On a 3% grade, 036 S curve, How much banking should I have? I'm using FasTrack. There is about 35" of straight track between the upper and lower 2 curves.
Just eye-balling it and using a level, 1/8" drop to the inside looks about right. Free-wheeled some cars thru and they appeared to do ok. (No power to the track yet.)
Thanks in advance!
Lisa
Lisa,
Although I'm using Atlas track I shimmed the outside of my curves using 1/8" cork and liked the overall look. Equipment looked prototypically correct at that banked angle. With fastrack you might have to do some progressive shimming of the straight sections on the ends of curves as the track transitions from banked to flat. The shimms will keep the straight track from bending under the weight of your locos. With Atlas track this transition area gets strengthened once you glue down ballast.
Can't comment on grades since I have none on my layout.
Bruce Webster
Lisa-n-NC wrote: On a 3% grade, 036 S curve, How much banking should I have? I'm using FasTrack. There is about 35" of straight track between the upper and lower 2 curves.Just eye-balling it and using a level, 1/8" drop to the inside looks about right. Free-wheeled some cars thru and they appeared to do ok. (No power to the track yet.)Thanks in advance!Lisa
Lisa, let's assume you have a long train heading up the 3% grade and through the 036 curve. When the engine hits the banking, nothing will go wrong, but somewhere due to the weight of the cars still in the upgrade, the pull of the engine and now the banking of the track, the cars, especially the lighter weight cars may begin to tip towards the inside of the curve. This is called string-lining.
With our over flanged wheels on O Gauge, the cars are somewhat less prone to derailing but they can tip over if too much force is being applied on both ends of the car.
An easy way to bank, (super elevate) track is to use a long piece of wire concentric to the circular track. It is a very uniform method and you can try different sizes of wire to achieve your results.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
1/8" is about right for Rockingham County which tilts a little to the North anyway.
I used to use a #12 insulated wire strand under the outer tie ends to bank the curves and reduce to smaller wire when transitioning to straight-a-ways.
Sounds like somebody has been doing a lot of work in recent weeks..
Superelevation on a prototype railroad is a way to provide the force to accelerate the train radially as it goes around a curve. How much is needed is inversely proportional to the radius of curvature. Since our curves are almost always unrealistically sharp, you should pick the superelevation that looks best rather than what would work for the prototype, which seems to be what you have in mind anyway.
In view of that, since superelevation of a toy-train track tends to increase the liklihood of derailing, it is best to use as little as you can be satisfied with. For hidden track, there is something to be said for negative superelevation.
Bob Nelson
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/512672/ShowPost.aspx
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Buckeye - Read the thread you linked - agree with the Chief's final response... you do know your stuff. Of course I understood only enough of it to confuse me. I think.????
Bob - you and Buckeye are just way too smart for me!
Dewey - Yep - we do tilt a little to the north around here and I have been doing some work - not as much as I'd like - My husband requires feeding on a somewhat regular basis along with all the rest of the house stuff and then there's the JOB......
Bruce and Frank - thanks for replying.
CHIEF: Saw your reply came in while I was responding. I don't run trains fast - not used to seeing them go fast around here!
It seemed that before I tried any banking at all, the cars wanted to tilt to the outside. The 1/8 outside elevation using the Fastrack is spreading that over 3 1/4" rather than just between the outside rails. I'm hoping that when I can get the track a little more secure, I can get the power hooked up and really test it before I get it too far along.
As usual - a lot of GREAT advice from this forum and I will make good use of the information. Thanks again.
I am also using Fastrack. I am using the shims available at Home Depot that are used for framing windows and doors. They make a nice gentle angle, but not too much. I mostly am using O60 curves, but again, gotta watch the string-lining.
Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Hi Dennis - Got a pack of those the other day. According to my "figgering" they appear to work out for a 3% grade so they made the perfect starting point. I'm using the rest of the pack for shimming other areas.
Sending you an email.
You probably already tried this but hook up a long string of cars and pull them through the curve to check for stringlining. It does not matter if your hand pulls them or an engine!
We used to say in the engineering world....prototype it as close to real as you can get as fast as you can. A working model (even with compromises) is better than anything on paper!
Jim H
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