Well in all likelyhood this will get a few laughs, but after years of being into trains ive decided to look into model railroading. Ive been searching the net looking at all kinds of different layouts from the very simple to things i couldnt dream of. But heres my question, on pictures of just the track layouts on say a plain oval track, what is the pourpose of the single pieces of track that just jut off into the middle and stop? Sorry if that is a stupid question but if you dont ask you'll never know right? Anyway thanks in advance for anyone that can clear this up for me. I look forward to reading deeply into these forums and really getting involved in this awesome hobby.