richhotrainI once dated a girl named Holly Molly.
I was involved with three girls in a row named Holly, and in Nashville I lived on Holly Street.
My car had a Motorcraft carbeurator.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Coreolis effect.
Maybe that is what the original poster needs to know.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I run trains clockwise on my 4 by 8 layout, rarely do trains go counterclockwise. It's a single track line, so there's nothing going both directions at once.
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -Lin Yutang
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BigDaddy This thread is still going? As someone said, in another forum, with equally poor spelling skills as this one. Holly Molly
This thread is still going? As someone said, in another forum, with equally poor spelling skills as this one.
Holly Molly
I once dated a girl named Holly Molly.
Little Richard wrote a song about her, Good Golly Miss Molly.
Rich
Alton Junction
I hadn't seen this topic before either, but I've been sitting here, chuckling over some of the responses. I personally don't think it matters, especially on our model railroads, which are tiny compared to the prototype--there simply isn't a preferred direction. I suppose if you have a double main, there are conventions about which of the two tracks you should be on, depending on the direction. But how do you define direction in a model railroad. Most of them basically run around a room, so you could arbitarily define clockwise as north and counterclockwise as south, for example.
I was initially bemused by the observation regarding prototype operations: "North on the westernmost line and south on the easternmost line..." At first, I thought that trains in the West weren't allowed to travel south (e.g., I can go from LA to SF, but not from SF to LA). Then I realized the point: For a double main, the westernmost (left-hand as you face north) track is traveled north and the easternmost (right-hand track as you face north) track is traveled south. I think that's right, although my brain is being damaged by thinking about how this would work for a train traveling north and then turning east: e.g., would the east-bound train have to switch from the left-hand to the right-hand rail? But in the context of our tiny model railroads, I don't think it matters. It's your railroad, so you can adopt any conventions you want!
I'm in the midst of building mine, and I hadn't really thought about this sort of convention. I have two reversing loops, so I can run trains in either direction. I don't have much double-main, so I doubt if will matter for me, but now that someone has raised the issue, I'll give some though to which direction ought to be north and which ought to be south, etc.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
My prior layout was primarily clockwise. With a very good reason.
That made the single ended yard lead trailing point, as well as the industrial spurs mostly trailing point. (Save one.)
I had one run-around, and placed the single facing point spur right near it.
New layout will be determined.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
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.
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 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.
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?
Gulf
Ummm, dude!! In the world of digital time devices, there is no "clockwise" or "counterclockwise".
Jim
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.
Mike.
My You Tube
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"
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.
Not runnin your trains in circles means you can only hold one beer at a time eh!
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
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...
doctorwayneRunnin' yer trains in circles any which way is gunna eventually give ya whiplash.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
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
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.
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.
- Douglas
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
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!
Doughless Drag races, quarter horse races, and track sprint races run left to right. I thought the answer was pretty simple.
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......
Sheldon
DoughlessNASCAR, or INDY cars, loop counterclockwise.
Except at Sonoma, Watkins Glen, and Poconos
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
This assumes you are outside the circle........
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
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?
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.
BATMANHoping to see total hydro chaos as we crossed the Equator
BATMAN Okay, it appears the cars run CW.
Okay, it appears the cars run CW.
NVM, you're talking about Canada. Yes, the F1 circuit runs CW no matter where they run.