How Long does it take your train to complete a loop?

Is this going to be a (Typical male!) 'Mine is bigger than yours' thread? 

But anyway, running at speed step 3 on my CAB-2, a train takes about 30 seconds to do 1 lap of my layout. 

My longest loop takes just under a minute, running in conventional.

My double-track mainline is 201 feet long, but I have never timed how long it takes a train at normal speed to make a loop.  I will have to do that.

Art

It's worse. It's not only a "mine is bigger than yours" but it's a "it's not the size but how you use it" thread.

A 4-mile loop can be covered in 4 minutes at 60 SMPH or 16 minutes at 15 SMPH. The record for our layout was set by a conventional MTH shay at 45 minutes -- a record which can probably be broken, but we don't have the patience.

Woogie,

What do you call prototypical speed?

I notice all lot of people like to run their trains at a very slow speed whether in the yard or on the main line. That's not prototypical.

Not prototypical! Why is "slow speed" or "very slow speed" not prototypical?  It would certainly depend on the railroad, what the prototypical speed limit is, i.e. a branch line, a switching terminal, switching in an industrial district, or even a main line manifest freight train with a "speed restricted" freight car in it.

Also, a scale speed of, say 35MPH, might look awfully "slow" to some folks.

I don't know ? ...about 4 seconds give or take.

I didn't time it with a watch, but last year I made a "cab-view" video of my layout with a train running at "toy train" speed with Bruce Springsteen's "Downbound Train" playing in the background which was 4:07.  One complete loop synced perfectly. It's not really a loop though...more like a pretzel dogbone thing twisted into the shape of a "g".

I think "normal speed" is a relative term. There is prototypical real railroad speed which to me has always been boring when observed on a model train layout and then there is normal "toy train" speed which I am sure would kill any little scale passengers who happened to be aboard.

When I was at the NJHR open house a few weeks ago I noticed that their subways were moving along at what looked like 150-175 scale MPH! Meanwhile their freights were traveling at what I considered to be "normal" toy train bordering on but not quite prototypical speed. On their layout, both looked pretty cool!

My train tracks:

From two to three minutes around my longest loop (135 ft) running as I do normally between 25 and 35 scale mph for freight, or one minute for passenger service (60 scale mph).

From two to one and one half minutes around the second loop (92 ft) for freight in that same 25 - 35 scale mph range.  Don't run passenger cars on it.

From one and a quarter to 50 seconds around the third loop (54 feet) for freight at those same scale 25 - 35 speeds.

And for my two main 'Streets roadways: about a minute and forty seconds  seconds at around a scale 20 mph through my downtown Main Street loop (59.5 feet) for traffic there.  About 50 seconds for traffic on my country road (96 fee) traveling at around 50 - 55 scale mph.

about 20 minutes

On our ON30 layout we only have a portion of the main level operating and at a proto speed of 15 to 20 smph it takes just under 10 minutes for a loop.  SMPH scale miles per hour.  We are modeling the narrow gauge in the summer of 1940, given track conditions at that time some track speeds were limited to under 20 mph, but mostly under 15 and yard speeds at under 3 mph.  All bridge speeds were 15.  Russ

about 4mins

My 2 loops are about 350 ft of track each over 3 levels.

Woogie

At high speed on the O-72 diameter outer loop, the train usually laps in 30 or so seconds.

At current rate? Sometimes years for some select Proto1s...

I ever have timed it. I must do that. Now I'm curious.

A few years ago I had a floor layout that filled two bedrooms.  It had 40 022 switches and the switches were operated by the train using the non-derail feature.  Switches were connected in pairs so whenever one switch was operated by the train, a second switch was also operated.  The layout was very complex and did not resemble a prototype railroad at all.  It was toy trains, not model railroading.  It took 22 minutes for the train to go completely around the layout, running at moderate speed.  I had a random rotary switch which would randomize the train going between two directions, and if this switch were operating, the time to complete the circuit around the layout went to infinity since there was no way to predict which way the train would go.  

Since I added the "island" turning loop, a complete point-to-point circuit on my layout is 2 minutes.

15-20 sec.  Doesn't take long to travel a RTR set loop of FasTrack.

Sadly, Since I'm between layouts, it takes no time at all. The last layout was conceived as a temporary endeavor, knowing that I was eventually going to loose the space. It was a stylized 8'x15' fastrack layout featuring a double mainline with a double crossover, another set of crossovers, some sidings, and several short storage tracks. With about 70' of mainline, perhaps 120' of track all said, it' would not take long to traverse the entire layout. Modest as it was, I do miss it.

My double-track main is 100' long.  So freight trains are around 90 seconds and passenger trains are around half that.  It's long but I also have very broad curves.

The hidden question really is what is the length of your track system. The time to run the trains around it is a matter of what speed do you normally operate.

Art and Lee gave us in my opinion the best answers that indicate some very impressive long runs. Pete at 20 minutes would also have to translate into one heck of a long run as well.

There have been very interesting responses to this thread.

3 minutes for freight and 2 minutes for passenger.

Track is about 1 scale mile.

That is the biggest loop. Smaller loops a little less.

On my 11 X 14 Texas main line loop, running my trains slow (the way I like to enjoy them), it takes a little over a minute to complete the trip.  Though if the trains has unscheduled stops for cattle on the track, line repairs or station delay's then it may take a bit longer.  Like this situation......          Steve, Lady and Tex

I have just under 5 scale miles of mainline in service, and it usually takes between 7 and 8 minutes to make the loop. That should be somewhere in the 40 SMPH range (average).

Mine takes no time at all... for it is merely just a fantasy at this point!

I don't know, I'm still waiting ... still waiting ... still waiting ... still waiting ... still waiting ... still waiting ... oh, wait ... is it moving?  Golly darn, the e-unit was in neutral!  There now ... waiting ... still waiting ... still waiting ... it's creeping very, very slowly ... still waiting ... think I'll flip the switch to a siding and remove the bumper so the train will fly off the layout when it's traveled a complete loop.  That way, I won't have to keep waiting.

What, me worry? 

Loop?  What's a loop? 

This reminds me about a man telling his friend that he could get in his truck and drive for eight hours and still not reach the edge of his property, to which his friend replied, yes I used to have a truck like that.

Aha!! I am looking at a Speed Gun to try on my layout before I truthfully answer.

now....Academy Sports has one used for baseball stats.....I wonder ??

Oh, yeah...fantasys are good too.

It is if you model FRA excepted trackage. 10 MPH maximum authorized speed, limited to freight movements only.

Why does it matter?

I LIKE that one.

Why does it matter?  Inthe grand scheme of things it probably does not - but them frankly neither do we.  But it is interesting: it tells you something about the 'feel' of the layout. A layout where it takes 10 minutes for a train to orbit the loop once is going to be one where you see it very seldom, while one where it comes by every ten seconds is one where the typical train is almost never out of sight.  Completely different "feel" I think: a quite interesting subject to ponder.

At my age & with medications, it depends on how long I sleep at the Throttle.

Dennis

About that long.

I think I have everyone beat.  My last train went into the helix 22 years ago and hasn't been seen since then.

They let  me try dispatching for a day... Gregg

It has to be approaching the center of the earth by now.

It has to be approaching the center of the earth by now.

At about 30 smph since we are in an urban area on my layout, it takes about 8 minutes to navigate all of the mainlines without repeating the route.

Alan