I came across this track plan when scrolling through Facebook and an AnyRail user group popped up. I thought it was well done and worth sharing here in case anyone is looking for ideas. Sorry for the blurriness of the text. That's the way it downloaded for me.
Hmmm... The town is very interesting in it's own right. Rail-wise, there's LOTS of staging, but the layout has no industries to serve. Just a yard and a passenger station. So I guess it's for rail-fanning a variety of trains that can be staged behind the view block, and rolled out and around on command? If the oversized staging area were shrunk to a reasonable size for this layout, the view block could be pushed back, and some industrial sites could be modelled behind the town. Or shove the town back and put the industries in front, where you can reach them. Not exactly my "cup of tea" as is, but it could be really nice!
It's also odd that there's absolutely no communication between the two yards. It shows a DCC programming track, but clockwise and counter are segregated like it's designed for pure DC. I agree that it's for parading a sizeable collection.
I like the plan but I’m more interested in running trains through a scene than switching. It looks like 12 or more trains could be set up to run through the scene in front of.
Not bad at all. However, after following it around a few times, it seems to me that it lacks at least one crossover for movement between blue and brown loops. As is it seems limited to doing so in only one direction of travel.
I though so at first as well, but I realized I was missing the second crossover. There's one at the top left going from the brown yard to the blue mainline and one at the bottom left between the mainlines.
Looking at this, what I am seeing is the typical British show layout. They are, meant for fairly continuous use during shows. The separate staging allows a schedule of trains to be run on each line by the operators. Kev Smith has a presented a couple of similar set ups here in the Z section that are extremely nice. The UK seems to have a totally different approach to how layouts are presented at shows. Rather than the big modular set ups, they seem to favor smaller layouts that represent a certain location and during the show, will run a set of trains that represents what the traffic through the location would have seen in a specific era. The more I read and learn out this whole process, the more I really like it.
I'm just speculating, but I think their intent is something similar to what @BNSF FAN said...to be able to stage and run lots of different trains through a particular scene rather than just one or two trains running round and round. If I were going to build this layout I would probably make some changes to it, but I like the idea and the overall look of the town. On a dream layout for me, I'd probably adopt the idea to some extent. I'd want enough industry service to "work" during a session, but it would also be nice to be able to have 5 to 8 whole trains staged off layout that could be engaged to pass through the layout as desired. Kinda similar to my railfanning experience at UP's Taylor Yard. If I take a long lunch to go sit by the yard, I'll usually see 2-3 different trains passing through while also watching the yard crew move things around. And of course there's the daily Amtrak train.
Yeah, the "operating plan" is likely building trains in the yard, and running them to staging, or running trains out of staging to the yard, and dismantling them. All while perhaps other train(s) orbit the layout, providing interference to deal with. The differences in goals for our layouts is one of the things that makes the hobby interesting. Not that everyone is going to like everybody else's choices, but they all have bits & pieces, and ideas, we can use on our own layouts.
I don't think so. There's no communication between tracks in the yards, and no switching leads at all, and the orbit wouldn't take very long. Looks like plain storage to me. Eleven trains if the straightest track is kept open as a through track so you can kick speed up without worrying about crossover ess curves. Thirteen if everything just runs through on its own parking track.
Here's the website for the layout. It still appears to be in its early stages and the backstory is pretty cool https://chittlebury.uk/
The show idea makes a lot more sense, as I think about it. Pre-stage prototypical trains in the rear, to be run through the public-facing town side, and back into staging in the rear. Not unlike a theater performance, with actors entering & leaving the stage via wings.
