What if my railroad was divided into say 3 distinct towns with view blocks between the towns. Kind of a 3 sided cubicle for each town 50 miles apart in theory. Block1 time would be 1 hour faster then 2 and 2 hours faster then 3. So the train done switching in block 1 would travel a minimal distance into block 2 but the time would make it appear it took an hour to get there. The time thing won't work in both directions because a train going from 2 to 1 would arrive an hour earlier then it left. So it would require different clocks for going east or west. Any thoughts
The different parts of the layout may be set in different time zones, but the time the train needs to travel from one zone to the next one still remains the same - just a few seconds. The effect you attempt to achieve will not be felt.
A rather quirky way to lenghten travel time.
I am (or better, was) a member of a roun robin group of narrow gauge model railroaders, who each year set up a quite large modular layout with about 8 scale miles of track as a charity event. we run trains on a time table and use a fast clock. While a train travels 3 minutes between stations, it is actually only a minute and is experienced just as such.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
I wish I could sketch this for you, but my skills as an artist are terrible.
When I lived in Nashville I visited a layout very similar to what you described. The owner wanted as many towns as possible in his space and wanted to represent an entire division.
Between each town there was a huge mountain (view block). The train would emerge from the tunnel, travel 2-3 feet into town, do its business, then go 2-3 feet into another tunnel.
He had a "time jump" between each city of one hour. This was because he had a digital clock with an hour adjusting button on it, and he just hit the hour button one time while the train was in the tunnel.
It worked.
You could do the same thing with three sided shadow boxes instead of mountains. The only thing you lose it the illusion of travelling from town to town.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Time jumping would work but,IMHO would require the engineer to run at scale speeds instead of Mach 5.
It would alsl require the engineer to switch industries at scale switching speeds and allow time for the switchmen to do their work like unlocking a switch,opening a derail, stopping at each coupling so the hand brake can be released. In short no more crash coupling into a standing freight car and then simply hit the reverse switch.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"