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Ambitious little LION, aren’t you?
ROAR
Holy smokes, 5 levels? I want to see this.
Geeez, Do you plan on finishing this by 2050 or push hard for 2030. Wow! Doug
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LION just wonders how you will get into the room, what with five levels blocking the way.
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Discretion is the better part of wisdom. Better to build than to always find a reason not to start.
I have about a 20’ section on my no-lix layout that ended up as double deck in the transition down to staging. The biggest problems once you have the benchwork figured out are sightlines to lay, troubleshoot and maintain track (sometimes a good mirror or even a camera these days helps) and access for undertable wiring, etc. Keeping things narrow helps here.
I agree with Mike. It sounds like you have the skills and knowledge to make this happen so better to build than be an observer and never build! If you have a well engineered gate for the four tracks you can’t walk under, then I’d say you will be able to get a major amount of railroading in a fairly modest space! I’ve only got a 10x18 foot room to work with so I’m just going around the room twice with yes, a duck under, but I’m keeping my fairly simple with 11 tracks of staging under a main yard and some railfanning with a little bit of switching.
BTW, I skimmed through your description but didn’t see your minimum radius. What is it?
Cheers, Jim
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Very impressive layout/construction project. I like the fact that you tackled and built the most difficult part first, a very smart decision. I am 73 and started my ‘last layout’ about 7 years ago, which is now about 50% done. I have 3 liftout areas that need to be filled in and I envision a vertical post with a lift and rotate platform to contain the ‘scenery’ that fills the opening. Just wish I had made/tested one first.
Keep us posted on your journey.
-Bob
The 24-inch radius should allow you to run most commerical rolling stock. Of course it depends on what longer rolling stock/loco’s you are planning to run. Sounds like mostly coal cars and some SD diesels, which should be ok on 24-inch curves. Long cars like 89’ flat cars and/or autoracks won’t look very good - heck, they don’t even look very good on 30-inch + curves!
My personal preference is for absolute minimum 28-inches but usually go with 30 or 32 inches - space of course is a limiting factor and I can see how curves fit into your over all plan! I have to say it looks well thought out!
Cheers, Jim