IF YOU LIKE people to visit your layout, you probably also like to talk to them. And, if you're enough of a showman to enjoy guests, you probably also want to run more than one train to maintain a lot of action on your layout. I found it almost impossible to carry on a conversation and, at the same time, run more than one train on my mainline until I figured out how to let the trains run themselves.

PLAN ONE
Suppose, for example, you want to run two trains on the mainline and shuttle a streetcar back and forth across the mainline, all simultaneously. You would either have to be three separate people or you must automate your layout.

The trackplan in Figure 1 offers such operation and uses standard LGB track components. It is very simple but it provides a lot of activity. It has no turnouts so maintenance is very easy. Block control allows two trains to operate on the same loop and the LGB electronics let one slow to a stop as the other accelerates up to speed. The trains on the mainline determine when the trolley or, if you prefer, handcar, crosses the mainline.

If you build such a railroad outdoors, you may locate the LGB 1201 and 1203 electrical components inside a structure to protect them from the elements.

If you build the plan or want to integrate its automation into your own layout, the following suggestions may help:

The LGB 1700 contact at X kills power to stopping blocks E and F. The 1700 at Y restores power to the same blocks. You must properly place the 1700s to avoid collisions. The 1700 I labeled X must be far enough behind the crossing to stop the streetcar or handcar before it reaches the crossing. Usually three feet is enough distance but if you run trains fast you should increase the distance.

The last car in the train must clear the crossing before an LGB 1701 switching magnet under a locomotive may cross the 1700 contact at Y. The longest train you run will dictate where to place the 1700.

Be sure to clean the crossing before you run trains. Small units such as handcars have few electrical pick up points; if the track at the crossing is dirty, a little 0-4-0 mechanism will stop right on top of it. My handcar operator has lost his life twice in the past year because of my track cleaning negligence.

The 1700s at A and B operate stopping blocks A, B, P, and Q. Here is how they control mainline operation: Train 1 passes over 1700 "A". It restores power to stopping block "B". Train 2, stopped in block B, can now pull out. Meanwhile Train 1 will have slowed slightly because Train 2 has taken some of its power, then enters block A and stops. When train 2 crosses 1700 B, it restores power to stopping block A, the train pulls out of the station, and eventually will stop at the water tank in stopping block B. The cycle then repeats itself.

Blocks P and Q are there for safety. If 1700s A or B should fail, the moving train would stop in block P or Q rather than collide with the train stopped in block A or B.

The extra set of contacts on the 1203s could operate red and green signal lights at the crossover and at stopping blocks A and B.

PLAN TWO
I use the plan in Figure 2 at clinics. Two short trains and a handcar operate on it. The train leaving track X passes over 1700 A. That operates turnout P, and the train will move to the inner circle. The train then crosses 1700 B, throwing turnout P causing the train to move back to the outer loop and enter the passing siding where it began.

Before the train stops, it passes over 1700 D. That throws turnout R and starts the second train. The second train then repeats the cycle.

If you also want to add a handcar on a point-to-point track as in Figure 1, you must add an LGB 1700 at E and F to control stopping blocks M and N. Remove all controls from turnout Q so the points move freely.

PLAN THREE
Figure 3 shows a switchback. A remote LGB 1201 controller is necessary. 1700s X and Y operate it. That controls the polarity going to the 1700s and, therefore, whether the train runs "uphill" or "downhill".

BILL OF MATERIALS
PLAN ONE

For Point-To-Point Section
6 ea. track insulators
1 ea. reversing unit (including diodes)
1 ea. crossing
1 ea. power source
1 ea. streetcar, handcar, or small locomotive
wire

For Loop
8 ea. track insulators
4 ea. LGB 1700 magnetically activated contact
2 ea. LGB 1201 EPL
2 ea. LGB 1203
2 ea. LGB 1700 for two locomotives
1 ea. power source
2 trains (length depends on size of loop)
wire