I was just browsing thru the railimages albums and found this monster!!
Not bad aye!!
Ken.
Yep mate, that ain’t bad. Do you know whose layout it ended up on? And where there any specs, like hight and scale. DD
Wow. [:0]
Tehachapi^9!
[:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p]
Crikey, I think the helix is as big as my entire space.
Thats practically a whole layout in itself! That can hold what.l…mayb a 50 car (ho) train?
That thing has some serious height to it!
It’s a monster!
I’d love to have enough room to “need” one like that!
I’d like to see the trestle that mates to that beast!! [:P][:P][:P]
Why would one go to all that work and not even make it double track!
I think it’s a “space” issue! [:p]
After all, he could only dedicate a 4x8 or so space for this thing! (half the size of my whole layout!)
I just want to know, what’s the guy in the chair in the middle going to do? Kind of a weird place for railfanning, don’t cha think?
wow !
if you look closely you’ll see some of it is double tracked , i guess a big passing siding
the chair in the middle is for the guy who catches the derailed cars before they hit the floor !
Personally, I find this helix to be an attrocious monstrosity.
First off, in any layout design, a helix is a terrible construct and should be merely a necessary evil. They are to be avoided if at all possible, and if you do have to install a helix, then the fewer tiers the better. By its very nature, a helix is not prototypical and has to be hidden trackage.
The more hidden trackage you have, the worse your design, IMO.
I feel sorry for anyone who has to run a train through the helix shown in this photo.
Once you have operated on a layout that has a helix (and my HO Siskiyou Line has a 2 tier helix, and that’s bad enough), you realize a train will disappear into a helix for what seems like an eternity.
If you run a train into the monstrosity shown in this photo, you can go take a coffee break for that’s how long it will take to traverse this eyesore.
In short, anyone who would design a layout that needs something like this monster needs to go back to the drawing board. I see this and I see BAD LAYOUT DESIGN written all over it.
And now, do you want to know what I really think? [swg]
You want to know my twisted mind?
I’d put an scale Indiana Jones in an ore cart with good metal wheels and let him go from the top.
…so, how about them Orioles? [:o)]
Not to dimini***he feat of engineering it took to construct this helix, that is impressive, to be sure.
But if you have a layout design that needs something like this, IMO, you need to rethink your design. Cool to look at and marvel over its engineering, lowsey to operate on.
At least that’s been my experience when operating on layouts. Lots of hidden trackage of any kind (helix or otherwise) is for the birds. Watching trains run is fun. Waiting for an eternity while something runs away miles down in the bowels of the benchwork wears thin real fast.
I think Model Railroader had an article several years ago where the discussion focussed around negotiating a very long helix (or was it a long hidden run?). The author noted that most operators became anxious (natural human reaction) and would slowly increase the train speed. By the time the train exited it was running full bore. Although I have never operated on a layout with a helix, this reaction would seem quite natural and could bring havoc on the layout.
What I’ve always enjoyed was those planner/builders that “opened up” a part of the helix and turned it into a small mini-scene or diorama. Seems like a decent solution to what many consider to be a problem of helixs (or is it helii?).
I have to agree with Joe, albeit only partially. While I agree that a helix is less than optimum, I think there are some instances where a helix could maximize available space. I have a spare room with a rather large closet in it. The closet might just fit a two track helix inside and thus make a two deck around the room with peninsula design doable. Of course if I had an entire basement I would avoid a helix like the plague.
Joe, everyone’s situation is different. I mostly agree with your comments regarding layout design, and helix use, but I have seen some even more impressive helicies on local club layouts. In those cases they were used to move between staging and the world being represented, and in a couple of cases on multi level layouts.
I’ve actually taken my cue from those styles of operarion.
This helix represents both the east and west ends of my layout, but because it has turnouts in it, it also serves as a section of the main line. Trains heading west off stage or entering from the west end would tavel the full height. All other trains would only use part of the helix.
I have plans for a second helix, but I am still considering my options, as to it’s function within the overall design. It was planned for double track, and only between operating levels, but single track with access to a new staging area may be a better choice.
It is hard to tell from the photo in the original post if trains have to run the full height of that helix. I would hope that on the opposite side there are multiple access points. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that at least part of it is double track.
Ken, were there other photos in that album, and could you post the link?
I have to agree with Joe. I too believe something like this screams bad design. I have incorporated a helix on my layout design, even though I would prefer a nolix, but there wasn’t room, for the rise I needed. I was able to make it only a two tier job, but I still do not prefer it. With a straight rise, no helix, I would have a grade of 4.5%. Too much in my opinion. But I’m still working on a way to eliminate that helix if I can
Dave:
I think it’s the gazzillion tiers on this helix I have the most problem with. If you think about things when you are designing, you can usually get most designs to fit with 3 or 4 helix tiers at most, and less if you are clever. If you can eliminate the helix all together, that’s even better.
This helix has 9 tiers … which gives you an elevation change of about 36". Assuming a radius of 30", just the curved track alone would be 140 feet of track. But the helix is oblong, which probably doubles the trackage in this helix to around 300 feet.
At a typical freight train speed of 30 mph the train’s going to be in this helix for something like 10 minutes! When you are just standing there listening to motor noise down in the bowels of something like this, 10 minutes seems like forever.
Now if layout is big and has 600 feet of main line, half of the mainline will be in this helix! Sheesh!
Designing a helix so it has a bulge on one tier out into the open for a mini-scene helps a lot. Even on my 2-tier helix, I have a location for such a miniscene, because I so detest hidden trackage.
Let’s hope this helix is not smack dab in the middle of the mainline run … what a distraction if it is. [#oops]
Now that’s insane! I don’t have a helix on my layout, since I have a small switching layout…but if I had to build one, it wouldn’t be nearly that big!