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It’s my opinion that a layout should be able to have some sort of operations with just one person…the owner. After all he has the most access to the layout. My layout would operate best with 2-4 people. Because of the room factor more than that would be too crowded.

One for sure - you! My outdoor railroad just needs one to operate but can handle up to 3. My former basement HO layout requried 4-6 to operate but could handle up to 10 - more if two men were assigned to a crew. The question one must ask is how many people will be available for your operating sessions? Dave (TOC) has a regular group he can count on, not everyone will. When I designed my HO layout I knew how many guys I could count on to show up regularly for the operating sessions, but after 18 years we all got older, some retired & moved away while others were no longer physically able to participate. Don’t design a railroad that’s “too big to handle” by yourself.

Operations on a layout can be a great way to enjoy friendship, increase you knowledge of what railroads do and improve your railroad to a more protypical track plan. It certainly should be able to be operated by one person, but can be expanded to handle may operators or train crews at one time. Teaming an inexperienced individual with one that knows the rules can be a rewarding experience for both people as long as they understand this is for fun, not work.

Much depends on the railroad. My railroad is patterned after a branch of the East Broad Top, which only saw one train at a time over it. As such, it’s really designed to be operated by one person. While all three towns on the line have sidings, they’re not designed as passing sidings but storage sidings (i.e., there are industries that load and unload on all but the mainline tracks). I can run multiple trains, but they’d have to be fairly short. My sidings aren’t long by any stretch of the imagination.

Later,

K