Normal operations are way freight or peddler freights. Some passenger service is done, also. Although there is a continuous loop, operations are point to point.
The usual peddler freight follows the same route that Bilbo Baggins followed in 'The Hobbit' up to Rivendell, then visits additional locations found in 'Lord of the Rings'. A locomotive is dispatched to Hobbiton where it picks up train orders and its initial consist of one or two cars. The train crosses the bridge and stops at Bree where empties are picked up from the ore dock, and lumber loads from the Hobbiton Lumber Company are picked up. (slight departure from the Tolkien map, but that's how the track had to go!)
The train proceeds, taking the branch to Lonely Mountain. It follows a path not shown by any road or river on a Tolkien map. It could be traced on a map of Middle Earth by traveling east from Moria around Mirkwood then northward to the Lonely Mountain.
Lonely Mountain is the line's far terminus and contains an interesting switching puzzle borrowed from the HO versions of the Rivendell & Midland.The runaround track at Lonely Mountain has a turnout at one end, and a turntable at the other. It also doubles as a freight siding. Locomotives must be turned, cars picked up and delivered, and the train oriented to head back to Rivendell or Hobbiton.
The Lonely Mountain turntable is the same one that is at Rivendell, but approached from a different track. A trackplan published a number of years back by 'Model Railroader' featured a point to point line that 'folded in' on itself with both ends of the line sharing a common turntable. This was one of the inspirations for the design of the Rivendell & Midland.
The train now leaves Lonely Mountain, passes through Moria, and picks up the consist it previously dropped off before going to Lonely Mountain. These cars will be bound for Rivendell, Bree, or Hobbiton. The train must again cross the massive Misty Mountain High Bridge. Arriving in Rivendell, it drops off loads and concludes its journey at Hobbiton.The locomotive then returns to the Rivendell yard.
Other runs include the logging run from the forests of Lothlorien to the sawmill at the Hobiton Lumber Company, and the ore run from Moria Mining Company to the ore docks at Bree. Passenger runs can be made from nearly anywhere to anywhere.
Peddler freights starting at Rivendell going clockwise would have to make a full round trip before reaching Hobbiton, then continue around a second time before taking the branch to Lonely Mountain. This makes for nearly twice the run as the peddler freight just described.