I’m building a warehouse with a curved siding. Haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to have a car-door-height platform adjacent to the curving wall or not, but in any case, can anyone tell me how much clearance is required between the centerline of the track and platform/structure?
Also, should a platform on a curve be a continuous curve or broken into straight segments? I’m working in HO scale and the siding will have an 18" radius curve. Thanks!
Jeff
take a pencil and hold it to the edge of your longest car (at the centre mark). As you move the car around the corner a line will be drawn on the baseboard showing where the edge of the platform should be aligned to. In Britatin all platforms on curves are continous curves, not broken into short, straight segments.
Ian
The NMRA gauge that has the standards for wheel and track gauge is also the correct heighth and width for clearances in most cases. Use it as a rule of thumb and then test the typical car with the track and the building.
Both logical and good solutions! Thanks Ian and Michael.
Jeff
Maybe it’s just the wording, but wouldn’t you need to hold the pencil at the corner of the longest car (instead of at the center point)? The overhang at the corner of the car will be the greatest, and therefore will be what the platform needs to be clear of.
Keep in mind that on a real platform, the industry would probably have some small metal bridge plates laying around to bridge the gap between the platform and the car door.
Regards
Ed
Ed.
I think they mean on the inside of the curve, I thought the same when I first read it
Ken.
Well, is the warehouse building going to be on the inside or outside of the curve? If it’s on the inside, hold the pencil in the center of the longest car that you think you will ever run onto this siding, because that’s the part that’s going to get closest to the loading platform as it goes around the curve. If it’s on the outside, hold the pencil at one corner of the car. Try do draw the line exactly under the edge of the car, and then allow about 1/16" as a “fudge factor” in case you ever try to run something longer around that corner, or the car you are using to measure isn’t the widest one you own.
The builders of the loading dock would probably make it curved instead of a series of straight pieces. Remember, most loading docks are built close enough to the train for a fork lift to cross into a boxcar for loading and unloading.
I remember exploring some old, abandoned Army warehouses at Fort Huachuca that had a thick rubber strip along the outer edge of the loading docks to absorb the impact if a boxcar rocked from side to side too much.
Outside of the curve- need to have clearance at the ends for the overhang at car/ pilot
Inside the curve- need the clearance for the midpoint of the car over hanging the rail.
Ed, probably just the wording, hope I didn’t muck it up further.
Bob K.