There once was a real railroad whose route described an endless loop, just like our toy train layouts. According to the Map of the Month in October Trains magazine, the Toledo (Ohio) Terminal Railroad was "the nation's only complete loop". It connected at several points with many other railroads to service the city's industries.
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Makes perfect sense to me.
I grew up in Toledo. The Toledo Terminal was just one part of a tremendous railroad scene. Sadly now quite a bit of it has been removed after acquisitions and mergers. At a minimum, Toledo hosted the NYC, Pennsy, Wabash, Norfolk and Western, DT&I, C&O, B&O, D&TSL, GTW, MC, and probably a couple of others. Eventually Penn Central, Conrail, and Chessie. Now with CSX and Norfolk Southern essentially splitting the town in half, things aren't nearly as interesting.
I miss the place.
Jim
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I do know there is a lot of different industry on that loop. A destination for just about any type of rolling stock.
Clem k
I spend a lot of time airborne at low altitudes. I have flown over two perfect ovals - if they were in O gauge, they would probably have been 60" radius. One was at a power plant in Illinois, the other is somewhere north of Porterville Ca. I have no idea what they are for, but they are there!