You guys need to ask your questions over on the Classic Toy Trains Forum that is part of the Trains.com site. To give my two cents - I like 042 curves that are available by Lionel. Everything runs better on them and your trains wont tip over. If you are really short on space the 027 will have to do. Or you can do an outside oval of 042 with an inside oval of 027. Also you can keep these seperate with out switches and run two trains independently. My sons and I set lots of ovals up and run lots of trains.
I hope I'm not hijacking a thread but I have a couple related questions. Thanks A.P. for the information so far.
A little background: I decided to build a table, probably before doing enough research, but I built it as big as my wife would allow anyway. Pictures of the table and one long term layout (not to any scale) I was playing around with can be seen here:
http://planetwilliam.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!40A5EBAD9713D16E!147/?startingImageIndex=2&commentsExpand=0&addCommentExpand=0&addCommentFocus=0&pauseSlideshow=0
The table is 4'x8' on one side, and 3'x8' on the other connected by a 2'x2' section with some trap doors to allow my boy to crawl underneath. Really, three tables screwed together.
My questions are: If I need to target O27, should I scrap the FastTrack that comes with the Lionel sets and go with the traditional type track. I don't want to spend any money on grade crossings and switches and such if I'm going to have to throw them out later. I think the FastTrack smallest is O36 but not sure about that. If so, I wonder if it even makes sense to get a kit.
My other question is will I be alright if I start by painting the top of the table a gloss green? I want something that will protect the plywood from spills but do not want to do anything that will hurt my ability to landscape the tables down the road.
Thanks,
Will
PP:
Be advised that I am by no means a tinplate expert. I have messed around with Lionel a little, and did have a working O27 layout once, and know some of the ropes, but there are people out there who are a lot more familiar with this stuff.
I think a good start is to read everything you can find. Start with everything O and O27 related at the AGP:
http://www.thortrains.net/
and you will learn a lot. The "027 manual" link is particularly good. Also be sure to read the "ovalling and switch dynamics" articles. It's a great page, even for HO'ers, but for tinplaters it's a gold mine.
Lionel "standard O" is 31" diameter, so finding traditional (economical) track will be no problem. Now that I think of it, mixing O and O27 may be slightly complicated, because the tracks are different heights. You will have to shim up the O27. AFAIK the pins are compatible.
The layout you mentioned is O27, I think, and is 57" by 87". It would fit on a 6 x 8 foot table, but to put it on a 4 x 8 you'd need to remove 2 straights from each of the "vertical" runs.
Using one of the AGP layouts and a bit of pixel dust, I cooked up an example of the plan I came up with (It isn't *quite* the same...):
Pilot Pete wrote:I have been out of model railroading for many years and would like to get back into it since I have a couple of little boys running around now. I have both O-27 and HO sets, but was thinking this time of going with the O-27/O. I would like to build a basic rectangular table, but want to make sure it is big enough to accomadate a decent size layout. One important consideration is that since the O-27 locos have a tendancy to tip over on the tight radius curves at higher speeds, and want to have a layout (nothing super fancy) that will run the trains smoothly, a good speeds, and without tipping over. I am thinking just something along the lines of a large oval, and then maybe an inside ring using switchers. How big should the dimensions of the table be, and what track style and radius should I use for the best results? Also, how should I go about building the table (supplies, etc.)?Thanks!
To keep the overturning tendencies down, you could use standard O (31" dia, right?) for the outside track, and O27 for the inside.
As for track plans, I don't think you can go wrong with the classics. O/O27 has a peculiar geometry of its own. Here are some ideas:
http://www.thortrains.net/oldlay.htm
Things to avoid in planning:
-Elaborate yard trackage on small layouts. Lionel O/O27 ovals are compact, O/O27 yards are not. I do realize that cu$tom track is available, but that's not the $ort of thing I go for.
-Circles inside ovals. I just think this looks particularly hokey.
One really nice thing about three-rail layouts is that you can plunk down reverse loops without any need for special wiring.
I think I'd lean toward a "squared" oval, with a long passing siding across two sides, and perhaps two spurs coming off the passing siding inside the loop, in the "trailing" direction (so trains moving in the preferred direction can back up them without running around cars). You won't need the interior loop, as long as the passing siding is long enough to let the switcher work without interfering with the limiteds. Switchers should be switching, not running around picking daisies, right? Have one facing-point spur off the mainline loop, along the table edge. Then you can pull your cars from that, run around them, add them to the mainline train, and drop them off for the switching crew to distribute to the coal loaders and milk depots.
For a table, a 4 x 8 piece of plywood on a simple grid of 1 x 4s, with 2 x 3 legs, is easy to build with minimal sawing and has a good amount of room for trackage. The solid top gives you freedom to work out a track plan that suits you before nailing the track, and yourself, down to anything permanent. Have fun!