Hello all,
This is my first post here and was hoping to glean some knowledge from those who've built a loop of track around the top of a room.
I was very active in the hobby until about twenty years ago when college, etc. took my attention. I am finishing my basement and don't have room for a traditional layout, but the lady of the house believes a loop around the family room downstairs would be a great idea. Since I need a place to run my HO-scale Empire Builder from Walthers, I didn't argue.
The current plan is to run a 4 inch wide, shelf of 1/2-3/4 inch plywood around the room (11' x 17') with 30" radius open corners.
What, if anything, have people done to mitigate the issue of derailments? I am considering 1.5-2" plexiglass/acrylic edges on the inside and a similar sized wood or plexiglass/acrylic edge on the outside of the corners.
Any feedback on my plans and additional advice is welcome. Thank you!
When you say "top of the room" do you mean a shelf up by the ceiling??
BTW you will have to widen out to more than 4" to fit in 30" curves at the corners.
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Addressing the subject of derailments - the simplest, most effective derailment preventer I know is to file away the hard corner at the top inside of every rail at every rail joint. Don't take off much metal, a little facet about 1/2mm wide (not deep) and 5mm long will eliminate the tendency for a flange to pick the joint and climb over the rail.
Next comes the elimination of kinks on curves. Since you will be building in a climate controlled space, the easy way is to solder the rail joints on the outside of your curves before bending the flex track. If using Atlas code 100, the non-sliding rail should go to the outside. Let the sliding rail slide, several inches, and put the inside rail joint opposite solid outside rail.
Finally, allow for spiral easements. In your situation, I would offset the tangent line 1/2" outside the curve (30.5" on a 30" radius curve,) mark 1/2 the distance between them (30.25",) then measure 12.5" from that mark as an arc of the curve and a length along the tangent. Bend a piece of flex in a smooth curve with the centerline over those three points, then mark where the centerline track nail holes fall. Use a flexible batten to connect the dots for tracklaying purposes. (I personally mark the outer tie ends - easier to see, and more of them.)
Happy tracklaying!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on bulletproof trackwork)
scottlyke:
Unless all you want to do is run a train around the loop every once in a while, I don't think you'd be happy with an around-the-ceiling layout. I built a fairly extensive around-the-ceiling layout with a double track main line and a small yard about 15 years ago. Though everything worked fairly well (few derailments and 30 car trains), the just above the door frame height HO scale layout was simply too difficult to see, even with trains within a couple inches of the shelf edge and no edge fence. Operating the yard was an absolute disaster as one had to stand on a small ladder just to see what was going on. I considered mounting mirrors on the ceiling but ended up abandoning the layout before I ever tried the mirrors. The replacement layout was a small 6' by 6' layout that was suspended from the ceiling of the same room using vinyl coated steel cables. A small electric winch raised and lowered the layout for use and storage. MR also had an article a few years back about a fold-up layout that fit inside a large wall unit (sort of like a Murphy Bed). The major drawback of the fold-up layout is that you must clear every loose item off of the layout before you can fold it up. The suspended layout allowed everything to remain where you left it. Though it also had its drawbacks, the suspended layout was far more successful than my around-the-ceiling layout.
Hornblower