Reverse loop 072 & 084 dual track

I found this on an older forum which was done with 048 & 036. But I want to build using 072 & 084 due to some larger steam locomotives. Center between the reverse loops will have additional lengths of straight & curve track to reach opposite side of room.

Joe

@JOE JORDAN 100218 posted:

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The problem I see with this dog bone plan is you have dual tracks but can only run one train at a time.   Is that what you want?

Ron, Thanks for responding. This is what I have a problem figuring out. I run the legacy system and would like to run multiple trains.

Joe

Is the design designed to fit a certain space or room configuration ? I like the fact that as laid out. Even with wide curves. Everything looks to be within reach.

When I first looked at it. What came to mind was watching the Figure 8 races on Wild World of Sports from Islip N.Y. as a kid. An accident waiting to happen with everything going on in the middle with turnouts and crossovers. If you eliminate that part of it. You will end up with 2 separate lines that at one point looks like a 4 track main or 2 RR’s running side by side for a bit. It still can be connected in some way with the use of crossovers on the straight portions. I actually like the design. It could be basically 2 ovals that don’t look like ovals.

If the layout can be operated from both sides. It’s tough with an island type layout to transition say from city to country or just from scene to scene.  The fact that you can see everything at once makes it hard to pull off. With your design minus the turnouts and crossovers in the middle portion. You could use a scenic divider. This will allow you to view only one side at a time with totally different scenes.

Here is something I worked on a couple of years ago. It has double tracks with travel in opposite directions. So if the train is headed East on the inner loop, then in order to reverse it must go West on the outer loop. And if the train is headed West on the outer loop, then in order to reverse it must go East on the inner loop. Obviously you must watch traffic at the two crossovers. (All switches are O72 and I simulated easements in the curves using O96 down to O48.)

I did a dogbone shaped layout that is identical in operation to my previous one, but it looks much simpler and has the advantage of eight sections colored blue that are parallel and perfectly aligned. So those sections could be removed or made longer to give you other lengths. It also provides many opportunities for sidings and spurs.

John, that is a clever concept.

Jan

I appreciate all the info provided. This certainly helps

Joe

I wanted my new layout to provide for long trains, so I made it a two-level folded dogbone.

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Here's a engineer's eye view of once around the mainline, this is from Jan 2021 right after all the track was laid.  This is a battery powered locomotive as I didn't have track power wired yet.  I also have three other smaller loops.

This was the purpose of making the mainline as long as possible in my space.

@Jan posted:

John, that is a clever concept.

Jan

Very. Takes some work to get the geometry right, but a very cool design that adds a lot of interest to a 'standard' layout approach. I'm going to build a 'temporary' layout soon, on a few sheets of plywood, and designed this as a potential option based on John's concept.