Hello. Do you have a particular scenario to your train running patterns? Please feel free to share. Here are mine. Peter. LL=Lower Level, UL=Upper Level

1. LL to UL and back down in a follow-the-leader pattern with auto-red signal block control, trying to make local trains stop at my LL and UL stations.

2. LL in two directional traffic with auto-red signal block control with separate UL two directional traffic via the same as previously stated control.

3. LL with thru reverse loop and back control.

4. UL two directional traffic using elevated sections. (Part of this is single track)

5. 8 trains running LL to UL and back down, repeated while LL has two directional traffic and so does the UL.

6. Shunting and making up trains at LL.

Please let us all know if you have particular features of running your trains.

Happy Holidays to all. Peter.

Two shadow stations
One main station, with underground S-Bahn station below it
One suburb with S-Bahn service.

S-Bahn commuter trains can run from the suburb station to the main station and then on around the mainline and arrive in the underground station. From they they can return to the main and back to the suburb via a single track branch line, or they can go and hide in the shadow stations.

Freight trains run through the main and can go from one hidden station to the other or back to the one they came from.

No fixed sequence or timetable is used. I can dispatch trains from anywhere to anywhere and the computer sets their route and send them on their way when track is free for far enough for the train to stop in an area where stopping is allowed. Once they arrive at their destination that can (optionally) set a new departure to elsewhere after a stop of any time period. Departures and arrivals are announced (in German).

RemoteSign displays of arrival and departure times are all updated automatically in the appropriate stations.

The mainline runs past vineyards

and across a big valley.


Prototypical signals are displayed throughout.

Hidden areas have virtual signals so that cab control can show driver when to stop.

Some sidings depart from the mainline near the main station and run into an engine yard with two roundhouses plus a straight engine shed.


Trains can be operated manually at the same time as automatic operations, and trains in a route can be handed to a cab controller which allows manual control of the train along the route.


Sound and lighting effects can be be started at any time, from the main program, remote cabs or even voice control.

Hello Peter and all,

This photo shows my overall layout in a 3.3 x 2.6 metre shed with a 2.4m wide roller door for entry.
So it is a very simple single level round-and-round type layout with 3 stub-end storage sidings under the mountain, and it is totally C track.



There are 4 mainline tracks so I run 4 or 5 trains at a time.
The only variation from round and round is the interchange area where the steam engine will take-over from an electric engine and vice-versa.
Shunting can be done in a few industry sidings and a freight yard at the station.

All locomotives and railcars are digital controlled by an MS1 (60652).
I can stop trains using signals controlled by the Märklin push buttons (72720 etc).
My turnouts are all manually controlled.

Each train set will be on the layout for at least 4 weeks before I would bother to change it, because I enjoy seeing trains running as they did in real life.
That is in a hurry and able to stretch their legs.

Kimball

Loving this subject!
It's one of my favorite aspects of the hobby, so I hope I don't over-extend my answer;

Basic theme for my layout; Central station on a crushed oval (dogbone) with branching off secondary line. An alpine line branches off from the shadow-station of the secondary line.

First of all; My trains runs 100% automatic, even though all locos are good old analogue ones. I use industrial-strength PLCs and 24Vdc relays to control most things. The 24Vdc and the 16Vac uses a common return, thus making train-detection with the tracks compatible.

Nevertheless anything else NOT being the main-line has certain options for manual control. Here's a photo of the control panel that I have just begun to implement;

The 5 dials to the left are for a Z-schaltung of the parts that I can control manually.
The 5 parts are;
1) Branchline station-tracks
2) Industrial area with old Märklin magnetic crane
3) BW area with drehscheibe
4) Shunting area parallel to the station (and small industrial connection to the right)
5) Station track 1
The dials each permit the following selections;
1) Digital control with MS2 (again, the brown cable from the controller is connected to the common return, This is "dangerous" and schelifer-vippen are installed between sections and the main line automatic system.
2) "0" or OFF. (Section power-less)
3) Trafo A
4) Trafo B
(There are more options, but I don't want to extend myself too much; It's about connecting to the automatic PLC-control and the blue 6600 control for branchline shuttlelling.)
-Notice also the almost complete absence of point+signal controls for the main station-tracks on the control panel.

