Gulf OilIn setting up trains to run in a loop as part of my layout, a question occurred to me. Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter?
Coriolis effect?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Gulf Oil In setting up trains to run in a loop as part of my layout, a question occurred to me. Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter? Should I occasionally reverse the direction so as not to place undue wear on the same outside wheels? Gulf
In setting up trains to run in a loop as part of my layout, a question occurred to me. Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter?
Should I occasionally reverse the direction so as not to place undue wear on the same outside wheels?
Gulf
It doesn't matter to the trains, wear and tear or otherwise, but the convention would be to run them counterclockwise.
We live in the USA:
We read and write from left to right, our eyeballs move left to right.
Race cars, both NASCAR, or INDY cars, loop counterclockwise.
Horse races loop CCW.
Track and field races loop CCW.
Drag races, quarter horse races, and track sprint races run left to right.
And since a map reads west to east, left to right, the trains would be normally running west to east or north to south, when circling the loop the conventional way.
I thought the answer was pretty simple.
- Douglas
After reading Douglas' answer I really wish I could go back in time to train sets and Christmas mornings.
I would love to see what direction I naturally set up my trains to run.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
riogrande5761Coriolis effect?
Those 17-hour flights to OZ can get a little boring so one time I went to the washroom and filled the sink and at the appropriate time pulled the plug. Hoping to see total hydro chaos as we crossed the Equator I looked on eagerly. I went back to my seat and watched another movie totally deflated with my failed science experiment.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
On my layout clockwise takes you southeast and counterclockwise takes you northwest.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
SeeYou190 After reading Douglas' answer I really wish I could go back in time to train sets and Christmas mornings. I would love to see what direction I naturally set up my trains to run. -Kevin
You may have grown up in England, then you'd be really confused.
Its weird trying to watch an English horse race. The horses run forward but in the wrong direction. They must have a wrong CV setting or something.....
Not sure what our Canadian friends do.
Formula 1 runs clockwise. They're foreigners you know.
The horses run CCW and I think the cars do as well.
Okay, it appears the cars run CW.
BATMAN Okay, it appears the cars run CW.
NVM, you're talking about Canada. Yes, the F1 circuit runs CW no matter where they run.
BATMANHoping to see total hydro chaos as we crossed the Equator
The Coriolis effect does not effect sinks or toilets. It only works on extremely large systems like hurricanes.
Did you never do the experiment in High School Physics with the square sink and the three drain plugs?
SeeYou190 BATMAN Hoping to see total hydro chaos as we crossed the Equator The Coriolis effect does not effect sinks or toilets. It only works on extremely large systems like hurricanes. Did you never do the experiment in High School Physics with the square sink and the three drain plugs? -Kevin
BATMAN Hoping to see total hydro chaos as we crossed the Equator
Ya learn something every day, well at least my trip to the 747 toilet wasn't a total waste, I had to rid myself of all that free wine.
I did take physics in high school but that was a loooooong time ago.
Doughless Gulf Oil In setting up trains to run in a loop as part of my layout, a question occurred to me. Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter? Should I occasionally reverse the direction so as not to place undue wear on the same outside wheels? Gulf It doesn't matter to the trains, wear and tear or otherwise, but the convention would be to run them counterclockwise. We live in the USA: We read and write from left to right, our eyeballs move left to right. Race cars, both NASCAR, or INDY cars, loop counterclockwise. Horse races loop CCW. Track and field races loop CCW. Drag races, quarter horse races, and track sprint races run left to right. And since a map reads west to east, left to right, the trains would be normally running west to east or north to south, when circling the loop the conventional way. I thought the answer was pretty simple.
This assumes you are outside the circle........
Sheldon
DoughlessWe read and write from left to right, our eyeballs move left to right.
Well, to me, the sentence above seems contrary to the activities listed below...
Doughless...Race cars, both NASCAR, or INDY cars, loop counterclockwise. Horse races loop CCW. Track and field races loop CCW. Drag races, quarter horse races, and track sprint races run left to right.
When one is looking at (in other words, "reading") a clock, its rotation is clockwise. All of those other activities are therefore running backwards, in my opinion.
DoughlessNot sure what our Canadian friends do.
We usually just grab a few beers, eh, then say to aitch-eee-double-hockey-sticks with it.
Runnin' yer trains in circles any which way is gunna eventually give ya whiplash.
Wayne
ATLANTIC CENTRALThis assumes you are outside the circle........
This is getting way too deep for me. I never considered even 1% of all this information when I run my trains.
DoughlessNASCAR, or INDY cars, loop counterclockwise.
