I am going to be picking out some locomotives and rolling stock for my Virgina layout I am building and want to know what railroad to operate. I want to operate both steam and diesel locomotives. I will have both passenger and freight trains.
Thanks WWtrain
Just in case you don’t realize it, the track plan you’ve chosen is HO narrow gauge, so the radii can be tighter than traditional HO standard gauge. The builder, Dan Sylvester, explained briefly in the MR article and in more detail in the latest (LDJ-41) Layout Design Journal published by the Layout Design SIG how he must use handlaid-in-place custom turnouts with a curve through the frog in order to get everything to fit. Although the MR article says the minimum radius is 18", it’s actually 15 1/2" in the siding at Ophir, with corresponding 15 1/2" radius curved frogs in the turnouts.
Simpy put, it probably won’t fit as drawn in HO standard gauge in 4X8 (as you suggest in your signature) without a lot of custom work and even then only with short equipment. If you are thinking of doing this same plan in N scale standard gauge, it should fit in 4X8.
Or are you planning to build it in HOn3 narrow gauge?
Byron
Virginia had several roads in the late 40’s & 50’s, the time frame for diesels and steam Some of the major ones were Southern, Norfolk & Western, Chesapeake & Ohio, Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Airline, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac, and Virginian. The Baltimore and Ohio had a branchline in the Shenandoah Valley. There were also numerous shortlines as well. Obviously way too many for a 4x8 layout. I suggest you pick one for your layout. Also realize that full length passenger cars will overwhelm a 4x8 layout and may have trouble on 18" radius curves.
Good luck
Paul
…as did the Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Station into Winchester, Virginia.
Also see the transition era’s “scenic atmosphere” of mountaintop railroading plus bridges (including electrification) with The Virginian Railroad and Norfolk Southern’s Elkhorn Tunnel.
Thanks for the input. I am modifying the track plan and am only using it as a guide. I already have a lot of HO track, so I am going to stick to it.
I wonder why that is?[*-)]
I like Virginian. It just makes sense on a Virginia layout.
Are there shorter passenger cars that might work better on a 18" radius curve? Also, I would probably want short steam engines. Too bad I don’t have wall space for a shelf layout…[:(]
The Pennsy also ran down the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Charles, from where they ran a car float to Norfolk. There was plenty of agricultural business business along the route, and many “high/wide” loads between the Northeast and South traveled that way to avoid clearance restrictions in Baltimore and Washington. Passenger trains ran until the mid 1950’s. This branch would be a good subject for a small layout.
There is at least one book available with information about this branch, “Eastern Shore Railroad”, by Chris Dickon, Arcadia Publishing.
John
Con-cor has advertised a new line of 65’ cars that are claimed to work on 18" curves; also, I believe that Athearn had some 60-footers (E-Bay?).
Dante
With 18" curves the longer car will most likely run fine but anything longer than 50’ (and even then…) is going to look funny.
This link may help:
http://www.ldsig.org/ldsigwiki/hints-tips/curve_radius_rule-of-thumb
Submitted by drew_kay on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 15:14
Here are some curve radius guidelines based on the lengths of your longest pieces of rolling stock.
2X - Some model equipment may be able to track reliably on 2X their length, but this is generally considered pushing it.
3X - Making your curve radius at least 3X the length of your longest cars gets reliable tracking around curves, but looks toylike.
4X - If you make your curve radius at least 4X, your longest cars will look much better on curves.
5X - If you make your curve radius at least 5X, your longest cars will couple easily with minimal manual fiddling of the couplers.
This measurement is based on the length of your longest car (coupler to coupler).
For example, an HO forty foot box car is about 6" long, coupler to coupler. Here are the curve radius guidelines if your longest cars ar
If anyone has been following my other posts, I have decided to switch to N scale. I want to have a lumber mill as my main industry. What railroads would be around in the 1950s - early 1960s in the Northeastern part of the US?