Finalizing 3-way Turnout Location
Yesterday I spent quite a number of hours trying to figure out a few things about my 3-wat turnout that will feed the staging tracks.
1) How will I mount it (on what roadbed that stretches between the shed's rear wall and the helix) ?
2) Where exactly will I locate it?
3) How do I limit the size of the opening thru the wall such that I limit creature access, as well as limit lost of AC from the main shed?
Those are a few of questions I had in mind when I began. At first I started trying to just jury rig several placements of the turnout and its curved tracks, then take approx measurements. This was all becoming to much of a hassle trying to hold multiple objects in place, and make measurements, and view things overall.
I decided I needed to make a paper template, then trim that down to size during fitting. I decided paper was a good template,...easy to drawn on and flexible enough to fit thru the narrowing hole thru the back shed wall, and transferable to the wood plywood I will eventually be cutting for the roadbed itself. Turns out it was a good choice as I was able to just use scissors and free-form pencil to determine areas that needed custom fitting to clear around upright post, etc. I'll be transferring that pattern to plywood today and doing the roadbed piece.
First I needed to get an accurate form of the3-way turnout and its 'spreading' 2 curves. But first I still had this nagging thought about which brand turnout to utilize there,...(I had a Peco, a Roco, a Fleischmann, and a Shinoharra). After renewed evaluation I decided the Peco was the best. But just in case I should ever change my mine about brand, OR need to change out to a new one, I will make it so it can be replaced fairly easy.
I then came to the balancing act of exactly where to place the 3-way along the axis of the single track going into staging from the helix. If I placed it very close to the hole in the back wall it would make my requirements for the size of the hole cutout the smallest possible. I had thought this might be ideal to limit the size of the openings between the main shed and the helix structure. But now that I have even better insulation in my helix than I first imagined, this has become less of an issue.
Besides as I played around with ideas I came upon another solution. On the helix side of the opening I could make a simple wedge-shaped transparent cover of plexiglass that would just sit over the 3-way, and be quickly removable. It would stick out from the opening in the wall to form a single track opening at its 'entrance end'.
Now I can place the 3-way turnout further from the back wall of the shed which will accomplish several things:
a) more easily accessed should I have to perform maintanence or rerail trains
b) more flexibility in hooking up those 3 tracks connected to the turnout
c) permit slightly longer staging tracks down the 2 sides
Paper mockup,...next cut the wood subroadbed
Yesterday I spent quite a number of hours trying to figure out a few things about my 3-wat turnout that will feed the staging tracks.
1) How will I mount it (on what roadbed that stretches between the shed's rear wall and the helix) ?
2) Where exactly will I locate it?
3) How do I limit the size of the opening thru the wall such that I limit creature access, as well as limit lost of AC from the main shed?
Those are a few of questions I had in mind when I began. At first I started trying to just jury rig several placements of the turnout and its curved tracks, then take approx measurements. This was all becoming to much of a hassle trying to hold multiple objects in place, and make measurements, and view things overall.
I decided I needed to make a paper template, then trim that down to size during fitting. I decided paper was a good template,...easy to drawn on and flexible enough to fit thru the narrowing hole thru the back shed wall, and transferable to the wood plywood I will eventually be cutting for the roadbed itself. Turns out it was a good choice as I was able to just use scissors and free-form pencil to determine areas that needed custom fitting to clear around upright post, etc. I'll be transferring that pattern to plywood today and doing the roadbed piece.
First I needed to get an accurate form of the3-way turnout and its 'spreading' 2 curves. But first I still had this nagging thought about which brand turnout to utilize there,...(I had a Peco, a Roco, a Fleischmann, and a Shinoharra). After renewed evaluation I decided the Peco was the best. But just in case I should ever change my mine about brand, OR need to change out to a new one, I will make it so it can be replaced fairly easy.
I then came to the balancing act of exactly where to place the 3-way along the axis of the single track going into staging from the helix. If I placed it very close to the hole in the back wall it would make my requirements for the size of the hole cutout the smallest possible. I had thought this might be ideal to limit the size of the openings between the main shed and the helix structure. But now that I have even better insulation in my helix than I first imagined, this has become less of an issue.
Besides as I played around with ideas I came upon another solution. On the helix side of the opening I could make a simple wedge-shaped transparent cover of plexiglass that would just sit over the 3-way, and be quickly removable. It would stick out from the opening in the wall to form a single track opening at its 'entrance end'.
Now I can place the 3-way turnout further from the back wall of the shed which will accomplish several things:
a) more easily accessed should I have to perform maintanence or rerail trains
b) more flexibility in hooking up those 3 tracks connected to the turnout
c) permit slightly longer staging tracks down the 2 sides
Paper mockup,...next cut the wood subroadbed