Point to point?

[Freight Train]

.--------------------. (  point to point..get it ? ) With the joking aside the closest I've come to a point to point operation was a HO switching layout I once built. Though the idea of doing one intrigues me. I think if I did decide to build one I would go with what many have suggested here with a way for continuous running with the return loop hidden some how. But the question I have though is would you be running any passenger equipment on this point to point layout? And if you are how would you turn the train(s) around? Depending on the time period choosen that could mean using a turntable, wye or reverse loop like the prototypes would have. For me I'd probably take the easy route and use a turntable. Doesn't take up as much room as a wye or reversing loop would.

[superchief]

I think a combo is the best way to go so you have the best of both worlds. I run a 464 foot mainline with staging yards on both ends with stacked reversing loops on both yards that are one on top of the other. At the end of an operating session all trains are "nosed in" head first so I pull a train out one at a time and turn it on the rev loop and back it onto the same track. The same for the other yard and flip the loads/ empties trains and restaging is done. A friend passed away and a salvaged helix was installed inside the rev loops making the double deck layout into a giant "loop". For operating sessions the layout is run as a point to point but I enjoy the continue running while I work in the train room.  Just my two cent. Gordon

[randgust]

Reversing loops in yards aren't completely out of the question.   I can name at least two I've stumbled on....

1)  Eureka, CA (NWP/SP) had a "balloon track' around the yard, remember this was the far north end of the line from San Francisco/Oakland, and they turned entire trains here.

2)  Wellsville, Addison & Galeton (B&SW) had a reversing loop in the middle of the yard at Galeton, PA, complete with diamond across the main line.   All gone now, but I remember walking the weedy main line in 1974 and stumbling onto a diamond, and figured it out.  WTH?  Still shows on historic USGS topo maps.

I'm sure there's more than you'd think, particularly around engine terminals, and it's more popular today than it was historically because nobody wants turntables anymore for any reason if they have the space to do it any other way.

[reinhardtjh]

Reversing loops in yards aren't completely out of the question.   I can name at least two I've stumbled on....

I'm sure there's more than you'd think, particularly around engine terminals, and it's more popular today than it was historically because nobody wants turntables anymore for any reason if they have the space to do it any other way.

NS Buckeye yard in Columbus, Ohio.

https://goo.gl/maps/34bSe

Although that satellite shot is old since is shows the yard still in full use and doesn't show the 3 huge container lift cranes in the CSX intermodal yard on the east (right side).

[wazzou]

Reversing loops in yards aren't completely out of the question.   

I'm sure there's more than you'd think, particularly around engine terminals, and it's more popular today than it was historically because nobody wants turntables anymore for any reason if they have the space to do it any other way.

The Northern Pacific's Parkwater Yard in Spokane, WA had a balloon around the back of the Turntable/Roundhouse that also connected to a Wye.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Parkwater,+Spokane,+WA+99212/@47.6591347,-117.329991,1847a,20y,41.16t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x549e1f42744dbc6f:0x8d1ec3fb2b6188ca

[C855B]

Reversing loops in yards aren't completely out of the question.   I can name at least two I've stumbled on....
...

Of course. And they're surprisingly common. On UP, North Platte, West Colton and Cheyenne come to mind immediately. The Alton & Southern has two and maybe even four at their East St. Louis facility, and is a HO modeler's dream - two simple ovals with beaucoup yard tracks in the middle. http://binged.it/1pGmOkO

IOW, in my experience they're everywhere. We just overlook them since they take a lot of real estate in real life, or they're sometimes disguised in the clutter of other trackage.

[u18b]

Rice Yard.
The big SCL yard in Waycross GA (now CSX), has a return loop at the bottom of the yard.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/rice+yard+waycross/@31.1671004,-82.3999873,2523m/data=!3m1!1e3

See it at the bottom left.