Hi All: I’ve had a couple of visitors ask me “How much track do you have?” Well, It seemed like I had miles of track when I started ballasting it! But, I never added it up. My question would be: How would I figure Main Line length? Would I count staging? How about double track? Anyone care to opine? Thanks in advance.
If I were talking to another model railroader I would quote the visible route distance. The longest mainline route distance outside staging.
If I were talking to a visitor who was not a model railroader, then I might quote track distance. The total number of feet of track on the layout.
So on my layout I would have about a 100-120 ft mainline but I would have 300 ft of track.
Dave H.
To easily figure your mainline’s length, simply make up a train of a known length - I used one 10’ long - then mark the starting point of the front of the loco. When the rear of the caboose reaches that marker, stop the train and move the marker to the front of the loco, and so on, keeping track of how many train lengths it takes to traverse the entire line.
Wayne
Hi Dave and Wayne: Thank you for your replys. That’s what I was looking for.
Take a leaf from the prototype:
- First main track - either the distance from the end bumper at one terminal to the end bumper at the far end of the railroad, or one lap around the loop if you have one.
- First track - the above, plus the length of the first track of every branch line.
- Second track - both the above, plus second main tracks and passing sidings.
- Operating track - all the above, plus yard, passenger station and engine terminal tracks including all hidden staging.
- Finally, tack on your industrial spurs. That, plus everything above, will give you your total track length.
The various lengths are used for different purposes having to do with distance traveled, tax assessment and other things interesting to governments and rail customers.
So, what are my layout’s statistics? I guess I’ll have to measure and find out…[:-^]
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I’ll have to figure that one out. Except for one medium-sized yard, two spurs and a passing track, mine is ALL mainline, mainly because I chose to model a portion of a trans-mountain railroad. Considering that the railroad is approximately 24x24’ and my mainline track traverses one 24’ side of the garage four times (on different elevations, of course), I’d say that I’ve got around 150’ of mainline in total, counting the hidden reverse loop.
Interesting: I’ll have to try Dr. Wayne’s theory of measurement and see just exactly what I come up with.
I DO know that it took FOREVER to ballast, LOL!
Tom [:D]
Hi Chuck: That’s a great reply! Thank You! I wonder what method the guys and gals who have layouts in MR mag use. You know, they always list Main Line length. Last night I used Wayne’s method, I used a 15 ft. long train and clothes pins and I got approx. 165 ft of visible main line. I will definitely use your suggestion and figure out the proto figure. Thanks again for the helpful info. Yes, Tom, you may be surprised at the actual figure.
Folks:
It’s not the length of your main line that matters, it’s how you handle the scheduling.
[:)]
For all those who are “prototypically challenged” and everything has to be exactly as an actual railroad, I’ve always had a question?? That being with all the accuracy contained in the layout, there is no possible way to have anything even approaching true main line length or any other(yard length, siding length,etc etc) so for all the prototype guys, you may have everything prototypically perfect ----but you are operating on a layout that is nowhere even remotely accurate to true scale. That would explain to people who see a train layout for the first time, comment on how close together everything is, and they are right.
There are two ways this can be done:
The first method is called the “WAG-method”; this method should be self-explanatory but if it is not what you do here is tell the questioner something like “eighty-seven feet, nine and 3/85ths inches.” <This is what is called a “WAG”.>
The second method is the “why-didn’t-I-stay-with-stamps method”; using this method you count the ties and when you have a tie-count you divide by 47.5 - that’s the average number of ties-per-linear-foot - to give you the number of feet. Lets say you came up with four-thousand, one-hundred, and sixty-eight ties. Dividing that by 47.5 will render a figure of eighty-seven feet, eight and 97/100ths inches. Of course after you have done counting ties you are going to slap your forehead and exclaim “Why didn’t I stay with stamps” which is where this method gets its name!
Myself? I would recommend method number one however . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . however you may wish to employ the old Tom Sawyer ploy of getting someone else to white-wash your fence. It you are challenged on your WAG have them count your ties and then you will know.
Hi R.T.: I really like your sense of humor! I will definitely use the “WAG”, depending, of course who asked the question. As to the second method, I’ve gained some patience as I got older, but I don’t think there is that much patience in the whole world! Thanks for your reply.
The only loose link in the above is created when some benighted soul handlays hidden track on raw pine boards without benefit of ties. I have a couple of hidden yards that fall into that category.
As for the fact that everything looks too close together - the timetable tells me that two of my stations are 7 kilometers apart. The spacing (1:80 scale) should be 87.5m - about 287 feet. The actual length of track is exactly 1/5 that. So, my fast clock is set for a 5:1 ratio, my kilometer posts are 2.5 meters apart and my trains run at prototype speed along a long U-shaped stretch (around a dead-end aisle) devoid of track switches, sidings, buildings…
You have to turn 180 degrees in the main aisleway to see the next station - and then wait a while for the train to get there.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Well that DOES explain a lot ! ! It’s all to do with the speed of the train eh??–makes sense. Wouldn’t that make for some really slow trains??? Towns aren’t that close together in real life, so I would assume that scale speed will not be applied in some short distances, otherwise the train would be going backwards, so, am I right that all layouts are not true to scale (distance) or prototypical in expanse??? OK OK I know you can’t have a run of 85 feet.
True enough, but I view mainline run as a significant metric because it helps me determine how long a train running at near-prototypical speeds will take to traverse the layout. For example, if it takes two minutes to travel a scale mile, and I have 5 scale miles of track, I can expect an end-to-end nonstop run to take 10 minutes (not bad). Now throw in an opposing train with meets and maybe the time goes to 15 minutes (nicer). Throw in some pickups and setouts in the yard about halfway through the run, now maybe I am up to 25-30 minutes. And so on and so on. This is how I determined whether or not I wanted to compromise other asppects of the layout to achieve a longer mainline run and what that run should be based on desired operations. Jamie
EDIT: Wayne, great tip! I will most definitely use that (but first, I need some track!)
Gotcha, makes sense, so if a train takes 2 minutes to travel a scale mile(how long in inches is an HO mile??) that must be pretty slow eh?? maybe too slow??? Thanks, this does explain scale distance and speed of trains to me(a very good explanation)
Two minutes would be 30mph, so not unreasonable depending on the layout. On mine, I have areas of 50mph track but the towns are usually 25mph, I even have a drawbridge where the speed limit will be 10mph (just like on the prototype). So I would probably average somewhere around 35mph or so–not too bad. Besides I love to watch trains just crawl sometimes! Jamie