I made a mistake – laid the mainline and totally forgot that there would need to be a siding between the main and EOP (Edge of Plywood) – i.e., the edge of the layout benchwork.
If I put the siding in, it will be right at the edge – one derailment or klutzy operator (or, ahem, owner) and I have a disaster on my hands.
For reasons of access I cannot add more than a foot to the edge and would like to make it less if possible or certain sidings on the other side of the main won’t be easy to work.
So – I solicit your views as to the safest minimum between track and edge of layout. Speeds would be slow on that siding. Scale is HO.
I havn’t started laying track as yet, but I would say the answer is “it depends”.
You certainly need a minimum clearance to ensure your rollingstock doesn’t overhang the edge, but after that its just a consideration of making sure that rollingstock can’t be knocked or if they derail they can’t hit the floor.
Both of these issues can be addressed by having some depth to track location (for example if you have 2" high rollingstock, a 6" buffer would give you plenty of space for a carraige to tip and slide without falling off the edge (assuming flat scenery). However if 6" is not possible you could make the scenery rise slightly as it gets closer to the edge, creating a lip, or you could consider putting a shalow perspex fence in, both would act as barriers to rollingstock hitting the floor.
How close will the tie ends come to the edge you currently have? If it is more than 1", you could add a model fence, some shrubs, or a slightly higher lip of fascia material, even plexi-glass. Or, if you don’t mind how it looks overly much, use a strip of angle-cut styrofoam and paint and ground foam it to look like a berm of dirty aside the right of way. It doesn’t have to be more than 1" high to retain any derailed objects, unless you have them careening around there at 60 scale mph or higher.
If it is closer than 3/4", you have no choice but to extend your shelf outward since overhang/clearance issue will creep in.
I too had the track to the edge and went back and added 6". In my case it bacame a road. As added insurance to prevent derailment from letting a unit run off the table, I added fence power line poles in addition to the road buffer. Here is what it looks like
You could extend the benchwork until you feel comfortable with diminished isle width and for insurance just use a strip of Lexan as a guard rail on the facia. Mount w/ a few screws and trim washers so it is easily removed for maintainance. If you need to remove it more often, say for operation/ track cleaning etc, mount with velcro.
On the table-size layouts I have built since my first, I have used 2" from track center to table edge. I have never had my trains on them engage their gravity-seeking guidance system. BUT I ran my trains at quite slow speeds, and this was on handlaid track.
My first layout, an Atlas plan using sectional track, went closer than that. One of the switch machines hung over the edge by about 1/4" - the track was that close. I did have a few derailments go over the edge, and learned my lesson. That’s how I came up with my 2" standard.
2" is the bare minimum, though. If running fast, it is quite possible to go past the 2" margin. Also, keep in mind these were layouts with 18" radius curves, short trains, and no rolling stock longer than about 7". If you are running longer trains with full-size passenger cars or 89ft freight cars, a 2" margin might not be enough. If I can scale my track plan up (from 4x6 to 5x8 for example), I scale up the outside margin also.
Over the years as I’ve drawn trackplans in both HO and HOn3, I’ve adopted 3" from centerline of the track to either the edge of the layout or another vertical boundary (like a room wall) as my “foul line”. This leaves a little room for senery etc and gives me some leeway if during construction if my measurements aren’t exactly right (not that that has ever happened [:-^] ). In practice and in a pinch, I’ve found that 2" from centerline of track to the edge or wall will work.
I have 22 inch curves on a 48 inch benchwork, so some of my track is very close to being too close. I plan to raise the fascia a little over the layout height for some insurance.
I took 1" x 4" x 8’ boards, screwed them into the sides of the 4’ x 8’ x .5" thick plywood with a 3/4" upper overhang and whatever was left (3" or so) hanging below. Sort of like a wood skirt I guess but in doing this it didn’t cause too much visual interruption and even in the worst of de-railments the cars hit the wooden lip and cant’ fall off the table top.
Not sure if any of the gear you have requires it to hang over the actual edge itself, my suggestion wouldn’t work for you it it did.
I prefer to keep the track 6 inches from the layout edge. In any case, no closer then 3 inches. This leave enough room for some scenery to contain any errant rolling stock. Woodland Scenic trees with the plastic trunks are particularly good for this.
Where this isn’t possible, the bridges that span my entry aisle for instance, I add a protective lip to the benchwork. Currently, I use strips of flexible plastic.
I personally use two standards, one for ‘fenced’ trackage and one for ‘open’ trackage.
Fenced (by raised fascia, lexan or foamboard barriers) track can be clearance + 3mm from the fence (all of my hidden track, and some not hidden.) On straight track, this is about 1/4" from the tie ends of HO flex.
Unfenced track protected by scenery can vary but will never be less than 40mm from tie ends to disaster (with bushes, berm or fencing between.) Less protective clutter requires more safety margin.
Planned, but not yet built - a cliff-hugging section of main line, including deck girder bridges with very narrow decks, on a narrow shelf. The terrain under the bridges and at the bases of the fills will be STURDY vegetation with wire cores, designed to catch and hold anything that leaves the rails. Before scenery goes in, this area will be fenced.
Thanks all this has been helpful and I will be using much of this advice.
I should mention that a complicating factor is that in the prototype I am building, the siding that is at the edge was on elevated right of way that dropped off precipitously. Wisdom dictates that I not model that unless I include the plastic protective screen!
One idea I have seen is a series of nails driven in near the edge which, using wire, become the trunks of a series of trees.
I have related this in previous threads but will re-relate it now.
When i was a new modeler back in the early 60’s I acquired a 5 X 9 pingpong table for my first layout. All I ever really did was tack down some track and ran trains. Using 22 inch radius (snap-track) curves this gave me about seven inches end-of-tie to edge-of-table. I was in the Air Force at the time - I would remeain there for the next fifteen years - and, for some reason unbeknownst to me now when I moved from off-base to on-base in the summer of '63 I got rid of the pingpong table and acquired a couple of 4 foot wide plywood panels. I layed out my 22 inch radius snap-track curves but the end-of-tie to edge-of-table diminished to one inch. One day my only piece of motive power, a Varney F3 derailed at the entrance to the curve on one end and came to rest hanging precariously over the edge. My finances at that moment precluded my ever replacing it; had it gone to the floor my model railroading experience would probably have ended there and then. I immediately relaid the (outside) radius to 18 inches which gave me approximately a five inch space between the end-of-tie and edge-of-table.
If you go with clear plastic, it may run into $. When I worked with HO and now, with O, I allow a minimum of two inches between the non-scenic edge of the layout and the outside track rail.
I do not know what effect you are aiming for as far as layout overall aesthetics but why not border the non-scenic edge of the layout with a strip of wood (your choice of thickness-rising about an inch above the layout) that frames the layout. It can be painted to blend in on the train side so as to resemble a long fence and on the outside (your view) if can be painted or stained to match the benchwork leg supports. If it is tastefully done, it will not only keep the little guys from flying off the table but will present a good looking display.
PS. I think that this is in line with the previous post by Jason-Train. Good luck.
