How much space do you use between the track and the edge of the benchwork?
I’m trying to keep it to 3 or 4 inches (less than that and I feel a transparent barrier is needed to prevent tragic falls to the floor).
Thanks
Doc
For HO scale, the rule-of-thumb is two inches from the track center to the benchwork edge.
Mark
Doesn’t seem enough for a serious derailment ending up 4 ft vertically downward.
If you’re expecting serious derailments, have an embankment between track and table edge, line the edge with clear plastic, or keep the track 6 to 12 inches away from the edge. It also helps to run trains at something like prototypical speeds, reflecting the sharpness of your tracks’ curves.
Mark
Curves will naturally be farther from the edge. On straights 2 inches is plenty. Just about all derailments can be heard when they first happen. You should stop the train right away when it happens.
Any closer than 3" and I would erect a barrier of some kind…tangent or curved, they can all flop over, and if on an elevated roadbed, as a mainline would be, some rolling is quite likely. You could use some well-glued foam "bushes, a berm as suggested, plexiglass, a robust “fence” of some kind…anything that will discourage a tumbling item from wanting to continue to roll.
-Crandell
I have several places with less than one inch of space between track and table edge. Haven’t had a problem yet. But on my last layout, I ran a 3" wall of plexiglass around the edge of the layout. I don’t think it was ever needed. However, I will probably put another plexiglass barrier up when I get this layout finished.
I believe it’s a question with no answer carved in stone, 2" or 3" or more all seem viable but lets face it, it all depends on how much room you have to work with. In some cases your forced to keep things running on the edge for those cases sure Plexiglas barriers are a good form of insurance. Also running trains at proper speeds is a good piece of advice. I have been half tempted to place a next around my entire layout to catch things that may fall off. I have my highest level of track which is 12" from the base of the bench work at points, do you think things might get damaged if a train falls 12 inches I suspect so but what do you do in a case like that. just like the real engineers grit your teeth and close your eyes…lol
It’s not called the “rule of thumb” there, markpierce; it’s called the “rule of junkbox.”
My model railroading career just about derailed itself when I had 22" radius snap track curves nailed down on a 4X8 and my only locomotive derailed coming out of one of the curves and came to rest hanging precariously over Bottomless Canyon. I immediately went back to the hobby shop and expended my very limited model railroad budget on 18" radius track. Had that old Varney F3 gone onto the concrete of my garage I would not have had the money to replace it at that time and most likely I would have gone back to building model warships which I had been doing for a few years.
I set (prototype) 40’ as my standard–3" in N-Scale; 5.5" in HO. I refer to it as my “security/scenery belt.”
And it’s not only derailments to consider, but also inadvertant elbows and overhanging beer bellies (we are talking about model railroaders here, after all).
Two inches seems defnitiely too little without a barrier or guard. 3-4 might be adequate, but again bear in mind the humans in the aisles.
I don’t disagree, yet 99-plus percent of published track plans have tracks within two inches of the benchwork edges.
Mark
IMHO, it’s not so much the distance as it is a matter of what’s between the track and oblivion. A few examples from my ‘work in progress’ layout: (for quick reference, 25.4mm = 1 inch)
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Convex curve, 610mm radius, 30mm to inside of fascia, inside lined tunnel.
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Tangent, 40mm and a modeled fence line to edge. The fence is built of old railroad ties planted vertically.
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Concave wide radius curve or tangent (on deck girder over a steep ravine,) 140+mm, and some durable model vegetation at the fascia line and all the way up the bottom of the drainage.
As a general rule, I expect that there will be fences, thick brush or structures (high platforms, or sectioned buildings) between any track and the edge of the world. Those tunnels are intended to simulate the prototype as part of the snake dance down the canyon to Haruyama. Ditto for the bridges.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I try for 3", but sometimes have been closer. As mentioned above, I keep my speed down. Not only do I get fewer derailments, but the trains tend to stay on the ties.
Enjoy
Paul
Interestingly, I have in front of me a copy of a layout review in the Jan 1965 MR. The accompanying photos thow about 6" of the outer oval of track actually hanging over the table edge. Also, it appears that on the other two edges, the track is so close to the respective edges, the attached (Snap) switch machines are also hanging over.
On a layout I built while in High School, I had a canyon scene with a scratch built timber curved trestle, about 6" high, 3" from the table edge. The Varney F-3 did not survive the plunge, The bottom of the canyon didn’t stop it from continuing to the floor.
Since then, when building a layout, I’ve tried to place some kind of scenery ridges or features to catch derailments.
I never built Westcott’s HO Railroad that Grows in HO-Scale–it did, however, serve as a base for my second N-Scale endeavor way back in 1984. I used 18"/19.5" radius curves for my version and my platform, instead of a 4X8, was, instead, a 4.5X11. This equates to about an 8.25X20.25 platform in HO-Scale. Were one to build this layout in that size and using a 2" center-of-track-to-table-edge then you could do this with 47.5" curves.
I am not really disagreeing with your factors–if you examine most 4X8 layouts they do tend to be built with 22" snap-track curves which brings them to what I consider to be precariously close to table edge. I reason that Atlas probably offered their snap-track curves in 22" because that was the size that would fit–just barely–around the end of a 4’ wide sheet of plywood. Better, I feel, to go to a tighter curve–18"?–allowing for a safer setback from table edge as well as providing for, albeit somewhat narrow, scenery strip. Subtracting half of a 1.5" roadbed width from the 6" setback of an 18" radius curve renders a 5.25" scenery strip around the edge of the layout.
Isn’t this just another reason an around-the-walls layout is a good idea? There is nowhere to fall to the floor when the track is adjacent to a wall.
The only place I’m planning to have track near an aisle edge is a single spur. That’s just how it turns out. Someone up there is looking out for me as I wasn’t concious of this issue, perhaps because the issue never arose.
Mark
All the points here are valid. That being said, I have one tangent out of a curve that is on the edge. As this is unseen trackage, I use dense foam as the crash barrier wall. I do like the clear plexiglas idea.
If you’re “expecting serious derailments”, maybe it’s time to re-lay your track. [(-D] You’re right, though, about running at prototypical speeds, and there’s nothing like an element of danger to keep your operators honest.
While this area of my layout’s not yet complete, I do run trains here and have no plans to install any barriers. The speed of upbound trains is usually regulated by tonnage, and downbounds are limited to 15 or 20 mph. At least once the landforms are in place, the chances of a mishap will decrease by half.
Here’s the “Lucky 26”:
She survived a 3’ drop to the concrete floor from the lower track in the photo below - some dummy [:-^] who was running a train elsewhere on the layout didn’t realise that the siding with the coal train on it was “live”. The 26 went over the edge, and the second loco had its front end hanging over the abyss, held back only by the 100 oz. coal train behind it.
[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/doctorwayne/Layout%20room%20tour/Layoutroomphotos002-1.j
Wow! Doc, your layout holds huge potential for great scenery.
Mark
Thanks, Mark. [:)] Might be good for some spectacular accidents, too. [swg]
Wayne