It is now a sea of flat pink. New section is 5 X 9.5. The new plan will have a loop from the A-Line around it and loop will hook to the main bench at the far end of the last PIC.
Here is the stock plain from the book I have. You might be able to read the text. It states it is based on a 4 X 7 foot bench but looks to be a 4 X 8 by the markers on the side. With my bench being a little wider I may be able to use 19" to 20" turns instead of the 18" shown in certain sections.
Stock Plain
Here is my version. I fliped it over so the yards are on the other side.
Tonight or Sundy I will lay the road bed for the A-Line Loop around the new C-Line / K-10 mining company and do a mock up Sunday with carboard and see if I can do the grades I want / need to make it work.
What do you folks think? Nick thank you for all the help you offred on my contest post as well. Looking forward to your feed back.
Ken, it’s late after a long day for me and I am having a difficult time figuring out your diagram. I don’t know what you mean by “start of up 3%” and the “0% grade”, and I can’t get the grades to work. So, I’ll try again in the morning when I am rested. In the meantime, if this is meant to be a stand-alone, it could use a way to turn trains. As it stands, you will have to reverse back to the place of origin, or simply continue in the one clockwise or counter-clockwise direction perpetually.
Crandell my friend I did the math to night (is pie 3.14?) and all so found the math is off a little. Other thing as I add more details rather it be hill’s or tress I am seeing less and less of the trains them self.
How big is your total bench? You seem to have some pretty good looking grades and moutains.
My layout is like a rectangle, 9’ X 14’. However, it is like benchwork 36" deep around a faily substantial central operating pit. Here is a partial top view taken from outside my basement window one night last winter.
The grades are closely averaged to 3%, maybe a hair less. No curve is less than 28" out on the main running around in the wide oval. The far grade you see is actually a 46" radius.
It takes some learning to build a grade that works well transitioning into and out of it. If you use 1/4" MDF or masonite as wide as you want your subroadbed, you can glue or screw it flat and flush with the bench at one point, and then simply flex it up to a gentle curving rise over, say, 12", to get your transition. Same, but in reverse, at the top. You’ll need a wooden cleat or riser fixed to part of the frame, a cross-member or joist, to get the heights wherever you need to support the subroadbed to keep the grade constant between the transitions.
