hi guys and gals, just a quick question!

[Anonymous]

hello all, i am in the middle of creating the Great Eastern Trunk layout in HO scale and im haveing some troubles. the track plan i have is out of a 1958 Atlas Track Planning book. i have all the right track and correct # switches and radius curves. i have layed the complete thing several times, but it never turns out like the diagram depicts. its always short or out of alignment, no in between. does anyone have or know where i could find a newer version of the plan, or is it just supposed to be this way? the book says the spaceing in curves and straights should be 1 1/8 from end of one tie to end of tie next to it. i cant see how this is. any help or ideas are greatly appreciated. thanks!
[:)]

steve

[AltonFan]

Sectional track always has alignment problems. Moreover, there's no way to ease curves into tangent (straight) tracks.

My suggestion is to get the best fit you can, trying to put as much gap space into a straight section as possible. Then cut down a piece of straight track to fit into the space.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

You might try the Atlas Right Track Software for laying out the plan. It is a free download from the Atlas website, adn is very easy to use, especially with sectional track. The Great Eastern Trunk is one of their on-line "snapshots": http://www.atlasrr.com/products/fanlayout/holayout/ho25.html It is in one of their books too - there is a link on the page.

Two other thoughts:

Some sectional track will have to be cut to fit, unless you are building a simple oval. The geometry of the sectional track makes fitting things together easier, but does not eliminate "custom fitting" some pieces.

Are you using the same switches of the same brand? A Left Hand snap switch is not interchangable with a left hand custom line, for example. You say you have the right #, but it might be worth a double check. Sorry if that was obvious.

As far as the 1 1/8 (inches??) between ties - I have no idea. Is there a diagram?

Andrew

[Anonymous]

G'Day,
In this hobby getting there ,like everything else is the fun part. Don't sweat it too much if the real thing is different from the plan just so long as you can run trains on it without derailing and unwanted uncuoplings --- HAVE FUN
David Stokes

[JoeUmp]

Steve,

According to my copies of the Atlas layout books not all of the plans are perfectly aligned with the grids of the diagrams. As far as I know they have not changed any of their track plans since they were first published except to allow for the use of DCC with the layout.

Therefore it may take some effort to pull your unaligned ends together. Atlas claims that all of their track plans will go together and operate as described.

If you are still having trouble maybe the customer service center can help.

Joe

[Anonymous]

Steve...

I'm building the same layout for my 12 year old son's xmas gift, this time from the 1971 book "Six HO Railroads YOU Can Build", and I'm finding the same problems. I'm going to do the what somebody else suggested and that is I'm going to modify the plan a little bit. Actually, I've got a larger based...4'9" x 8'6" to fit nicely on top of an old pool table I have in my rec room. I'd say don't be afraid to use flex track if you're still building.

What did you decide as far as a control panel? I'm thinking I'm going to build one such that I can "unplug" the connectors to all switches and and tracks so it can be removed if the layout needs to move, or be stored.

I'm using under the table switch machines which will be nice too.

Would love to share pics w/you and the audience if interested.

[leighant]

Wish you could state the subject of your "quick question" in your subject line so we don't have to wait for it to open. Like for your subject, "Fitting sectional track for Atlas plans".
A lot of folks who may have had answers might have passed this up, not knowing what it was about.

[dave9999]

QUOTE: Originally posted by leighant

Wish you could state the subject of your "quick question" in your subject line so we don't have to wait for it to open. Like for your subject, "Fitting sectional track for Atlas plans".
A lot of folks who may have had answers might have passed this up, not knowing what it was about.

Sounds like someone needs high speed internet access. If your waiting for
a topic to "open" your moving waaaaaaaaaaaaay tooooooo sloooooow. Dave

[Anonymous]

try flex track. it solved the same problem in N for me.