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!
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.
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....
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.
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.
In the Alleghany mountains of Pennsylvania, where our childhood farm was, and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the rails have a lot of curves, nothing drastic, but gentle curves around streams, rivers and hills with bridges and trestles, in them selves beautiful things, and the trains rolling along those curves made stunning scenes. In those days we were in the transition period with first generation diesel mixed with steam. At that time steam was still the preferred mountin motive power, as the early diesels did not have the tractive power for the mountains.
Many times my brothers and I would climb the nearby trees and watch the trains rolling through from an elevated perch. It was awesome! And with the steam, it was noisy too!
I always have a creek or river to cross on my layouts (love bridges and/or trestles), and will be doing the Saco river in New Hampshire, I will have a trestle cut into the mountain side, the original is steel on the CSRR, but I like wood so the layout will have a wooden trestle rolling through the cut in the White Mountains. The curves are mostly gentle with straight runs into the Conway passenger station and engine storage/repair area.
I use straight sections cut from flex track off the turn outs, always at least one straight going into tunnels or over bridges and always use easements.
When we were on the farm as youngsters, The old Western Maryland would follow the creek at the south end, running along the cornfield and creek, and the easy going curves were a beautiful thing to watch as the train rolled through, usually with 200 or so cars winding through, looking like a giant ribbon of gondolas, it was awesome.. There would be 2, 2-8-0s, at the head end, two in the middle, and a pusher at the rear.
New engines are Bachmans GP40s (2), that do run very quietly and smoothly, they are a lot better than the old Bachmans.
The passenger staock is Atlas Trainmaster 60' cars (5), these are nice looking cars, especially for the price.
I installed decoders in the Bachmans as it was cheaper that way, and they test out as excellent tunners. I am using NCE DCC..
The yard engine is an old SW1500 I had that still runs just great, and I have a 2-6-0 steamer for "excursions.
The only problems I have encountered on the old stock is the larger flanges, so I am using code 80.
A little maintenance on the older engines does wonders for them, and seemingly they will last forever with a little tlc!
There is a mix of freight cars, mostly older with the larger flanges, but they look good enough, I don't count rivets!
My mainline is almost all straight track except of course when it has to bend around the corners of the train room. To make it more interesting, I have the straight sections running at a slight diagonal to the front of the benchwork. My branchline runs through the mountains and has few long running straight sections. Lots of S curves.
I have curves where the topography demands curves:
And where the practicalities of layout design demand it too:
And tangents where they make the most sense as well.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Just realized the whole layout is curves.The only thing that's strait is the reverse Loop
TF
Some curves here...(click on the photos for a larger view)
...and here...
...and even more here...
Wayne
SeeYou190 ... Trains look better going through curves. -Kevin
... Trains look better going through curves.
-Kevin
My opinion as well, Kevin.
White Pass & Yukon Rt. six years ago:
My long gone second layout:
wjstixThe rule of thumb is there should be a straight section between the curves of an S-curve that's as long as the wheelbase of the longest piece of equipment that will be run.
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
Tough to get a good balance when facing real estate limitations. I did want one long straight stretch and got it. I think I got a good balance with the rest as well.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
The rule of thumb is there should be a straight section between the curves of an S-curve that's as long as the wheelbase of the longest piece of equipment that will be run. You can probably get by without that if you are using very broad curves and have very good track.
kasskabooseDidn't Mr. Armstrong also mention about avoid "S" curves?
-Matt
Mark B I believe the layout design guru from years long past was John Armstrong. He advocated very broad curves for photography and viewing enjoyment. I sort of followed his advise and was able to get a 13 foot radius curve worked into part of my layout. I've had very positive feedback on it through the years. Mark B.
I believe the layout design guru from years long past was John Armstrong. He advocated very broad curves for photography and viewing enjoyment. I sort of followed his advise and was able to get a 13 foot radius curve worked into part of my layout. I've had very positive feedback on it through the years.
Mark B.
Broad curves do look great. I like the majestic feel of them. Nice seeing a long consist go around.
Didn't Mr. Armstrong also mention about avoid "S" curves?
Geography can matter:
- Douglas
I guess, as with most things, it comes down to your personal goals.
My layout will be a big series of photo-locations where I can run trains when I want to.
Curves just look better to me when I pose photographs.
Living the dream.
I think it can go either way. I've seen layouts that seemed unrealistic because of the long straight rail lines, with the track and roads and everything lined up parallel to the benchwork. But I've also seen layouts where it seemed like a real railroad in that topography would have built a straight line with perhaps a few cuts and fills, and instead the modeller built a line with a series of twists and turns that seemed very unrealistic and 'toy train' like.
FWIW I grew up in a town that was built after the railroad was in place. The railroad ran dead straight north-south, and the town's streets and buildings were pretty much all built parallel to the railroad, so doing that on a layout doesn't seem all that unrealistic to me.
Straight runs on my layout would be a nightmare, as the layout room has ten corners...
The only way it could work would be to have a turntable at each corner.
Here are a few views to show some straight track....
...and straight track with some curved track, too...
...some curves, but lots of straight track, too...
There's some straight track here....
...but with over 40 loaded hoppers, the ones at the front (beyond this side of the view) are in multiple curves, and the hoppers in the distance are also in multiple curves. A 22 lb. HO train is easier to run on straight and level track, rather than on multiple curves on a 2.8% grade that's over 46' long.
SeeYou190Trains look better going through curves.
You've seen this before, but to make my point:
I agree in principle with the More Curves contingent, but honestly I wish I had more tangents.
DonRicardo I used gentle curves and S curves on my second layout, instead of straight runs. The only straight sections were depots areas, yards, and sidings.
I am with you 100% on this.
I avoid straight track as much as possible. Trains look better going through curves.
dehusman Railroads will build tangents where they can and curves where they must.
Railroads will build tangents where they can and curves where they must.
Me too. Mostly all soldered rail joints and no buckling/kinking of track. I do not think I have any S turns anywhere.
I suggest using 1x4's for the frames and 1x3's for the cross members.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
You can use the difference to emphasize the feel. Use flowing curves to create an out in the woods feel or where you intentionally want to "interrupt" the urban feel, use tangents in areas where you want to emphasize the railroad as a man made thing in nature.
I have seen layouts that are HUGE and are a series of decks 30-40 ft long with two tracks laid straight as an arrow exactly parallel to the backdrop and the fascia. Very unrealistic.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com