setting up track.

[Anonymous]

was wondering which track to go with and wanted your guys opinion. thinking about the tube track 3 rail and getting the rubber track bed to go under it disadvantage/ advantages???? my situation: 14ft x 14ft room up on a shelf 9ft high, shelf is 7 1/2" wide, not alot of room for bldgs. but wallpaper might be an option. having it set up for the holidays from august thru january .

[csxt30]

I think you will have a nice RR there. I would just like to say that it is wide enough for 2 tracks, or 1 mainline track & a passing siding. Also, today besides your wallpaper, there are scenic backdrops available. The best other idea I have for buildings, & this is getting quite popular, are to either purchase the ones that are only a couple inches wide, really just fronts I think they are called, or build them. Walthers has some out. I wonder if you can put a tunnel in & go to another room! Just kidding, but I probably would with your type of set-up. Also, on track, sectional types would be the way to go, since you take it down after the season. Thanks, John

[lionelsoni]

If you do want to go with two tracks, one will be hugging the wall pretty close and the two will be close together. That is no problem on the tangents (straight sections); but you will need more room at the corners.

As soon as a train enters a curve on the outside track, the ends of the locomotive and cars will swing out and probably hit the wall. One way to avoid this is to use a very large radius to minimize the swing-out; but then you will have to build the corners out substantially. A more practical approach is to start the curve with a large radius, then, when the train has moved away from the wall, change to a short radius, then back to a large radius at the other wall. For example, you could use one section of O27 between two of O54. This is called a spiral curve and is much more compact than using the large radius throughout.

For the inside track, the situation is similar, except that it needs to get away from the outside track instead of the wall, before the cars swing out. If you use the same shape for the curve, the inside curve will start early anyway by the amount of the distance between the tangent tracks, which could be almost 5 inches if you put the inside track right at the edge of the shelf. (You might as well, since you can't put it back far enough to keep the trains from going onto the floor anyway.)

As for the corners, you will have to fill them in no matter what you do. You could just lay a plywood triangle on the shelves; but that would then necessitate blocking the rest of the track up by the thickness of the plywood. I would consider making a triangle to butt against the outside edges of the shelves, with plywood blocks screwed to the top to make tabs to fit over the lips of the shelves. They should be located out of the way of the tracks, of course.

[tmcc man]

Well just as said before, use the widest curves possible. That is a good way to go. Also, I would use Lionel Fastrack, because it will not come apart, and since it is not permanent, it is easy to take down

[lionelsoni]

Colin, I disagree that he should use the widest curves possible, but rather the spirals that I recommended. The wider the curves, the less track on the shelf and the more extra work to get it around the corners.

[tmcc man]

Lionelsoni, you are correct, did not think about that for a second.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you're planning a duplicate of my layout. Mine is roughly 14' X 12' with an 8" shelf along the straight of ways. Basicly it's 2 mainlines paralleling each other with one wall having a widened shelf where the tracks branch into 4 and cross. This plan allows me to run 2 trains at once or allow one train to alternate between inside and outside mainlines totally hands off. I used Atlas track with simple cork roadbed that I plan to eventually ballast since my goal realism. One beef with Altas track is that prewar and some postwar lionel wheel flanges tend to be too deep for the shallow frogs on their switches and crossovers. Also, unless you modify engines to have more than the commonly used 2 closely spaced power pickups you will experience slow speed stalling on switches and crossovers.
I was able to hold strickly to 72" diameter curves throughout keeping in mind I might like to own and run some pretty big pieces of equipment some day. Room corners were handled quite simply by starting the curved track on the inside mainline a few inches ahead of the outside mainline. While this doesn't allow the 2, 72" curved tracks to parallel each other it does give more than ample space so that large engines and cars won't touch as long as your straights are spaced far enough apart. At a height of 7' I can't notice the unparralel curves on my shelf layout anyways. Had room intrussion not been a factor I might have used the professional method of easing the curves for a smoother transition but as it is I already have a lot of overhanging plywood in the corners.
Do put down lots of insulating roadbed if you can. Although I hope my layout will quiet down a bit once it's ballasted and the track retaining screws removed I seriously doubt the 1/8" cork I laid will help much. Since you plan on removing the layout for a time try to make what is left of the shelving as esthetically pleasing as possible. If mine has to come down the only thing that will remain is a few wall cabinets and a 4 1/2" plate rail. One last hint....leave a 1/2" gap between the wall and your shelf top. This will house your feeder wires and if you wish a string of rope lighting.

Bruce Webster