have your mainline parallel to your layouts edge.
Just wondering. I read about it in the December MR. I have an 8’x16’ layout but have to run my tracks parallel to the edge.
ICMR
Happy railroading.[swg][swg]
Me, for one! [:D]
Nope. Just a slight angle away from the edges. It actually does make a difference.
Nick
I try not to have the mains run parallel to the edge, but sometimes I don’t succeed.
i know you’re not supposed to have tracks parallel to the layout but with a layout as small as mine(4’x12’ i guess it’s not that small) the main line does run parallel and i think it looks okay.
Guilty!
Tom
Nope. Even on my little switcher, I’ve got the primary track running at an angle. Gives me more room for the industry with the double spur, on that end of the layout.
my are sorta like that, parallel
Parallel on one side, and angled on the other side. Here is an early pic, with it still under construction.
My benchwork is built around the track plan, not the other way around so in some spots, it does run parallel… A lot of other ways to mask that fact, like winding roads, cities built at angles, etc… The key, as I see it, is to avoid having the track Right At the edge… If possible.
Veiw my layout as it stands a couple years ago (really have to update that) at my website…
Jeff
You only need a small wiggle to break up the parrallel to the edge.
If you need to have the ends parrallel you can just pu***he main as little as 1/4" inch away from the edge at any point along the length that allows a smooth transition back to the parrlale ends at each/both ends. I would tend to avoid putting the offset in the centre of the length as this would lean towards the same problem as dead straight.
If you are near real track take a look to see just how straight a “straight” length is… if it isn’t curving across the horizontal plane it will probably be rising or falling… this is more difficult to include in a short layout… but you can introduce small level changes in the scenery. This can accentuate a curve… or diminish it! You can even achieve an apparent curve in a straight… not a big one… but you just want to break up the appearance… at least I think that’s what you’re wanting to do.
Personally I run hardly any straights straight whether they are along the board or diagonal.
One thing you can do to mix up the picture is to juggle your switches around. At its simplest this means using a right hand turnout instead of a lefthand… obviously this will change the angles of where the track is going/coming from. I’m NOT going to try to explain any of the combinations that can be used! …It works better where you increase the switch number… or if you can use a curved switch.
If you bend your straight around a fixed point (as opposed to curving it over a distance) you need to provide the line with a fixed obstruction that it would have had to be built round rather than gone over, through or under… Railroads prefer long easy curves to short sharp bends… less added drag getting the cars around.
So why would the track make sinuous curves? Following the flood line/contour of a river is one reason… and that can be some way from the water and not apparent even full size.
It is easier to look r
A bit guilty[:D]
In one 5-foot section it’s indeed parallel with the layout’s edge as it comes through town. No where else.
CNJ831
Some of my mains run parallel to the edge . . .
. . .while others run parallel but are set back a bit . . .
Good to know I’m not the only one. Good pics guys.
ICMR
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
Think I’ve broken every one of the model railroading do’s and dont’s with my layout.
I at some places run along the edge of the layout but when I do this it is not straight as you can see in this pic.
Also I have very little straight track in fact I have one place that is over 2 feet long straight it is about 10 feet but you can’t actually look down the track with out climbing oin the layout.
As you can see from the pics you are looking towards a wall and there is one right behind you. I feel it is better to always put even a slight curve in the track as it is really hard to make it perfectly straight as the real railroad can. Even a 1/2 inch bow in 5 feet of track and you dont have to warry about bowing from expansion.
Visitors like the parallel stuff, they can watch the trains. I put a few twists in to get perspective, but parallel is what the terrain calls for in many places.
On one side they are, on the opposite side only one of my two mainlines are.