How close to rock face?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I am currently carving out a rock face about 10’ long using foam. So far so good. I was just wondering what the Reg’s are concerning the distance from the rock face to the track? Being HO it looks so close, but in some of my Rocky Mountain exploring I have seen the tracks very close to the rock face.

So is there a minimum distance or do they go by “if it fits it’s okay”? As always thanks.[:)]

Brent

2

Railroads have minimum clearance standards for their right of way. Absolute minimum would be about 9 ft from the centerline (about 1.25 in), probably more like 15 ft ((2 in). An NMRA guage in HO or N will give you the minimum clearance . Scenically there will also be a ditch at the toe of the ballast. So minimum is NMRA clearances, “scenic minimum” is probably a 1/2 to an inch further.

3

I don’t think the NMRA gauge is sufficient to allow for overhang of long passenger cars and engines on the insides of tight curves. You really need to take the longest cars and engines you have and make sure they clear.

4

The rock face here is carved ground goop painted up. At its foot, it is a hair under 0.75" from the center of the tracks…midway between the rails. I have no issues with several different steamers from different manufactures, including the massive Rivarossi H-8 Allegheny which is my ‘scraper’ engine. When I got it, the engineer’s injector overflow pipe, which sticks way out from the bottom of the cab, scraped noisily in several places on my main. It doesn’t do this anywhere along the rock face imaged, so I would say 3/4" is fine. Note that on a curve, all bets are off!! What I show here is tangent track.

5

Thanks Crandell . That photo is worth a thousand words and looks the same as my situation. I have an 1.25" at the narrowest and it is a straight shot the whole 10’. Thanks everyone. Time to slop on my granite Grey.[:)]

Brent

6

A bit OT, but that’s a really fine picture, Crandell.

7

Batman:

I’ll go with Crandell on a straightaway rock cut, about 1:25" from track center. My Sierra Buttes, which is a long rock cut on a 36" radius S-curve, is set a little further back, about 2." or so, but that’s because of the overhang of the brass articulateds that I generally run up in that “High Country”, LOL! But it still looks close enough to the tracks to both clear the locos and be workable.

BTW, I do NOT have “Knobby Knees,”, LOL! [:P]

Tom [:D]

8

Thank-you, Mr. B! [:)]

-Crandell