The automatic system handles the 6 main station-tracks, and the merging with branch-line traffic (also automatic);

Tracks 1 and 6 are bi-directional. Tracks 2+3 are for west-bound trains and tracks 4+5 for east-bound trains.
About a year ago I wrote some stuff about the control, stating that track 1 was dedicated for the branch-line. I'm happy to say that that is no longer so; All 6 tracks are available for both branchline and main-line. (Even though it has cost me about a month of headaches hammering out the software)

Some details of the workings of the automatic station;
Incoming trains are all measured for a) speed, b) if they are passenger trains, c) length; if they are short (compatible with branchline), medium (compatible with station) or overlong (blocks inbound and outbounds trains in the rest of the station)
A track is then assigned. If the train is fast (or freight) and the block out of the station is free, then the selected station-tracks signal is switched to green right away, and the train is marked for run-through.
If a train goes to or from the branch-line, a short stop is obligatory.
If it is a passenger-train that has to stop, then a longer stop is programmed.
The PLC also handles details such as; Powering tracks whos signal shows red, if approached from the opposite side of the signal.
Handling braking (sections fo gradually less voltage) depending on if the train has to stop or is running through.

I could go on describing funny details of the control, but again, I don't want to over-extend my answer with details probably only interesting to myself. So listing quickly; Priority handling of fast passenger-trains vs. normal passenger trains vs. freights. Re-routing freight-trains away from main platform tracks. Speculative booking of station-tracks. Freeing entry-signals to the station in advance, so that trains doesnt brake on main-line unless necessary. Handling of multiple crossovers in both directions. Simultaneous entry/exit of both main-line and branch-line.

Not covered in this post is the automatic control (another PLC) of the 2 main-line shadow-stations (8 and 7 tracks, of up to 2 trains per track), which also has extended automatic functions.
There is a manual 4 tracked shadow-station for the branchline.
Finally 2 automatic sequential shadows-stations for the alpine line (each holds 2 trains).

I´m happy to tell, that during this autumn, I finally achieved to integrate all parts of the layout into the control; It is now possible for a train (automatically and randomly selected) to make a run from shadow-station 1 (level 1) -> main station (level 5) -> branchline (level 6) -> alpine line (level 9)
-Both level 1 and level 9 are return-loops, eventually sending the train back the same way...

Hi all,

Good topic, so let me contribute my share too :

My layout includes the following :
There is a ground level where the village is located. (blue layer in the picture)
There is an ascent/descent which links the ground level to the first level. (yellow layer in the picture)
There is a first level with staging area for 2 trains (red layer in the picture)

Both the ground level and the first level have a reversing loop on the left hand side - every train has to go to one of the reversing loops.



There are 9 signals for staging trains, and a further 3 signals for block sequence control.
The operations go as follows :

Step 1 : 3 trains move between ground level and first level in a block sequence operation going from A-B-C to B-C-A in order
Step 2 : 4 trains travel individually and sequentially along their designated looping and reverse looping tracks and return to their point of origin, each of them doing an anti-clockwise journey through the tracks and then doing a clockwise journey to take it back to the start
Step 3 : 1 train travels on all available free tracks on both ground level and first level including both reverse loops and return to point of origin
Step 4 : 1 train reverses out of the station siding and travels down the track for about 2 metres, then stops, and them returns to station siding

The whole sequence is then repeated 2 times so that the initial trains starting as A-B-C follow through B-C-A and C-A-B and then back to A-B-C.
The entire sequence takes about 90 minutes to go from start to finish.

All the trains are digital.
I am using 3 x s88 feedback modules, and 24 x circuit tracks.
Central Station 2

Sound functions and routing all done by CS2 Memory Routing.
















Regards
John