hardcoalcase I recall a discussion in MR decades ago where the opinion was expressed that curved track made the layout seem larger. I find this to be the case on my layout as the train presents itself at a slightly different perspective/viewing angle at each point of the curve. For trains on straight track, the viewing angle is basically the same as the train gets closer or farther away. Jim
I recall a discussion in MR decades ago where the opinion was expressed that curved track made the layout seem larger.
I find this to be the case on my layout as the train presents itself at a slightly different perspective/viewing angle at each point of the curve.
For trains on straight track, the viewing angle is basically the same as the train gets closer or farther away.
Jim
Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, curved track not only makes the layout seem bigger, it is bigger. Whereas my mainline is mostly straight track, my branchline has very little straight track and requires more track to cover the same distance.
When I designed my layout, I never gave much thought to how much straight track I had versus curved track. I just did what seemed logical. Since the branchline goes through more mountainous terrain, it naturally has more curved track.
PC101 John-NYBW To make it more interesting, I have the straight sections running at a slight diagonal to the front of the benchwork. Ditto.
John-NYBW To make it more interesting, I have the straight sections running at a slight diagonal to the front of the benchwork.
To make it more interesting, I have the straight sections running at a slight diagonal to the front of the benchwork.
Ditto.
A long, long time ago I read in one of the hobby magazines that in big cities, the mainline track tends to run parallel or perpindicular to the street grid. In small towns it is more likely that the railroad would pass through on a diagonal. At the time I lived in Columbus, OH and that seemed to be the case. Now I live in a rural area and the small towns around me do seem to have the track running through them on a diagonal, even the abandoned rails-to-trails bike paths.
John-NYBWA long, long time ago I read in one of the hobby magazines that in big cities, the mainline track tends to run parallel or perpindicular to the street grid. In small towns it is more likely that the railroad would pass through on a diagonal. At the time I lived in Columbus, OH and that seemed to be the case. Now I live in a rural area and the small towns around me do seem to have the track running through them on a diagonal, even the abandoned rails-to-trails bike paths.
From my experience the topography and the precedence (who came first?) determines the alignment of the streets and rails. If the track came first, the railroad would try to optimize location with respect to topography. As the town built out, they would often parallel the track with the streets. If the town was there first, land had to be acquired, and location be determined by land availability and location of customers (passenger and freight).
I have experienced both, but out west, the railroad generally got there before much of a town got built. So unless topography ruled otherwise, the "old town" is parallel to where the tracks were initially laid. In the east, the opposite was true.
Fred W
....modeling foggy coastal Oregon in HO and HOn3, where it's always 1900....
In many midwestern towns the center business district street grid parallels the rail line, but as the town grew outward, the outer street pattern would adapt to the section survey grid of north-south and east-west.
Here on the east coast, a lot of towns were already built and the RailRoads had to work around them. A lot of the rural towns had the frieght and passenger depots along the outskirts of the town.
On Cape Cod, the first major deforestation of the Cape was during the steam wood burning era. The Old Colony RR would stop along the right of way and purchase wood from the farmers, who would wait by the tracks with a wagon load of wood, harvested from their land. The RR paid hard cash back then, which delighted the locals!