Except at Sonoma, Watkins Glen, and Poconos
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Doughless Drag races, quarter horse races, and track sprint races run left to right. I thought the answer was pretty simple.
All three local drag race tracks around here have grand stands on both sides of the track........so left to right and right to left.......
The tractor pulls at our county fair are right to left......
The two dragstrips I have frequented in Florida both go Left to Right if you have a pit pass and Right to Left if you are seated in the bleachers.
doctorwayneWe usually just grab a few beers, eh, then say to aitch-eee-double-hockey-sticks with it.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Gulf Oil Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? ... Does it matter?
Is there a convention as to the direction in which trains should run? ... Does it matter?
No.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
SeeYou190 The two dragstrips I have frequented in Florida both go Left to Right if you have a pit pass and Right to Left if you are seated in the bleachers. -Kevin
Well sure, if there are two sets of grandstands. One is oriented on the front side of the track and one is oriented on the back side of the track.
The side that goes from left to right would be the front side.
doctorwayneRunnin' yer trains in circles any which way is gunna eventually give ya whiplash.
Not runnin your trains in circles means you can only hold one beer at a time eh!
Wow, this thread keeps going around....and around....and around....and around......and around.....and...
Are we circlin' left? right? or around the bowl....? (which is cw is my part of the world).
EXCEPT for that new fangled thing down stairs! It just goes straight down!! GONE in an instant with a big rush...
Mike.
My You Tube
BATMAN doctorwayne Runnin' yer trains in circles any which way is gunna eventually give ya whiplash. Not runnin your trains in circles means you can only hold one beer at a time eh!
doctorwayne Runnin' yer trains in circles any which way is gunna eventually give ya whiplash.
Now that's some righteous rolling stock you have up North. Why transport beer without any way to drink it in transit? A tank car with a built-in tasting room is a brilliant idea!
Start tapping into that and pretty soon you won't care which way the trains are going...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Hello All,
As a fellow ski instructor once said to me, "You think you know it all!"
My reply was, "No, I don't know it all, but I do know when I'm wrong."
After several corrections to my statement:
"In DC to run a consist, either tail-to-tail or nose-to-nose, one (or more) of the locomotive's motor(s) running in the consist must be "reversed" so all move in the same direction."
I took out my test track, wired a DC controller (which does have a "Forward" and "Reverse" labeled switch), put two F units on the track and proved myself wrong!
Thank you all for the corrections of my mistake.
I also amended my post and removed this incorrect statement.
Hope this helps.
Post Script: In Formula 1 the direction of travel is dictated by the track.
J.J.D.I.- -H.T.H.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
mlehmanWhy transport beer without any way to drink it in transit? A tank car with a built-in tasting room is a brilliant idea!
I bet MOW crews stood in a line when that tanker approached!
JJ, been there myself many times.
Gulf Oil Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter? Gulf
Should they run clockwise? Or alternatively, should they run counterclockwise? Does it matter?
Ummm, dude!! In the world of digital time devices, there is no "clockwise" or "counterclockwise".
Jim
I found the answer in my copy of Track Planning For Reallsitic Operation by John Armstrong.
Copyright 1963, Fourth Printing 1971.
Page 24 underneath the top track plan, it is written "A further modification would be to flop the entire arrangement end for end, thus converting the yard lead to a trailing-point connection for NORMAL right hand operation of the mainline oval."
So, right hand operation of the oval is normal. I am assuming this is clockwise because in the USA right hand rotation engines turn clockwise when viewed from the front.
SeeYou190Page 24 underneath the top track plan, it is written "A further modification would be to flop the entire arrangement end for end, thus converting the yard lead to a trailing-point connection for NORMAL right hand operation of the mainline oval." So, right hand operation of the oval is normal. I am assuming this is clockwise because in the USA right hand rotation engines turn clockwise when viewed from the front.
Assuming that you're not posting tongue-in cheek, that's actually not what Armstrong meant at all. The track plan in question is double-track. So one of the ovals "normally" would travel clockwise (the inner), the other counterclockwise. Right-hand operation relative to each of the two main lines, but opposing one-another.
As regards "flopping" the track plan, you left out a key part of the caption. This would be done to make the yard a trailing-point connection to the inner oval – because that oval would be operating clockwise (“for normal right-hand operation”). But the outer oval would "properly" operate counterclockwise.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
I consider it a matter of pride to be able to run in both directions with no track flaws to be wary of. My layout had a pair of reversing loops, one facing each direction, to facilitate easy turnarounds. There were also two long passing sidings about halfway around the main loop from each other, so it was possible, with great care, to run one train in each direction with meets around the loop.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.