You can get a lot of action and switching problems with a shelf switching layout. My entire layout was built mainly for switching with each of the four town on the layout having a switching problem. It can keep my busy for hours at a time.
Yeah, I know. I often wonder why those who have lots of space still will make a 'continual' or roundy-round instead of a true point to point where you are (happily) forced to perform Proto Ops at each end via TT, wye, or balloon track. But that's just me. It's a hobby, so one is entitled to approach it in their own special way. If it makes them happy that's all that matters.....M [/QUOTE]
My layout was originally planned as a point to point layout. As construction moved forward, I knew that I should have some staging tracks and ended up having the ability to have a continuous loop by using the staging tracks.
For me an operating session would be to bring a train in from the hidden staging tracks to one of the yards. I have a yard and engine facility at each end of the layout. When the train enters the yard, it would be broken down and an outbound local freight train would be made up and head out to service the rail customers along the route. Eachh town purposely had a switching problem built in requiring the local locomotive to drop and pick up cars from both the front and rear requiring the locomotive to run around the train using a passing siding. after dropping off and picking up cars, the train would return to one of the yards and any outbound cars are made into an outbound train whick would leave the yard and go "off stage" to the hidden staging tracks.
An operating session can sometimes last as long as four hours. I didn't think that I needed the ability to run continuously, but when the grand kids or guests visit, a train can run around the layout while people are looking at various parts of the layout. It also comes in handy to be able to let locomotives run and stretch their legs while working on layout projects. I will rotate through my locomotive fleet and try to run all of them at least a half an hour to keep things lubricated.
I am still operating DC only on my layout as I am a lone operator and rarely run more than one locomotive at a time. No need for DCC at home, but I do have a few DCC locomotives with sound. I personally don't care for sound. I rotate the DCC locomotives and let them run around the layout just like all the other locomotives and after a while find them annoying. I do belong to a model railroad club located in the basement of the old Northern Pacific Depot in Livingston, MT. Unfortunately, I haven't been there for quite a while. For me it is about a 50 mile trip one way over Bozeman Pass. I don't care to do this trip at night in the winter weather at all. That highway can be a bear in the snow. The club is DCC and open to the public Saturday evenings when I go over there. We usually have 6 to 8 trains running on the layout and it could be called organized chaos at times.
Unfortunately, they have no communications other than yelling at someone across the room. The layout does occupy three rooms in the basement with a fairly long double track main line. There are frequent meets requiring trains to hit a passing siding or crossing over the the other main line. They do have a fairly steep grade on the layout and members running longer trains will use helpers at the rear. Visitors do enjoy watching this as it is used all of the time on the prototypes going over Bozeman Pass.
I have an older video tour of my layout in my signature below.