Homemade HO and O scale Tunnel specs

[frolf_king]

Newbie here. HELP!!!!

I would like to build my own mountain side w/tunnel but I am not sure how to go about it.

I know they sell molds and molding materials but are there any house hold materials that could be used? Like Styrofoam (messy I know), or something similar that can be sculpted with a dremel tool.

What are the standard height and width for HO and O scale tunnels?

 

[UP2CSX]

You can use extruded foam (Styrofoam) sheets to build up the mountain. Do not use what's commonly called Styrofoam, which is actually bead board, like the stuff they make disposable coffee cups from. It is messy and not very strong compared to extruded foam. You can get the foam at home improvement centers or by scavenging home building sites, which often throw scrap pieces in the dumpster. I think it's Joe Fugate who has a tutorial on his site about using extruded foam for scenery, Do a search on that name here and you should find it.

The tunnel entrance, or portal, will look much better if you buy one that's already cast or molded with all the details. They aren't that expensive and you can chose from timber, cut stone, rock, and concrete portals and retaining walls. You'll find a large selection of them at www.walthers.com.

There are no standard tunnel clearances that apply nationwide. You tend to find the largest tunnel clearances in the West and smallest in the East just because the ones in the West were built later as freight cars got larger. However, tunnels all over the country have been increased in sized or even eliminated ("daylighted") with the onset of very large cars like double stack container cars and 89' auto racks. All cars have "Plates", which correspond to the clearance a car needs in a confined space like a tunnel. Cars have to be routed over lines that have tunnels that are all large enough to meet their plate requirements. You can read more about this at http://www.nmra.org/standards/gauge.html

 

[frolf_king]

Cool. I will try that out. Thanks.