Hello all! As requested here are the latest benchwork photo’s complete with lots of stupid questions for you…Question #1 How do I know if these curves are too tight? The large one measures
32 inches outside to outside and the inside curve measures 20’’ outside to outside…
This next photo is of the trainyard area and my question is: Is it big enough? It will also have the main line running around the outside of it… It measures 68x30
I have also enlarged the town area it now measures 8ft 11 X 5
I have settled on the name “Cumberland Pass” as offerd up by your very own “Safty Valve”
(Big round of applause) Thanks mr Valve…
Now that I have a name I’d like to make a sign to hang over the layout, I was thinking of
a metal L&N sign with “Cumberland Pass Railway” underneth it ,problem is I can’t find any metal
round L&N signs to buy…If anyone knows where I can get one please let me know…
Thanks for all your help so far…John AKA Dieselhorse
Ok I can expand the curves to a 24 inch radius thats a four foot curve I hope thats enough…
I have a plan layed out on paper but I am winging alot of it…As far a space the benchwork the main section is
is 12 feet wide x 5 ft deep…The left wing is 6 ft9 x 2ft 8 and the right wing is 2ft 6 x 5ft 8
The raised curve shown will be expanded to 4 ft for a 24 inch radius…This seems like alot of room for a HO layout to me considering my 4x8 HO layout I used as a kid…
What sort of equiptment or time period are we trying to run here?
That 4x8 foot layout space is usually a standard because it is a single sheet of plywood.
If you are able to, upload a copy of the track plan here so we can take a look at it, just plopping down a 4 foot curve because I say so is not exactly good planning. Although 24" radius is good but not terribly great.
Also the outside of the curves need a few inches for clearence and safety of your equiptment. If you have TWO tracks side by side they must be far enough apart where your biggest stuff can get by each other without scraping or wrecking each other. In the yard you need to be able to reach between the cars with your fingers to uncouple without derailing cars on both sides.
Did you consider how high your railroad will be and how far you can physically reach in? you dont want to be putting track where you cannot get to them in case of trouble.
Safety is doing a good job (if I may be permitted to judge and say it) with you so far, but I would like to point out something that I see in the first photograph, and it is something that presented me with a considerable degree of difficulty while scenicking my current layout.
The two curves that you depict in the image, seem to be more or less nested and displaced in elevation by about 5" or so? Without fully understanding what you are doing there, you will need much more lateral displacement between those two levels. When you go to lay your track, and then later to add the scenery (ground, rocks, trees, ground foam sprinkled and glued) you will find that the only thing that will work on that curve between the two levels is a vertical, or very nearly vertical, rock face. Even then, the clearances to get the rear cab edge of a steamer around the inner/lower curve without scraping the rock face will not be there…again probably, judging only by what I can see.
Unfortunately, increased lateral displacement so that you can scenic between the two levels nicely (instead of 200 scale yards of rock wall or retaining wall) necessarily imposed an even tighter radius on that inner curve…probably very bad news.
Ok, looks like we are dealing with a wall to the “West” of your room that is 12 feet long. The “South” wall is 11’ 9 inches and the “North” wall is where you plan the yard at somewhat less distance.
I feel that your planned yard is rather short. You have a 2 foot 6 inch wide shelf to put the yard on and it is almost 6 feet long. I think you made a wise choice at limiting the yard width to less than 3 feet. However, having that many switches will eat alot of your “Length” as a ladder to get to the yard tracks.
Your 5’ by 12’ table on the west wall is going to be your main anchor of the plan. You can fit a loop of about 26" radius while allowing 4 inches all the way around the outside.
The south wall is not as wide and I think it might actually be a better yard area because of the extra length. You show a 24" radius, 4 foot curve at the South east end that will be very useful if you have enough room for it.
I do have a problem with your planned hatch access. Anything under 18" by 18" has got to be almost impossible for a human adult to fit, expecially when one considers expanding waists and less physical agility as we age.
I will have to sit down with some coffee and ponder this against what you already have indicated as locations for your mine etc.
I hope that other forum members will assist because you have a good space for trains and I feel that others may provide you with ideas and encouragement.
Selector, I looked at the first photo with the two curves you mentioned and see where there might be a problem with the inside curve being too close to the outside curve.
Disregarding the radius question for now, I say that inside curve needs to be “pulled” in by shortening the tangent a few inches. If we can make a few inches more room, we can maybe better get a forested hillside common to the eastern foothills and mountains into that space. I much rather see a steep hill with trees and maybe a bit of rock than a straight up flat wall of rock.
Ok…I feel a little better about this now…The hatch access in the rear area’s are already in place and work very well for me ,I can get in and out of them just fine and I am 41 years old so
I still have very good movement…That whole back area will be used for hatches only so no track will go there…I will again expand the front main section by another foot to make the main section a full 5 feet wide with out having to use the rear hatch areas…In reguards to the yard area I can reverse the plan and run the yard on the other leg like sugested ,I haven’t expanded
to the 4 foot curve at that location yet so I could just take out the elevation on that side and just replace it with the plywood…And I guess we could put the elevation on the other wing and put the 4 foot turnaround there…
Ok, After some thought, and viewing your new diagram…
The Yard goes on the South side, we will revisit that yard later.
The Mine (In your orginal thread you called it a coal mill) probably will go into the North End of the railroad with rolling hills heavily forested with trees.
The Farm can go on one end of your 5x12 area and your town in the middle followed by light industrial.
This morning I was working the Space Mouse thread on his town and had some ideas. It occured to me that the reason I liked that town on his thread is that it has a little bit of everything a town should need.
Between the town and the Mine can be whatever you want it to be, perhaps a river crossing with a few company houses along there. I was thinking of the Turtle Creek Branch out of the recent MR issues when I thought about this.
We can make this work with 24" radius, no larger than 50’ cars and perhaps a passenger train daily.
I can easily see in my mind my Y3 pulling out of the yard very early in the morning with 10 or so hoppers to be set off up at the mine, pulling the loaded ones down back to the yard.
The next train probably will go off to staging with some of the coal going else where.
The few cars of coal that is left will feed the engine coaling tower, town coal yard (If there is one) or perhaps a furnace or power station somewhere or a facility that needs coal.
That is just a thought of how the mine might work on your railroad. It will probably be reached by a seperate branch line and sit inside the 24" radius loop with a bit of terrain to help break up the scene a little.
