You.ve got to be kidding ...

[healey36]

Maybe for aesthetics it would be nice to have a passing siding or two, but he likely just wants to run trains without the issues associated with points. If your running traditional standard-gauge stuff, it's all manual coupling/uncoupling anyway, and dealing with the latch couplers is a pain. I have two pair of Lionel 210 manuals I occasionally use on floor layouts, and stuff moves through them pretty roughly. Stuff seems to move through a really old pair of Ives turnouts I have much easier. Still, you get occasional derailments which can be mitigated by just leaving them out.

On the current O-gauge tinplate layout, we have a pair of Lionel 021 manuals. They look nice and the O-gauge gear seems to move through them fairly well. They are entirely for aesthetics, however, as I don't recall ever shoving anything down the spurs.

[jlong]

He may have plans to cut in switches later on once he's satisfied with his main lines. I like the way his benchwork flows with the track plan an room.

[HONDO74]

A couple of videos of his new layout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa9U_gn ... tg&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gFqXJB ... I5LIs9Z3tg