I’m keeping with the 3x24 but with switches that would a good challenge, got one last question i wanna do a side of the layout a mountain what the degre of going up or down
by the way thanks for the tips guys
Ok to sum this up if i want a loop at one end and i am running 3’ against the wall at the end i could widen that to 4’ and i will be ok for a loop correct?
Correct. Just widen enough of the layout surface to fully support the track loop. It won’t be very big. Make a circle of 18" snap track and lay it on the 36" wide surface. You will see how much you need to add to get clearance all around and support it in the front.
Mark C.
i would go with a maximum, remember MAXIMUM of a 2% grade. What that means is that for every 100 linear inches you go, you go up 2 inches. It doesnt sound like much, but much more and your trains will have trouble going up the hill.
This page http://www.nmra.org/standards/rp-11.html shows some recommended curves for different lengths of car and engines. While some manufacturers may engineer some of their locomotives to take a tighter radius, this will give you a general overall guide.
Enjoy
Paul
y2snow:
The most slope the real railroads could have was about a 5% grade - a slope that went up 5 feet for every 100 feet it travelled across. Madison IN had a hill outside of town with a 5.85% slope; this required VERY short trains, specially geared engines, and the regular road engine as helpers.
But on a layout, you can get away with 5% slopes because the trains are shorter anyway. This is not enough to create a roller-coaster tilted curve with extra radius in a given depth.
An 18" radius curve (36" across) allows you to run diesels with a B-B footprint (two trucks, two axles each). I expect a 15" radius curve could also take the same engines if they moved slowly and carefully.
If you want to have a 1900-era layout, the road engines will be 4-6-0 or maybe a brand new 4-6-2. 4-4-0’s were still common in general service. Most freight cars were 40’ or a bit less in length, and will fit on small curves without difficulty. Your trains will need to be rather short; estimate 20-30 cars until you actually build the layout and see how many cars can be pulled through the sharp curves without falling off the track or anything.
I used to have a 4x8 loop and once tried putting an engine and as many cars (mostly 40’-50’ ) as I could fit on the track, hooked them all together, and set out forwards. Half the train fell over because it was being pulled ‘sideways’ around the curves. So that was too much. But about half that - 12 feet long or 24 cars - worked for just going and going around and around, not too fast.
I just put together an HO display/continuous running layout in 35" by 24" space – the track plan is a twice-around loop with 5 percent up and down grade and 10" minimum radius. So far I have operated a 40’ scale Athearn switch engine on it and it runs just fine – I plan an getting a 4-wheel industrial loco and some short freight cars, or perhaps kitbashing one of the those European articulated DMU passenger trains.
Nope, this layout won’t run 6-axle Diesels, Big Boys, or Superliner passenger cars, but if you are willing to accept restrictions on your equipment, it will run just fine.
I also think there is too much a break between “scale model railroading” and “toy trains” although tin scale has made a comeback – the folks who don’t want to be seen as adults “playing with toy trains” rationalize this with tin scale as being a collectable.
The model airplane folks are much less concerned. Their emphasis is on getting the thing to fly, and they have a continuum of models, from models that fly and have the most remote resemblance to any prototype to highly-detailed scaled models.
My 35" by 24" inch layout is an experiment in doing HO using tin-scale grades and curves.
Thanks guys those last post help alot
This is similar question to what radius, only in the vertical dimension. General answer is: as small as possible. Practical answer is dependant on how high you need to go (crossing other tracks below?), whether the grade is visible, how long your train will be and how much grade and train length together that your engine(s) can handle and of course, how much space (length) you have available. The first thing I would do is buy Track Plannng for Realistic Operation and read and read it.
Then you need to consider that the grade can’t simply begin and end at 2 level lengths of track, but must instead transition from grade to level or indeed to any significant difference in grades. Otherwise the pilot or “cowcatcher” at the front of your engines will be digging in to ties at the bottom and the lead and trailing wheels of your steamer may be above the rails at the tops (derail) while the center wheels could lift off at the bottom(derail). Remember that a 1% grade to rise 1" will be 100" long without the transition length. This could push a 4% grade to rise 4" out to 100" plus the transition length to more than 10-12 feet in length. The need for transition length sometimes forces you to use steeper grades for the actual rise (which then require longer transitions). What is the perfect compromise?
If your grade doesn’t have to be completely visible, you could consider a Helix which is a continuous grade that spirals over itself like threads on a screw to get the long length of run in a short space. Helixes may require large radius curves to allow for the track and roadbed to clear the tops of trains on the spiral tracks below. Building helixes is beyond my scope here, but you can read about them in many MR books and probably in this forum. You could bury it in the ends where you are going to put your curved track.
I too am struggling with all this. Grades are the bane of both model and real railroads, but they are often necessary for both to accompli***heir purpose.