LEGO DUPLO train track layouts: ten that close, and what each takes
DUPLO is the forgiving system to plan a layout in. Every curve turns 30 degrees, so twelve make a circle, and every curve advances the line by exactly 128 mm, the length of one straight. Those two facts together mean a DUPLO layout either closes exactly or does not close at all — there is no nearly, and no fudging at the joints. Here are ten that close, drawn from the boxes and from LEGO’s own layout sheets, each with the pieces it takes. Click any of them to open it in the planner, ride it, or take it apart.
Start here: one loop
The circle is twelve curves and nothing else, about 58 cm across the outside. Add two straights to each side and it becomes the oval on the 10874 Steam Train box, which is where nearly every DUPLO layout begins, because every bigger one is this with something hung off it.
Circle
Twelve curves, no straights. The smallest DUPLO layout that closes. Pieces: 12 curves.
Oval
The layout on the 10874 Steam Train box: twelve curves with two straights a side. Pieces: 4 straights, 12 curves.
One loop and a siding
A set of points turns the oval into somewhere a second train can wait. The rule that decides whether a siding works is simple: every spare arm of a set of points has to lead somewhere, either back into the track or to a buffer stop. An arm left hanging is an open joint, and a train will run off the end of it. That is why 10882 Train Tracks comes with two stops for its two sets of points.
Oval with a siding at a turn
One set of points at a turn, with the siding curving away from the loop. Pieces: 5 straights, 22 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing.
Oval with two sidings
The back of the 10882 box: a siding to each side of the oval. Pieces: 5 straights, 22 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing.
Cargo oval with sidings
The 10875 Cargo Train box, with the level crossing on a long side and the sidings for the cargo. Pieces: 3 straights, 14 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing, 2 hill ramps.
Two trains on one layout
A passing loop is two sets of points facing each other along one side, with a second road between them. One train stands on the loop while the other runs past. In DUPLO this closes exactly, which is worth saying because in BRIO it does not: there the middle road wants to be 4.6 mm shorter than any straight allows. The points and sidings guide goes into why.
Oval with a passing loop
A second road across the middle of the oval: one train waits while the other passes. Pieces: 5 straights, 22 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing.
Two loops
Two loops joined through a pair of points need twenty-four curves the straightforward way, which is two 10874 boxes plus a 10882. With only twenty-two — one 10874 and one 10882 — the trick is to let each set of points stand in for a curve of its own loop, so the two meet along the tangent at the toes. Both arrangements are below, and the planner knows which one your box can manage.
Two loops side by side
Two ovals joined through a pair of points. Two 10874 boxes and a 10882. Pieces: 9 straights, 34 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing.
Loop inside a loop
A loop inside a loop, the arrangement the BRIO guide uses, worked out in DUPLO geometry. Pieces: 9 straights, 34 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing.
Over the bridge
A figure of eight needs the line to cross itself, which means height, which means the bridge from 10872 or its replacement in 10426. Both run 1024 mm, exactly eight straights, with room for a line underneath the middle. The DUPLO figure of eight is exact — the BRIO one misses by 5 mm, which is why BRIO sells theirs with a viaduct.
Figure of eight over a bridge
Two lobes crossing on the bridge, from LEGO’s own layout sheet. Pieces: 16 straights, 24 curves, 1 bridge.
Figure of eight with a siding
The same figure of eight with a siding hung off it for a second train. Pieces: 13 straights, 22 curves, 2 points, 2 buffer stops, 1 level crossing, 1 bridge.
Which boxes make which
The quickest way to answer that for your own shelf is to tell the planner the set numbers and let it work out every layout they make. If you would rather read it, which DUPLO sets come with track lists the exact track count of every current set, and how to plan a DUPLO track covers the measurements these layouts are built on.