How to run a roundy roundy layout

[Komata]

FWIW, my few cents worth.

I have 'battled' with this question over the last decade or so, and have tried to run both 'prototypically' and 'practically'; situations which are, at times contradictory.  After all, we are told by our supposed 'betters' (and the railway magazines) that 'Prototype is all' and that is you DON'T operate in that way you are not a 'Real' railway modeller!! This line of thought has been born-out by comments appearing within this thread.

As I said, I tried, and tried and tried again...

Then came  the day where, for a variety of reasons (and at an exhibition BTW), I forgot to follow this haloed  'Golden Rule' and let a train run 'round and round and round, and... As I said, not intentional.

AND NONE OF THE SPECTATORS NOTICED!!

No one commented, no one sniggered, no derisory comments were made and, remarkably, nothing devastating occurred. Those interested in the trains still looked at them, in fact the questions seemed to increase as those asking were able to actually look at what was going past, and even get me to stop the service for closer examination and photographs.

As if this in itself was not enough, it became evident (over time) that in fact it was possible for the trains to be  totally ignored, (and to actually become 'part of the landscape') without any adverse effects on either the layout, the operator or the general public, and that, in several instances, the public actually LIKED the fact that a train (any train, from any direction) was merely going round and round. 

THEY REALLY DIDN'T CARE!

Subsequent research at exhibitions, in the print media and via personal discussions with other exhibitors and hobby 'authorities',  has indicated that this 'phenomenon' is actually not especially unusual, and that by and large the 'General Public' really only want to see trains (any trains) moving. The 'Public' are also not fools and are realistic enough to realise that in fact ALL our trains invariably go 'round and round'. They  are quite happy to accept this situation as being part of the 'reality' of the model railway world and, indeed, are noticeably disappointed when encountering an 'end to end' layout where everything can be seen in a single glance. 

On the basis of the above, I would suggest that, in exhibition-type situations, Clockwork Mice' ARE actually very acceptable, but as proven by this discussion so far, that this might in fact be the case is still somewhat problematical for some. Perhaps for such people (when contemplating taking a layout to an exhibition), it might be necessary to consider that what one does on one's 'Home' layout may not transfer well to the public arena, and that, as a result, a change of attitude could be useful?

As I said, FWIW, my few cents. 

Thank you.     



 

[Bob Tidbury]

As you say in your post Komata at the end of the day a lot of our layouts are roundy roundy and NO LAYOUT CAN BE REALISTIC after all the people don't move the cows in the field don't move the doors on the trains don't open ,the steam trains are not steam,the deisel are not deisel,and most of the electric
Locos don't run on third rail or over head wires so it's all a compromise.
In my opinion we model railways to relax and enjoy ourselves ,yes it's nice to have some layouts at exhibitions that are highly detailed and as close to real life as you can get but I think the most important thing is to keep something moving after all that's what the public paid to see,and most of them wouldn't know if everything was the right era or region anyway. So I admire those that try to run the correct rakes of coaches and wagons with the right Locos etc etc .
But most important is have FUN AND ENJOY YOURSELF AND THE PUBLIC WILL SEE WHAT A GREAT HOBBY RAILWAY MODELING IS. I think some would be put off if things are too serious because they don't know enough and not join us.
Bob

[guest373]

Reading the above comments triggered a memory, smile and chat, we were told at an exhibition that they liked our layout because the operators were smiling and open, which is when you may let a train go round a few times.  But remember the law - the bigger the audience, the lack of attention, the more likely the derail!

Tony

[grumbeast]

Just thinking about this and remembered what my old BendTrack group in Halifax used to do at shows.

I for one, like watching roundy roundy running, BendTrack has an inner and outer loop. we were in the middle of transitioning from DC to DCC at the time so ran our DC trains on the outside loop continuously, while we used the inner loop to run a couple of trains and engaged in some switching and more realistic operations so there was hopefully something for everyone.

For those that don't know, bendtrack has the operators on the outside of the layout with the public so we were always engaged (which was the point I think) but it made it important to assign roles to our members (we had one chap responsible for the DC line, changing the train occasionally) and individual operators for the inner DCC trains.  Then there was me, I was lucky enough to be trainmaster for several shows, I had to manage this lot and make sure that the DCC trains didnt collide and the DC line kept moving, it was a suprisingly challenging and stressful but very rewarding job.

I think people enjoyed watching our layout, and we talked to many people, although I wasn't as engaged with the public as I was making sure we had no accidents and things kept running smoothly.  At one show we had enough modules to have over 3km of scale track so we ran a train of 70 grain cars, its pretty nerve-wracking when you think of how much a train like that is worth and the public is right there but we never had any issues.

So the long and the short of this is that I think you can run both roundy roundy and realistically if you plan for that at the outset and you think of how the layout is manned during exhibition operations.  Without overstating my role, the Trainmaster was really essential in keeping the public entertained by 'managing' the show somewhat and keeping track of what runs, for how long etc, I had a fairly detailed plan that changed every hour

my more than tuppence worth

Graham

[martyn]

The fiddle yard for my 16' long home layout has 15 tracks x (average) 3 trains per track, and I like to run them in sequence, trying not to run an unfitted freight immediately before the 'Day Continental'!
The group layout that I'm involved with, 'Saneham Tey' (also 16' long viewing front), has a new 6 x 3 train up fiddle yard, and a currently 4 x 3 down yard (this will soon be 7 x 3). Again, we run as a flexible sequence, but if a spectator requests a re-run of a particular train, we try and oblige if possible (Stuart's twenty flat double headed container train is a favourite, if we are running blue diesels).
'James St' has no fiddle yard as such; we do have an area called the carriage siding which can act as one for passenger trains, and also a set of freight holding loops; but the intention here is to run continuously, as much as possible, from bottom to middle to top and back again. The four track middle level may have some roundy roundy repetition, but there is so much to see elsewhere on this layout that hopefully it is not noticeable. Passenger trains run from terminus to terminus; freight goes from goods yard to (choice of a number of) other goods yards for shunting. There is no hidden fiddle yard on this layout; all trains are continuously in view somewhere.
I think most exhibition spectators do not watch long enough on any layout  to see a full sequence take place, but they soon get bored if nothing is running, however good the scenery.
Martyn