I'm looking at putting together an LNER A3 in scale7 quite soon thanks to the generous advice gleaned here. When Carl Arendt's site was pumping out content monthly I even submitted some ideas for compact station plans.
All of them however, were reliant on not being able to see the whole train. One such simply showed the final island platform of a large station with a runaround and a pilot loco pocket. Train lengths need only be enough to show the loco and a coach and a half or so. To me. It seemed like a witty workaround to the quandary of building express, mainline steam and running tiny trains.
Operation on such a layout would be various consists arriving and leaving, with the pilot either releasing the loco, or clearing the (a?) runaround loop.
However, none of them ever got past the 3D model state! So, does this actually work in practice?
For what it's worth either way I'm looking trying to find a way to operate my large locos that is both urban, and not a train shed! If you have any other suggestions I would gladly gear them!