I was goofing around with the idea of interlacing tracks to see how much track and switching I could squeeze into a layout.
I came up with this oddity:
The more I played around with this adorable little (3x8') yard, the more I saw that it just might work:
1. Uses the simplest of track pieces.
2. Using the approaches shown enables a train to be constructed with little impact on the main line. Approaching from the left and right corners is also possible but more switching will be done on the line.
3. From the switcher's viewpoint, all the tracks face exactly the same direction,
4. This could be worked by two switchers at the same time. They could even simultaneously disassemble an inbound train coming up from the bottom and assemble an outbound train on the track out the top.
5. Very compact/space efficient - Fits on a rectangle.
6. It does in fact have a loop for anybody that might want one.
7. Scalable in pairs. The interlacing effect doesn't really come into play until about five tracks or more on each side. The first three going each way can't be interlaced.
Please note that this is just for fun and has not actually been constructed. It may be too tight to actually be constructed without modifications.
