My tallest is an LGB concrete (cement) mixer, its about 215 mm high above the rail it sits on. I also have a couple of LGB american style tankers, which aren't much lower.
When specifying how high your rolling stock is, its important to understand where the height is from and the important dimension is above the rail it is sitting on, this will determine the minimum height of your overhead.
In my area 3 i had to do both; make my grades steeper and my overpasses lower, as it was all so tight.
Rgds Ian
The tallest piece of equipment I own is an Aristo Long Caboose and it's only 7 3/4" high. Something to consider as well is the length of some equipment. My RDC is 33 1/2" in length. It has considerable inner overhang on 8 foot diameter curves.
Mark
I planned to always have 10" min from rail head to top. and 8" wide.
Because the USAT gunderson and some 1:20 scale items are tall. Many 1;20th plows are 6.5" wide so 8" will clear everything.
of course curves maybe more.
Is it REAL? or Just 1:29 scale?
Long live Outdoor Model Railroading.
I'm trying to design a layout which may eventually include some crossovers, parallel tracks, and maybe an unavoidable S-curve or two, and I want to make sure I have enough clearance and transition space for anything I'm likely to run on it. However, I'm cautious, and I don't plan on spending much money on rolling stock until I have some track in the ground.
So help me gather some data points!
What is your tallest loco or car in terms of vertical clearance? Do you own anything that you don't think would fit under a 10" overpass? How limiting do you think this would be? Am I better off bumping up my overpasses or keeping my grades more gentle?
Also, do you have any unusually wide locomotives or cars that might be unhappy with parallel tracks too close together? Anything that's surprisingly long that might need more S-space clearance than I'm expecting? Generally, any cars you bought that are greedier for yard space than you expected them to be?
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