I have a #8 turnout leading into my reverse loop with a 32 in radius and on the backside of the turnout I have to make and immediate outward curve do to space restraints. The curve will also have a 32 in radius, but it nor the reverse loop can be moved because of space without going with a smaller radius, which I don’t want to do. Is that too close or will it be fine?
If this is HO scale, there’s pretty much nothing you can do, even an S-curve, that’s not forgiven in 32-inch radius curves.
That said, it’s pretty hard to picture your track plan. Can you post a picture?
I would like to, how do you create it and how do you post it?
Ideally, you should have a straight section as long as your longest car between the two curves, but if you just cannot. Lay it out temporarily, even on the floor if you must, and try it with your most finicky loco and 2 or 3 of your longest cars.
In my subway, I have a 15 inch radius turnaround loop with S turns where it exits and enters the main. I do not have room for any straight sections. It would accommodate 3 cars, but derailed with 4. I changed the couplers to longer shank ones and now it works fine. It is out of sight, so it has to be reliable. It only works because subway cars are short.
There is only one way to find out. Lay the track and run a train through it.
A track plan sure would help so we could visualize it.
Rich
I’ll let others answer how to make a picture, but as for posting, you’ll need to upload it to a 3rd party hosting site. I use www.photobucket.com, there are others that are free. Once you upload your photos (after creating an account, if necessary), there should be an option to copy an “[IMG]” tag. Simply paste that tag in your post, and the photo will appear.
Brad
NYCT ignores the 1 car length rule, and so does da LION.
LION thinks subway cars are already too far apart, him removed couplers and replaced them with draw bars. better running and 48 wheel pickup.
ROAR
I’ve recently read online somewhere, just about anything can run through a #6 turnout. Do you absolutely need a #8? Woud using a #6 allow more space for a tangent (any tangent is better than no tangent)? Even if you have problems, I’ll bet most of your cars won’t have a problem with this area; the few that do, can probably be worked on to get them to run without problems. It sounds like you’ve done all you can to avoid problems with your trackplan, it’s time to spike track in place and do some testing. Pictures will definately help; I think it is a bit of a pain to post pics here, but it’s not really that hard (and you will eventually have an online album to share; I use shutterfly…not for any specific reason, I think I just found it before photobucket).
I believe the term you are looking for is transition.