Main line balloon loops

[bahnause]

Thanks everyone!

The loop is also regularly used to turn a train round when the first class is on the wrong side.

 

[D6130]

There is a balloon loop at the end of Bologna San Donato marshalling yet in Italy....which is nowadays used as a test circuit for new and recently-overhauled locomotives and units (cf Velim, Czechia).

 

[MarcVD]

There on one on the light metro of Charleroi.

 

[ricohallo]

Not sure if it counts but Brussels Airport is kind of used as one. Trains come in from Brussels and then continue without reversing to go back towards Brussels. They are usually advertised as terminating at Brussels Airport where they change into a service that goes out on the other side.

 

[DanielB]

Believe it was written earlier that a loop with multiple stations didn't count. Otherwise you could consider Gouda-Den Haag HS-Schiedam-Gouda as a loop as well

 

[43096]

There on one on the light metro of Charleroi.

View attachment 211818

Which is not “main line”, which was the exam question.

 

[ricohallo]

Believe it was written earlier that a loop with multiple stations didn't count. Otherwise you could consider Gouda-Den Haag HS-Schiedam-Gouda as a loop as well

Yes, though it is not used as such in regular passenger service.

 

[D6700]

Ceska Trebova in the Czech Republic has one, which I once travelled over on a railtour a good few years ago, taking us from the back of the station to a platform road without reversing.

Whilst more niche, the inner circuit at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic includes such a loop.

Stratford in East London also has such a layout to/from Temple Mills, which is made use of by some Orient Way ECS moves.

 

[The Pelican]

Stratford in East London also has such a layout to/from Temple Mills, which is made use of by some Orient Way ECS moves.

The Stratford one has led to the interesting layout of the Overground North London line, the Greater Anglia Stratford-Tottenham Hale line, and the two DLR tracks of the Stratford International-Canning town branch. The first and last of these used to be the platforms for the Dalston-Woolwich section of the North London Line.

 

[edwin_m]

It used to be possible to continue straight on at Spondon and enter Derby station from the north via Chaddesden Sidings, and this route was used to avoid reversal for trains continuing to/from the Crewe or Birmingham lines in the pre-DMU days. I don't know if it was routinely used to send any trains back via Spondon.

 

[beardedbrit]

in Boston, the Blue Line has an underground loop at the Bowdoin terminus