I’ve googled and even used google images with not much luck. Does anyone have a 3x6 N Scale layout using longer freight cars or passenger cars on the outer or inner loop? Would love to see a video or picture of how the cars look going around the track at that radius. This is the size I’m going to go with unless it looks bad and then I’ll do 4x8. Thanks.
Don’t have any photos, but if you have a couple pieces of flex track and a long car, put the track on your board curved to the radius that will fit and put the cars on it to see the amount of hangover. I know it’s not as good as the real thing, but it will give you an Idea.
You are probably working with something like a 15" radius. I think I have seen that 18" looks great with long N scale cars, so 15" might look OK to you. With N, I have only delt with 40’ cars and 4 axle diesels on tighter radius track.
Good luck,
Richard
Sadly - I don’t have any track yet since I’m waiting to buy that until I know how wide my layout is. I don’t have any long cars either so wouldn’t be able to do this. Good idea though.
BTW - The reason I’m considering 3x6 HCD layouts all of a sudden is because the benchwork plans for 4x8 have been a bit overwhelming that I’ve looked up by googling them so I figured the HCD method would be easier and possibly cheaper to build.
There are some good HDC layouts in N. I’ve been thinking of one that I could take to local craft shows and the like to stir a little interest. If you can go to the Track Plan Database there are certainly some there that are or could easily be adapted.
The 4’x6’ I have in HO is a little big to go in our current vehicles.
I used a view block to make it so that my train disappears and reappears (goes somewhere). There’s a passing siding on both sides, so that I can have two trains on the layout. At the moment one side is scenicked, the other not, but can be. The view block gives you options to have different scenes, out of sight of each other.
Does your LHS have some track and long cars you could use to mock up a curve?
Good luck,
Richard
Hi!
If you have the room and the money, go with the 4x8. If you can build a 3x6, you can certainly build a 4x8. I promise you, if you go with the 4x8 you will not regret it. Going with the smaller one is a different story.
To answer your question, a 36 inch layout width will handle - easily - a 16 inch radius N scale half circle - and the longest N scale passenger cars will look good and they will handle that curve easily. That being said, they will look much better on a 22 inch radius with the 48 inch wide layout.
You have a lot of N scale layout options with a 4x8, and it can last you a long time. My advice is to put your time and effort into the benchwork, design your track plan (or take one from the many offerings out there), and go from there. Take your time and do it right. Short cuts and a low level of “good enoughs” will come back and bite you later on.
Model railroading can be a life long hobby, and I for one have enjoyed it for almost 60 years!
Here is a very nice layout on a door. Dave use to post on here often but hasn’t in quite some time.
The reason you probbaly can;t find exactly what you are looking for is because the 3’ width sets only the MAXIMUM radius you can use. That would result in a simple, basic oval. You could go maybe 16" radius tops, leaving the track 2" from each edge.(16" radius, 32" diameter, door is 36" wide, 4" left over, 2" per side)
Or you could use a smaller radius and get a much more interesting layout, at ehe expensive of being able to run the longest cars and locos.
Model Railroad rule #1, tight spaces and 80-85’ cars and large steam locos do not mix. Scale not too much of a factor in this, as the scale gets smaller, the idea of ‘cramped space’ gets smaller too.
There’s not much reason to holds back getting a few sections of flex track and just experimenting with the equipment you intend to run. You won;t find sectional track in all radii possible in a 3’ width, so you’re going to have to use flex track anyway. Experimentation is the only way to truly know if the specific equipment you own will work in a given situation.
–Randy
I just looked on the Kato Unitrack website and it appears they have 15º, 30º, and 45º degree track. I don’t see 22º listed. If I went with 30º on a 4x8 will the curve not be enough to handle the 4x8?
Hi,
Sorry, I can’t answer that question on the size of the various degree curves. I was thinking of using flextrack. I’m sure there are a lot of folks that can address your questions, however.
The degree on sectional track is just how much of a circile each piece is, it has nothing to do with the sharpness of the curve. A 30 degree piece, to get a half circle, 180 degrees, you’d need 6 pieces. They can be of any radius, the fact that each piece describes 30 degrees of a circle has nothing to do with the curve radius.
The largest radius that Unitrak has that would fit on a 36" wide door is the 15". The 19" and 28" will be too wide. Most anything will run on this radius, but the really big cars will still look kind of silly with excessive overhang.
–Randy
Greetings,
Sorry I don’t have a picture but my experience may count for something.
I have a 30x48, mostly single track, with 11" radii. My passenger cars are Kato, Concor, and Rivarossi. My passenger engines are E7 and E8 units. Everything runs great. Now the other part. The E units look good on the curves. The passenger cars look ok but not great due to the overhang / sharpness of the radii.
I plan on using an 80 x 36 (not 80x32) door for my next layout with eased curves on a fully double tracked layout. I am not going to a 4 x 8 because I am concerned about reach issues. It will be in a Midwest river valley with part of the river bluff on the back edge of the layout. As I am most familiar with Central Illinois it may have a small sandstone waterfall and small tunnel like on the old Rock Island (now CSX) in the LaSalle-Ottawa area.
In my operational experience the smaller layout left me running two to four car passenger trains (think Model Railroader Pike size trains). Any longer and the train looked like it was chasing its tail. Since my current 30x48 layout is a small town I can utilize a Kato RDC or Bachmann Doodlebug too.
I would advise you to make what’s called a givens and druthers list, establish a general location & era, and follow some of the advice you will see in the MR forums. I urge you to take the time and get Track Planning for Realistic Operations, visit the NMRA website, and track down some of Spacemouse’s old posts which hopefully can take you to his website. It is much easier to modify in the planning stage than once building has started.
Thanks for reading this and happy modeling,
Bob
Try YouTube and list n scale train layouts , look for viperjim1, that layout is 3x6 atlas sasquahana layout you,ll see 40 foot cars as well as 89 foot auto carriers.
http://s1295.beta.photobucket.com/user/maltux/media/IMG_0156_zps6ce24cc6.mp4.html?sort=3&o=
N Passenger on a door
P42 on an inner loop of a door - less than 30 inches
This is my test track
Hope this helps!