Laying out curves and easements

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Every couple of weeks, it seems, someone posts a question about laying out curves and easements here on the forum; the June/July issue - Issue #171 - of Woodsmith magazine - mine just came in the mail today - has a “Tips and Techniques” feature on constructing an Adjustable Arc Marking Gauge which you may wish to peruse at either your local magazine stand or at your local Home Despot or Lowe’s. I will have one of these constructed prior to the commencement of construction of my new/next layout.

You will require a router for this project and some means of clamping a 1 inch thick beam - a Workmate® would be perfect; you will also need a ½ inch dovetail bit.

I have seen Woodsmith magazine at Wal-Mart and on the magazine stand in large supermarkets. If you absolutely run into a brick wall you can check out www.woodsmith.com: single copy prices are $4.95.

I have always felt that, considering the volume of benchwork which we model railroaders are required to build, we should subscribe to at least one woodworking magazine. I heartily recommend Shop Notes and/or Woodsmith; I subscribe to both as well as to several others. Both these magazines have outstanding construction articles. Not all of these articles, to be sure, are directly applicable to model railroading, but you would be absolutely amazed at the number of times I have encountered something in a construction article which could have an impact in model railroad construction. I am, if I don’t want my wife to stack all my magazines in the yard and apply a liberal dose of kerosene to them, going to have to cut back as soon as my current subscriptions expire. I will, however, make a suggestion to everyone that they, at least, check out all the woodworking magazines carried by y

2

RT, your post, at least until now has not received the attention it deserves! Benchwork and subroadbed construction are perhaps the two most important elements in building a layout.

A good foundation increases the odds of your layout operating smoothly and trouble free. For those who are not good with wood working (like me!), I went with Sievers pre-fab benchwork, but I still did all of the construction of the subroadbed and risers myself. You can’t completely avoid some woodworking. Tracing and transferring a track plan to plywood and then using a jigsaw to create the subroadbed is challenging work - and then you must level it in with risers and splice in the sections properly - no easy assignment, but satisfying work once accomplished.

If these publications can provide insight on how to better accomplish these aspects of building a layout, I think reading them is a good supplement.