How about modifying the HO scale model railroad from Atlas, the Great Eastern Trunk. (http://www.atlasrr.com/Code100web/pages/10025.htm) Although it was designed for HO scale, it fits on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, has two mainline tracks and a third passing track along one curve. If you could modify this plan so that it could accommodate n-scale track, then you would be in business. Just substitute the inside tracks for 20.75" and 19.5" radius tracks and you can run two high-speed trains and have a freight switching in the yard or something. Make sure you superelevate all of the mainline curves. Not only is it realistic practice, but it will help to prevent your trains from taking flight to the outside of a turn, and the long trains look fantastic tilting into a turn at high speed. By no means do you have to use the exact plan either. Feel free to change things around; in fact, I would suggest that instead of having the turntable, use a wye track with a smaller radius, perhaps 15" or 11" as chuck suggested. This would allow you to turn the long, fixed consist trains. Then you can keep the yard, and perhaps add some more industries to add some more freight operation. I would also add a single track off the edge of the table to accommodate any expansion you may like to do. In the meantime, you can use it as an interchange track with another railroad. You might want to make sure that the last foot or two of track before the edge is electrically dead in case you forget to through a switch and you long, snakelike Bullet trains plummet onto the floor.
Ghonz
- Matt
I assume that your 'Bullet train' is the original JNR bullet-nose type 0 (the most recent designs are more shovel nose than bullet nose.) My comments relate to the prototype.
The shinkansen was designed as a separate right of way, totally grade separated (no crossings at grade with either roads or other rail lines. On the Tokyo end of the line, the elevated structure paralleled the existing line with tight curves and low speed. Once in the countryside, the speed went up to 220kph (slightly under 140mph) on a line with 2 kilometer radius curves. The entire route was (and is) double track, with four tracks at stations.
Translating that to N scale, in an urban setting immediately adjacent to tracks carrying commuter, old-style long range passenger and occasional freight traffic, you can get away with 11 inch radius but will have to hold track speed down. Your table can accommodate a 20 inch radius inner curve on double track, which is about 1/20th of scale for the prototype. At maximum scale speed your bullet train would be turning 14 second laps! In both cases, the right-of-way would be elevated above ground on a continuous concrete causeway. (Inside Tokyo, some of the volume under the tracks was closed in and used for commercial space.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - without Shinkansen)
We're about to start designing our 2nd n-scale layout. My son is really into bullet trains and long passenger cars. When he's not running those, it will be a long freight train.
With that in mind, what are some good layout ideas for a 4x8 space? Most all of the layout designs I've seen have alot of tight curves and such.
One thought we had was to have a layout with broader curves and then perhaps to have a seperate track layout at another elevation in the center (with tighter curves for those shorter trains).
Any and all ideas are appreciated.