Hi Guys,
I've been into HO scale model railroading since 1993. My last layout was designed by myself and friends to have lots and lots of complex "operating" capability, with staging areas for through freights and passenger trains, along with a classification yard, with turntable, engine house and all the "fixins" for a typical yard. There were over 26 industries, needing the railroad to support their businesses. I even had a car ferry and wharf. Needless to say, building for "operation" makes for some very expensive and time consuming trackwork (lots and lots of switches). We made sure there were trailing point and facing point spurs, in order to provide challenging operation and trackage that got very, very complicated.....all in support of operation.
Here's the "rub".....after almost 10 years of building that layout, I couldn't get guys to come over and really operate the railroad. I had 6 walk-around radio throttles that were wired for block control, using rotary switches and never had more than 3 guys in the train room. I posted on this forum, inviting people to come over and operate. One guy drove up from New Jersey to Connecticut, where I live, but we didn't spend much time operating...he just marveled at my scenery. Another time a couple of guys came over and they each ran a local train, picking up and dropping off cars, but most time was spent just gabbing.
I know, some would say I should have just operated the layout myself. Look at what I built....all in the name of "operation". I could have taken a deck of those car forwarding cards and run a few locals myself, but I just didn't do it. I must admit that I really don't care about "operating" a railroad. I just like watching trains run through scenery, like I did with my American flyer train set back in the 1950's.
I tore up that layout in order to move to a new home by the Connecticut shore. My new basement has an area about 26' x 26'.....more space than I had ever dreamed of having for a new layout. My latest thinking for the new layout is where I'm looking for input from you folks. I'm thinking of just creating a giant horseshoe shaped layout, with a double-track mainline running around the horseshoe. While I will have crossovers, a yard and plenty of spurs to feed those industrial buildings I've saved from my previous layout, I plan to wire the outer and inner mainline tracks so that each is run by a single radio throttle. The wiring will be simple....a heavy gauge bus running from each power pack under both of the mainline tracks, with feeder wires soldered from rails above to the bus wires. Of course, with this wiring scheme, I'll only be able to run trains on the outer and inner mains with no capability to cross over from one to the other. Trains will just run and run and run, with no operating capabilities. I won't be able to go into the yard, break off an engine and run into the engine house. Of course, for "reality", I will have an engine or two parked in the engine house and one sitting on a non-operating turntable. Cars will be placed on sidings, but they will never get picked up or replaced with loaded cars. The yard will have some blocks of cars parked in there, but they will only get moved if I pick them up and replace them once in a while. Come to think of it, what I just described was exactly what I was doing for several years....watching trains run and NO OPERATION.
Oh, by the way, I realize I could get a DCC unit, replacing my power packs and radio throttles, but then I would have to install decoders in my 40 New Haven engines. So, I think I'll just forget about DCC, especially if I'm just going to watch trains run.
Tell my if I'm the only one that just likes to watch trains run? And, please tell me if I'm crazy for not building a layout again that supports operation.
Thanks,
Mondo
I've been into HO scale model railroading since 1993. My last layout was designed by myself and friends to have lots and lots of complex "operating" capability, with staging areas for through freights and passenger trains, along with a classification yard, with turntable, engine house and all the "fixins" for a typical yard. There were over 26 industries, needing the railroad to support their businesses. I even had a car ferry and wharf. Needless to say, building for "operation" makes for some very expensive and time consuming trackwork (lots and lots of switches). We made sure there were trailing point and facing point spurs, in order to provide challenging operation and trackage that got very, very complicated.....all in support of operation.
Here's the "rub".....after almost 10 years of building that layout, I couldn't get guys to come over and really operate the railroad. I had 6 walk-around radio throttles that were wired for block control, using rotary switches and never had more than 3 guys in the train room. I posted on this forum, inviting people to come over and operate. One guy drove up from New Jersey to Connecticut, where I live, but we didn't spend much time operating...he just marveled at my scenery. Another time a couple of guys came over and they each ran a local train, picking up and dropping off cars, but most time was spent just gabbing.
I know, some would say I should have just operated the layout myself. Look at what I built....all in the name of "operation". I could have taken a deck of those car forwarding cards and run a few locals myself, but I just didn't do it. I must admit that I really don't care about "operating" a railroad. I just like watching trains run through scenery, like I did with my American flyer train set back in the 1950's.
I tore up that layout in order to move to a new home by the Connecticut shore. My new basement has an area about 26' x 26'.....more space than I had ever dreamed of having for a new layout. My latest thinking for the new layout is where I'm looking for input from you folks. I'm thinking of just creating a giant horseshoe shaped layout, with a double-track mainline running around the horseshoe. While I will have crossovers, a yard and plenty of spurs to feed those industrial buildings I've saved from my previous layout, I plan to wire the outer and inner mainline tracks so that each is run by a single radio throttle. The wiring will be simple....a heavy gauge bus running from each power pack under both of the mainline tracks, with feeder wires soldered from rails above to the bus wires. Of course, with this wiring scheme, I'll only be able to run trains on the outer and inner mains with no capability to cross over from one to the other. Trains will just run and run and run, with no operating capabilities. I won't be able to go into the yard, break off an engine and run into the engine house. Of course, for "reality", I will have an engine or two parked in the engine house and one sitting on a non-operating turntable. Cars will be placed on sidings, but they will never get picked up or replaced with loaded cars. The yard will have some blocks of cars parked in there, but they will only get moved if I pick them up and replace them once in a while. Come to think of it, what I just described was exactly what I was doing for several years....watching trains run and NO OPERATION.
Oh, by the way, I realize I could get a DCC unit, replacing my power packs and radio throttles, but then I would have to install decoders in my 40 New Haven engines. So, I think I'll just forget about DCC, especially if I'm just going to watch trains run.
Tell my if I'm the only one that just likes to watch trains run? And, please tell me if I'm crazy for not building a layout again that supports operation.
Thanks,
Mondo