Well I'm Starting Over


brubakes

Member
I hardly got started but I think I am going to skip the 5'x10' setup I was planning and go with a similar L shaped dog bone setup. Similar to THIS.

I've been going back and forth with myself forever about layout plans and while the 5'x10' rectangle would have been easy I don't think I would have been happy with it it in the end. Luckily when I build the bench work for the for the 5'x10' layout I actually made it out of two 5'x5' benches. Those will be the end pieces of the layout with some new bench work in the middle.

Hopefully this time I can really get moving and start some real track work and not just mock ups or push pin mainlines.

I'm excited to get started. Winter is always the "rush" for my model railroading.
 
Good luck with the layout. The first two shown in your link are fine as a start. The last one is awful. Way too much track and 18" radius curves.
 
Good luck with the layout. The first two shown in your link are fine as a start. The last one is awful. Way too much track and 18" radius curves.

I agree. Way to much going on there. I'm actually already starting the main line with a 26" radius and a 2nd line with 24". I would like to go bigger for the main, but that's about what I can fit in the physical space.
 
26-in and 24-in curves are a reasonable compromise IMO if that's what your space allows.

The biggest cars I have are a set of 6 Pullman heavyweights. They are about 12" long and while testing with them this past week and trying difference radius you could see that the 24" was really pushing it for them.
 
It is very heartening to read that you are being patient and methodical in your approach to the hobby. As I have said elsewhere a number of times, the manufacturer's minimums are a very rough guide, and not always right. Other factors about your own skills and application will either negate problems associated with running at the minimums, or actually compound them and leave you a frustrated person with lots of mystifying derailments.

It is rarely a good idea to build a layout and trackplan to the minimum standards and specs. Far better to add about 15% and go from there. And as you have done, the definitive test is actually running trials with the items before you make anything permanent.

-Crandell
 
As usual, Crandell has some sage words of advice. I run 85' passenger cars on 22" curves without a problem but it took a lot to get the curves perfectly level and smooth. I just suspend disbelief at the overhang. :) Even going up to a 24" radius curve is a world of improvement.
 
I hardly got started but I think I am going to skip the 5'x10' setup I was planning and go with a similar L shaped dog bone setup. Similar to THIS.
Wow. There is a lot of "stuff" in that 3rd iteration of that layout plan. I would think about it before adding it all. Seems they tried to cram in as much track as they could. Sometimes more is not better.
I would think with a little bit of rework the passing sidings could be done a bit better. Then maybe even think about adding some elevations and grades.

Are you going to be able to get to the back of the 5' space or is it going to be smashed up against a wall?
 
As usual, Crandell has some sage words of advice. I run 85' passenger cars on 22" curves without a problem but it took a lot to get the curves perfectly level and smooth. I just suspend disbelief at the overhang. :) Even going up to a 24" radius curve is a world of improvement.

When space is limited, overhang becomes less of an issue, then again, I'm no purist. I was forced into a 5'x10' with a 2'x10 foot extension, because I could not build against my walls. My solution was also 26" and 24" curves, with # 6 switches. I also use BCW Reading coaches, which are a prototypically correct 72' long, with less overhang.:)
 



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