A few thoughts:
Yes, modern railroading can be interesting and the subject for a layout without needing a lot of imagination.
Loop/Balloon tracks are very common. What was once a way for turning whole passenger trains back in the day is now a way to load/unload commodity unit trains. Those reverse loops on our layouts that are sometime hard to scenick can be opportunities to model balloon tracks for grain, coal, ethanol, or gravel trains.
The loops generally contain one very large industry, as opposed to many small industries we usually fill our layouts with.
I have seen google map images of loop tracks in land locked industrial parks also, not just balloon loading tracks.
In other places, their are long spurs that make nearly a loop.
One in Corydon Indiana:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Corydon,+IN+47112/@38.2497004,-86.1357356,690m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x886937a84dd582d3:0x79b59d03186e4aa4!8m2!3d38.2120121!4d-86.1219155
And another north of Rushville Indiana with a rather tight radius:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rushville,+IN+46173/@39.675302,-85.4376715,338m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x886adcc8691a0b4f:0x364bb8e898443a81!8m2!3d39.6092137!4d-85.4463594
Slightly OT, there is an industrial park in Jefferson Indiana, along the Ohio River across from Louisville KY, that uses remote control locomotives for all of their switching....just like we do. I'm sure there are many places that do too. A freelanced lettered loco running remotely would be interesting modeling, IMO.
- Douglas
I would consider a balloon track a loop and there's a few of those around - e.g. Ashtabula, OH...
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Thought I saw / read something somewhere that 'real railroads don't have loops" guess THAT's not true.
Gary
tomikawaTTNote the unit train facility to the right (east?) of Cypress Slough. The train completely fills the oval, except for a couple of carlengths between the lead diesel and the rear-end device.
That's about standard for that type of rail to barge transload facilities
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Thanks guys. Came across this by accident. My mother was from Evansville and worked in the shipyard there making LSTs during the war. We used to visit Evansville a lot when I was a kid. I was just scanning looking for remanents of the ship yard (there are some) and for some reason just started heading down river to see what was there.
jim
Note the unit train facility to the right (east?) of Cypress Slough. The train completely fills the oval, except for a couple of carlengths between the lead diesel and the rear-end device.
The whole thing reminds me of some 3-rail O gauge train show assemblages I have seen - loops connected to loops by wyes. Actually, all of the working sidings should be dead easy to switch, with the local turn always moving locomotive first.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hello all,
Great idea for a track plan!
If I only had the room to build it.
Some compression and selection would be necessary to fit into most spaces, but it's a great basis.
Thanks for sharing!
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
That is fascinating. The track arrangement makes more sense when the image is switched to satellite view.
.
I was amazed by all the farm land right against heavy industry.
Thank you for sharing.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
tstageHow cool was that?!?
Very !!!
Though even in N scale it would take up a fair bit of real estate.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
How cool was that?!? And I didn't realize until now that the Ohio River is larger in volume than the Mississippi prior to their confluence at Cairo, IL.
Tom
As Herb Tarlek said: "We call those opp-er-tunities".
Ed
This is along the Ohio river in Mt Vernon Indiana. If you scan along a few miles in either direction there are enough loops, return loops, wyes, loops with loops and return loops in them, as well as multiple switching opportunities. Even a small part of this would be enough to drive a layout builder nuts. Hope the link works.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9281514,-87.8678522,15z