

Hope that helps, Keith.

[MartinRS]

I have always preferred a tail chaser. That way you always have something moving, leaving me free to to get on with the serious business of shunting mineral wagons.

[DCB]

Re reading the article it seems the layout started as having  a fiddle yard but it was deleted in favour of a second station. Trains are changed in a baseboard edge siding.  It doesn't say How.  I was wondering if they used some fancy cassette or lift system or similar.   I  swap train sets, on our layout normally using one of the carriage sidings but our layout which is 100% scenic at the viewing  level comfortably holds 12 x 7 coach/20 wagon length train sets usually 8 passenger and 4 freight. Swapping train sets is usually digging out an excursion or extra from the spare stock shelf for a particular running session.   Or running some out of period /out of area stuff.  I would really like a way of storing more spare sets so I didn't risk dropping them (I dropped my Heljan 1367 last session, Not recommended) and so the newer stuff stayed coupled so I don't have to fiddle with close couplers.

[Dungrange]

3 hours ago, DCB said:

Trains are changed in a baseboard edge siding.  It doesn't say How.

 

Perhaps using something like https://shop.train-safe.de/en/TRAIN-SAFE-Vision/?  They come in various lengths.