Christmas Eve, 1946: Johnny wished the hardest he'd wished in all his 10 years for a Lionel Pennsylvania S-2 steam turbine electric train set. The next morning, there it was under the Christmas tree, and the love affair began.
The Pennsylvania S-2 has a place of distinction in John's model train room, where he's spent endless hours passing his love of trains on to his son. John's face lights up as he explains to his grandson the history of each model train, telling him: "The truly marvelous part of railroading is designing the layout - the stage where your model trains perform."
The tradition continued when John bought his grandson Thomas the Tank Engine for Christmas. Each year he adds another of Thomas's railroad friends, and teaches his grandson how to redesign Thomas's track layout.
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Boring Basics
Sizes of model train track layouts vary from shelf-top designs to layouts that fill rooms. Here are some basic train track arrangements.
- The continuous loop is a oval or round train track layout.
- Point-to-point is a straight-line track with a station at each end.
- Out-and-back pear-shaped track has a reverse loop to return to the station.
Adding Thrill to the Ride
As a teenager, John mastered model train track designs.
- Point-to-point lines of train track were expanded by adding a continuous loop layout.
- Dog-bone layouts created 2 distinctive turn-around areas.
- Laying double track allowed for running multiple trains at one time.
- Lines were added that branched off and formed spurs, allowing for more stations and addition of more trains.
- Figure 8 with one loop crossing over another eliminated train track crossings for a more versatile layout. Multiple levels were formed.
- Staging/fiddle yards with return loop, storage tracks, and multi-industry track for loading and unloading moved traffic through John's layout.
- Team train tracks and a freight yard were added for incoming and outgoing freight trains to load and drop off model boxcars.
- Exchange tracks allowed 2 trains to meet and exchange goods.
- Marshalling yards within freight stations separated cars onto various tracks.
