Ok I need some help with this one. I am thinking of tearing up my cuerrent track arangement and wanted to incorperate a 3 track stageing yard at the front right of my layout. How do I create the ladder? I have seen this term used and know what they are but I dont know how to build one. Any help would be appericated.
Curt
There are many ways of doing that, they each have their pro’s and con’s. I would recommend getting a copy of John Armstrong’s Track Planning For Realistic Operation, it has several pages and diagrams on the topic of yard design. Mr Armstrong knew his stuff, wish I would’ve read this book before I started my first layout!
Curt,
Go to a hobby store near you and find the Atlas Beginners Layout book. In the back it has pictures of ladders using #4 & #6 turnouts - both basic and compound ladders. It also has the formulas you’ll need to figure out what length track pieces to put between the turnouts to get the proper center-to-center track spacing between your parallel yard tracks.
Tom
Having both
I recommend Ladders with #4’s since one can fit fingers more easily in place to set, and re-rail cars on their tracks.
I also prefer single-ended yards, since ladder throats take up so much linear space. Trains can back in easily, with decent turnouts.
This will work for H0.
Take a piece of flat hardwood about 1/2" wide.
At each end put two pairs of notches 2.5mm / 3/32" apart… one end directly in line with the other.
Along each side make notches opposite each other about 3mm apart for the whole length of the sides.
Get the thinnest armature winding coper wire you can find.
Wind the wire tightely up and down the wood to make four parralel long lengths.
Wind a second piece tightly around and around the wood across the long bits at rightangles.
Wind a thrid piece tightly up and down like the first piece.
Use a good thin flux all over the whole wire assembly.
Solder the whole lot running the solder up and down the long wires soldering them together with each other and the cross wires and filling the gaps between the cross wires. (I mean the gaps between the top and bottom long ones up and down not sideways).
When it has all cooled down use a razore saw to gently seperate each ladder from the wood. You can do this for very long ladders suitable for the outside of silos.
To make the safety cage for long ladders you do a similar thing around a piece of dowel (about 1/4" actual size or 5/16"). The thing you have to be careful of is making sure that you can extract the dowel afterwards. This can be made easier if you can use a very tiny flat stock or flatten the wire.
AH! Just realised… you mean building a ladder of switches for a yard… [banghead]
Never mind… you know how to build tiny ladders as well now. [(-D]