just read the article in april MR. the problem with a helix is that you have to build it in place and then you lose access and real estate. unless you own infinite square footage and put your train-a-vator in the middle of the room. also cost for all that wood. wow
i am working on these issues on my helix. stay tuned to this bat channel for updates
The alternatives:
With a helix, at least the top level of real estate isn’t lost - though it might get interesting to reach. And the inside of the helix can provide easy and relatively spacious access once the first duck-under is over.
(One of my three projected one-turn sub-helices will have a temple compound on top, readily removable for access.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I’m going to ad a small structure next to my train room/house just for the helix and a small workshop.
I wanted to do a nolix but this will work out better I think but the jury is still not a 100% sure. Some more track plans should solve it.
Magnus
John,
A helix is a ‘space intensive’ layout feature. It also eats up plywood/flex track rather fast. Our club has a double track helix(33"/36" radius) that takes 6 complete turns to get from the lower level staging to the ‘on stage’ area. This used up over 220’ of track(about 75 sections of flex). It solved the issue of where to put staging, but raised some other issues:
Myself, I have an ‘open’ staging area that does not require a helix to access. As you mentioned, a helix may not work for a small layout. I have seen track plans with 22" radius helix features and I can only wonder if they ever got built, and how did they operate. Another issue with a helix is timetable operation when 2 towns are much further apart than the towns on each level. I have read about ‘sidings’ in a helix, but I cannot imagine starting/stopping a train of any size in a hidden feature.
Jim Bernier
I built a helix about eight years agon that connects the three levels of the layout. The helix has 7 1/2 turns and is dual track (300+ feet of track). There are 17 switches in the helix allowing trains to cross from one track to the other and on each of the three levels one quarter turn is used to create reversing wyes. The two tracks have 35 and 37.5 inch radius and 2.25 and 2.0 grades. I typically run 35 to 50 car trains on the helix. While building it, after completing a turn, I would run a 15 car train backwards up the helix to check the track. The only problem I have had is when I run long trains down the helix, there is a tendency for the cars to surge.
why the proto has brakes…
I’m taking a NoLix direction, going up-down levels will go thru scenicked areas rather loopingly and move to another scenicked area to raise more, then have an "unhidden-non-scenicked " front track to do some more raising.
sounds wacky, but may work, some trackage does get hidden.
The levels may not be exactly the same height in areas but that will be adjustable. As above I am playing by ear as I go in development so my initial ideas are gonna change enroute as I work on the layout.
If you want to do what a Helix does, in the space a helix does it in, the helix does it was well and as cheaply as any other alternative I can think of.
What I chuckled at in the article was the statement that you build the helix out of inexpensive 1x4 lumber. Oh really? I have used 1x4s that were salvaged from former pallets and it STILL wasn’t inexpensive so what lumber MR is talking about here is a mystery to me. All lumber is now expensive. Even the crap is expensive. Living here in Milwaukee I assume they have the same lumber sources that I do.
But to paraphrase “Kristen” the “strolling hostess” who brought down Eliot Spitzer: “look, dude, do you want the double deck layout?”
Dave Nelson
Just a couple “what if” thoughts…
What if the helix were located in a layout corner instead of the middle of a room?
What if there were destinations on either side of the helix?
What if a destination with trackage could use the real estate directly above the helix?
What if a combo nolix and/or spiral were used to reach that upper level destination that originated on that upper level?
What if lower level trackage went “one level below and through the helix” without ever being a part of the helix which could use a combination of a nolix and/or spiral on that lower level?
What if…
My helix is the smallest HO helix I have seen built at 18" radius, but I have seen a 15" radius one in a plan book.
During normal operation a single switch located on the 2nd level of the helix allows the train to either go up to the 2nd level (4 more turns) or down 2 turns to complete the continous run.
When I was designing my layout, I just couldn’t make 2 levels work in my 9 x 11 room without the helix. About 2/3 of the helix is in the closet, the rest takes up space in the corner.
My 18" radius helix gives me about 4-5% grades and I can only pull 6-10 car trains, depending on locomotive, but that is fine for my 1920’s logging layout. Definitely not good enough if you want to run long modern trains.
The operation is pretty reliable. I installed rerailer tracks at the entrances to the helix but they don’t seem to be very effective but worth the possibility they might help once in a while.
I did have a passenger car break loose once and it derailed in the closet and ended up on some suitcases. The damage was minor, but certainly an experience I wouldn’t want to repeat.
Let us know what you end up planning and building!
Marty
im off to see a nolix?? 2 pi r is 188.4 inches on a 30 inch radius. 5.2 setions of flex per level. my design is a semi portable helix that can be built and then installed and sits on a center post. stay tuned for pics
no pics of a nolix some definitions tho.
tgindy posed a few very good questions that I think I can address as I also struggled with the question of building a space eating helix in my (about)16’ x 16’ trainroom. The pros out weighed the cons in the long run, but with a major re-working of my track plan with consideration to a number of his “what if” thoughts.
1)) “What if the helix were located in a layout corner instead of the middle of a room?”
I had given this a lot of thought, but couldn’t make the traffic-flow that way I had envisioned. So, I did put the helix in the middle (at least close) of the room at the end of a peninsula. With this scenario I lost two 5 ft. scenes, one on either side of the lower level peninsula, but still leaving two 4 to 5 ft. scenes.
2)) “What if there were destinations on either side of the helix?”
My helix is for the “mainline” connecting two destinations off pike, in the form of staging and reversing loops. There is a junction on the upper level connecting the main to two subdivisions (point to point) with an additional junction connecting another RR, in this case a logging line, running around three walls at an elevation about four inches above the subdivisions.This RR also runs off pike, so to speak, to a sceniced fiddle yard in the “Backshop” area of my trainroom. There will also be a junction on the lower level connecting additional subdivisions, but it’s not there yet.
3)) “What if a destination with trackage could use the real estate directly above the helix?”
The top of the helix and both sides of the peninsula (upper level) are sceniced. One side hosts through traffic of the subdivision along with the Backshop and the junction with the logging RR. The other side sees through traffic of both of these lines, with a cut for the trackage coming out of the helix.
4)) "What if a combo nolix and/or spiral were used to reach that upper level destination that originated on that u
I dont think I will do a helix.
But I recall a wonderful track plan that had a 6 x 6 foot corner with a gigantic wye … ok three junctions capable of each reaching any two other junctions. I cannot remember what it was or anything…