02-20-2010, 09:59 PM
Just stumbled onto this thread. To prod it back to life again, has anyone actually operated on an operations-oriented spaghetti bowl layout? By this I mean something like Delta Lines. There's a spaghetti bowl of king-sized proportions (O was the King of scales for a long reign) but designed to get the maximum run between stops.
Most of the operating I've done has been on more recent layouts with the linear focus of trains passing through the scene once (except special scenes like Tehachapi). One layout in Ohio used a tall mountain on a peninsula to gain elevation (to offset a helix between levels in another room) and the train invariably climbed the mountain through a series of circular tunnels. A neat scene, but alot of retaining walls used to stack up the loops.
Here's a question - does the operator's focus remain on the train and disregard the scenery enough to allow the train to pass through the same scene twice? Is that concept only workable for through-freights or long distance passenger runs? What about the peddler freight that stops to work a town, then later circles around through it on the way to somewhere else, only to return and pass over the same town on a high bridge?
I think we used to suspend disbelief in order to get the longest run between point A and point C, even if it means passing through B, then A, then C, then B again, and finally reaching C! Somehow we've been brainwashed to believe in scene-cerity...thanks alot John Armstrong!
Galen
Most of the operating I've done has been on more recent layouts with the linear focus of trains passing through the scene once (except special scenes like Tehachapi). One layout in Ohio used a tall mountain on a peninsula to gain elevation (to offset a helix between levels in another room) and the train invariably climbed the mountain through a series of circular tunnels. A neat scene, but alot of retaining walls used to stack up the loops.
Here's a question - does the operator's focus remain on the train and disregard the scenery enough to allow the train to pass through the same scene twice? Is that concept only workable for through-freights or long distance passenger runs? What about the peddler freight that stops to work a town, then later circles around through it on the way to somewhere else, only to return and pass over the same town on a high bridge?
I think we used to suspend disbelief in order to get the longest run between point A and point C, even if it means passing through B, then A, then C, then B again, and finally reaching C! Somehow we've been brainwashed to believe in scene-cerity...thanks alot John Armstrong!
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!