British style stub terminals

[Jetrock]

There's no reason why a shelf layout would have to model a stub terminal or yard--they can be used to model industrial areas or sections of mainlines with destinations along the way, and they can be just about any length. You can simulate off-line activity with a hidden fiddle yard or cassette.

I'm not familiar with the "British" designation of such things--I've seen American shelf layouts for as long as I have been model railroading. The 4x8 sheet is common only because that is the size that plywood comes in.

[BR60103]

The first difference is space -- you can use the space of a 4x8 to get 2x16 or 1x32, but usually they're working more like 1x4 + yard.
You can use wider curves, but you don't have to.
You can try for a more realistic track plan.
(My layout is around the walls of a 16 foot square room. I built it with 3 stub terminals. I've now connected the two end points to give me a continuous run.)

[BNSFNUT]

Several of my layouts over the years have been shelf layouts that were based on short lines. I always modeded the end of the line with trains coming from a short staging track. I liked the switching moves required to work all the industries. You can pack a lot of detail in a layout like that and the is no need to try to hide track so it is not apperant that the trains are just going in a around and around.
The on draw back I found is that you can not just let trains run. Intill I built a layout with a long main line or loop some of my locomotives never got above 15 scale MPH. Another thing it is hard to sometimes show a layout like this to non modelrailroaders because they just want to see trains run.
My layout now has a stub ended branch as well as a mainline and yard and I like it because it gives me the best of both worlds.

[Anonymous]

what are the pros and cons of modeling a branchline stub terminal versus a typical US 4x8. Thanks