Many modelers think that a layout with a loop is not prototypical. In southern California there were two loops which when combined together actually formed a figure 8. This region is known as the Citrus Belt with San Bernardino being the belt buckle in the middle. The loops, were also known as the kite shaped track, with San Bernardino’s east valley forming the tail of the kite, the smaller loop, and the west valley along with Los Angeles and Riverside areas forming the larger loop. The east valley was orange groves while the west valley was vineyards. San Bernardino was the hub and all produce leaving southern California went through San Bernardino which was the location of the ice house which used mechanical refrigeration to make the ice. San Bernardino is at the foot of Cajon Pass which is the passageway between southern California and the rest of the country. The eastern loop has been partially abandoned but the western loop is still intact. There are plans however to revive the eastern loop to be used by the Southern California Rail Authority’s Metrolink commuter trains. Patton station is now an offsite parking lot for the San Manuel casino, the most popular and successful Indian casino in the country. The San Bernardino Historical Society created a photo tour of the east valley on their website. Check it out and enjoy. http://www.sbdepotmuseum.com/photo-histories/tale-of-the-kite-shaped-track-1892-c1917/
There is also lots of other great information on this website.
http://www.sbdepotmuseum.com/
Tokyo's Yamate-sen is diagrammed as a circle. A look at a street map shows its shape to be rather more like a deflated football. In addition to the heavy rail passenger schedules that run in circles on 5 to 15 minute headways, various parts are incorporated in long-distance passenger and freight routes, resulting in right-of-ways with up to 8 main tracks in several places. There were also a myriad of connections to private railroads and subways. Several of the major stations were (and still are) co-located with major department stores.
I rode the entire circle in each direction in 1967. The trip was long, and there were only a few places where I couldn't see at least one other moving (or stopped at a station) train. Unless there was another diehard railfan along I doubt that any other passenger was aboard all the way around. Several thousand made shorter trips - on that one train. The daily ridership for the entire line is in the millions.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a rural area well away from Tokyo)