I am a 77 year old male, getting into HO trains for the first time in 60 years. Back then, my brother had I had all Athearn trains, but I do not remember what brand of transformer and track that we used. I do remember all of our track had brass rails, thin ties, and was completely flexible, so we didn’t have a lot of track ‘joints’. I do not remember what radius our curves were and since we used flexible track, I doubt that we even cared. On my new 4’x8’ layout, I am not doing anything fancy; just a large oval with a siding track, located parallel to, and 5" away from the main line on one side. My depot will be in between the two tracks. My powered and dummy diesels are Athearn GP7’s having two trucks each with two axles. I am sure they could negotiate 18" radius curves, but they will be pulling 3 or 4 Athearn heavyweight passenger cars, each having 3 axle trucks. Can I get by with 18" radius curves, or do I need to make 22" radius curves?
I’d cast my vote for 22" with flex-track transition spiraling – the passenger cars will look better when curving, and if you use diaphragms with the old trick of an oversized plate of thin transparent sheet on the ‘mating’ faces the appearance may be better still.
On the other hand, if you use reasonable-length transition into an 18" section, you should be able to get the cars to track reasonably both in draft and buff, and for areas of the layout that aren’t easily observed, that might save some space for foreground detail or to work a track in at the back.
Equipment always looks better on a wider radius.
Welcome back to the hobby! I would go with 22" given your passenger equipment. It will look and run better, especially in reverse from your siding.
Simon
That is what I had the hardest time understanding long ago on these forums. My “problem” was two fold. 1. only a “portion” of the mathamatic curve (at the beginning) was used. 2. into the curve would be duplicated upon leaving the curve. regards to all mike endmrw0611251437
Let’s put it this way: very little if any of the actual mathematics involved in real-world transition spirals translates to toy-train contexts. There was an article in MR that was the first place I saw ‘spiraling’ in a model context, and they actually printed a sample ‘transition curve’ that you could cut out or use to make a gauge or template for flex track… a few inches long. Think of it as selective compression mostly for appearance.
What it actually is intended to do is smooth out the otherwise-kink-like transition between a straight track and a constant-radius curve, and even a few inches is enough to do this for typical model trucks. As it turns out, the same profile that gives smooth angular acceleration from ‘tangent’ to the fixed number of rad/sec involved in the constant-radius curve at a given road speed will also give you the smoothest transition, even if that acceleration would be ridiculously uncomfortable for scale passengers.
When I taught Physics in school, it was always humerous to heard students lament the learning of same. Then later in life I would observe their jobsite and their work there. Guess what they were doing? Exactly what they whined about back in school.
Now it makes them a living. All of this is to be expected if you are a teacher. endmrw0611251315
One of the fun things I got involved with in the 1970s, with early computer-assisted education, was the idea that people from different backgrounds and ‘ethnicities’ might need or want very different methods of learning even things as basic as the ‘three Rs’ – to make them as meaningful as possible while new and unfamiliar.
I argued then that as long as you got to the same level of fluency of understanding, it didn’t matter how (or with what language and metaphor) you did the teaching – the idea being that with what was effectively a built-in tutor at your desktop, people who were socially ‘classmate peers’ could be at vastly different levels of aptitude or achievement, but learning at their best rates, including both how best to learn and then how to retain the important relationships of knowledge. This was before that calculus teacher in LA who proved even the most abstruse theory could be effectively communicated.
OH YES, that calculus teacher, what an educator. Funny how the kids were accused of cheating since they scored TOO high. I love it.
My wife never thought she would teach 1st and 2nd grade. She always taught upper elementary. MSE in Reading. Then in retirement she went to a Catholic school. 1st/2nd. How neat to see the 2nd graders read to the 1st. Reinforce their skill (while gaining esteme (sp?) in helping others) and helping the 1st graders. Beautiful. She enjoyed the several years there. endmrw0611251519
You guessed it. I am a retired teacher.
MP104, I live in a suburb of San Antonio, but grew up and lived most of my life in the Houston area near MKT tracks. Most of my teaching career was in Houston area schools, but I did teach two years at a school in San Antonio. I was dual state certified to teach vocational and Special Education. My only interest is HO, because I don’t have the room for O gauge. Interesting that you have a connection with the Cotton Belt, as I do too. My family knew a couple who lived in Commerce, Texas and the man worked for the Cotton Belt. Before the diesel switch over, my older brother got to do a ‘cab ride’ with ‘uncle’ John from Commerce to Greenville. On a visit to Commerce after the switch over, I wanted to do the same thing, but the Cotton Belt had tightened its rules and I was told a “cab ride”.was impossible, but ‘uncle’ John did manage to get me a “cab ride” on a diesel switcher in the Commerce yard while shuttling cars.