The center peninsula on my "E" shaped one-car garage HO layout is a climbing 5' x 8' sorta race track which crosses over itself after making about a 45 degree angle into the first turn. I want to go from 2 to 3 tracks after this, winding up with both tracks leading into a center track around the rest of the 270 degrees total turns, then 3 back to 2 tracks again, as it passes over the original 2 track lines. I'm looking for a combination of 4 #6 turnouts and a left and a right double-curved turnous which will let me accomplish this, with at least 2 &1/2", no more than 3" centers, using readily available turnouts. I don't want to use a #3 wye on the straight-away, as that would take up too much of the center track, which I know is a Reversing Loop. Any suggestions? All help appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Retgm,
All that in a 5x8?? Are you going to run all single Athearn rubber band drives? Seriously,that sounds like nothing but problem's...
Cheers,
Frank
So hate me. See if I care.
First, make an ACCURATE scale drawing of the curves and tangents you want, maintaining appropriate minimum radii and track spacing. The optimum scale is full size.
Then, using templates for the desired turnouts, see if you can make it all fit, look reasonable and leave clear stretches long enough to hold your standard-length trains (which, I suspect, are longer than Lion's six-car NYC subway consists.)
Finally, pick up the designated crying towel and a key to the weep locker. You'll need them.
ALTERNATE - Bend flex track on top of the scale drawing, maintaining appropriate minimum radius and side clearance. Mark the tie lines. Remove the flex and place wood switch ties of appropriate lengths wherever flex track paths overlap. Hand-lay turnouts on the ties, connecting with flex or additional hand-laid track. Provide for whatever electrical gaps you need to prevent shorts and allow signaling.
Choose one of the above - or hire a custom builder (not me!) to do the work.
Why not me? I have a (double) garage filler of my own to build, including quite a bit of custom trackwork.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on flex, with hand-laid specialwork)
Do you even have enough space to get the tracks at least 3 1/2" above the lower tracks, for clearance?
It sounds like you have a lot of grades. Don't go over 2% grades or you will be unhappy that the locomotives won't pull your trains up anything steeper than that.
Also, make sure you have level tracks where you want to couple/uncouple the freight cars.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
2.5" to 3" track centers is rather lavish with space. Many modelers use 2" centers and even that is wider than many prototype spacings. I use 2" but have wide enough curves on my double track mainline that I can maintain that 2" spacing and not have interference between full length cars on the curves. Perhaps you chose your track spacing due to clearance issues on curves, in which case I suggest a narrower clearance on tangents. Some guys do use wide spacings on yards so that they can ID the cars on the yard tracks.
One observation that I would make to anyone who is new either to track planning or to the process of going from track plan to actual construction: few things are as potentially misleading as a track plan that shows track as a line. All sorts of over-optimism is caused by that. Things that look so darn spacious on paper look absurdly cramped once it is track on cork. You even find yourself creating industrial sidings too short for a freight car to be parked without fouling the main. But it looks OK on paper!
Dave Nelson
As others have said sounds like a lot going on and very hard to picture based on a written description. Doesn't mean its not possible but at the very least it would have to be laid out carefully. I have some of that going on in my design but used XtrackCad to make sure it is possible- and so far, so good. Have you tried computer-design software? XtrackCad is free and one of the big benefits I've found is that the turnouts in the program library are exactly to scale, so it works out in the program it will work out on the layout.
Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger... doing it my way. Now working on phase 3. - Walt
For photos and more: http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/
FRANK: And how is your response gonna help me????But your right; I posed the post as a problem, looking for a solution. Wanna try again? JWH
I would rather not try again,,,seem's to me you took it as a personal attack,on your idea,,,maybe if you would have left out,,like a race track,it would have sounded better,,my response to you was based on common sense,with being model railroad related,with ups and downs grades and triple track,in the area you mentioned...I also noticed that some of the other posts were similar in content,,but you choose mine,to show your displeasure,so I'll throw a white flag up at this point and not reply to any of your posts,in the future..
Truce,Has Been Signed,Oct. 1st....
Now Back to our Regularly Schedule Program..
Suggestions,,are welcome,Please...For the layout..
The responses have been on the right track. While a nice HO layout can be built in a 5x8 space, doing one as you described sounds somewhat like building a slot car layout.
The "normal" HO layout - non logging or mining or narrow gauge - will max out grades at 2 or 2 1/2 percent.
I urge you to get some sheets of quadrille paper and draw out the layout outline to scale (1 or 2 inches to a foot will work great). Then start putting down your ideas for trackage, being careful to draw curves and turnouts to scale - and not to fit the space in question.
I've done this many times since the mid 1950s, and while the "truth" of what works and doesn't work may be hard to handle, at least its only on paper.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
A sketch of the area would be really helpful to all offering advice.
S&S
Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!
Best I can tell you are making a figure 8 at the end of the peninsula.
5 ft wide = 60 in.
Allow 2" from the track to the edge of the layout, that means you have 54" for the curve, 27" radius.
3" track centers means the outside track is 27" radius, middle 24", inside 21".
A full circle of 21" radius is 132 in of run. Figure climbing 4" to clear any equipment on the lower track, that's a grade of 4/132 or just over 3%. Pretty steep.
A #6 switch diverges at an ratio of 1 " for every 6" of run. For 3" track spacing that means that the track centers take 18". Throw in 6" on either end of that for the points and point to point, it will take 30" (2 1/2 ft) to go from one track to the other on 3" track spacing. the most space efficient way to configure it is useing a wye on the center track, second is to put the same hand switch side by side in the double main and the other hand in the center track. If you were very lucky you might find a combination of a curved switch and 2 regular #6's that would allow you to make the 2-3 transition in the curve, but having to put that on a grade in a curve overlapping a vertical and horizontal transistion is a whole lot going on. in a tight space.
A picture would be helpful, an alternate plan might be more feasible.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Thanks, Frank. I seem to have lost the ability to xmit a response to your E-mail thru trains.com--sorry about that; I"ll keep trying. To All: I don't seem to have the ability to send graphics, either. To each of the others who have not read "Givens" or haven't been able to convert the written word, I apologize, BUT:1. I have stated that the #6 with #3 Wye doesn't give me enough linear track on the center line. 2. The track(s) make a 45 degree, 22" R (Left) turn prior to the diverging turnout(s), so we should recognize that the vertical transition has been accomplished 3. There is no figure 8 on the peninsula, more like a really wide (say 28" radius half circle (180 degrees) inverted lower case long hand (written) l (ell) at the lower end. 4. And the upper right side tracks feed into another set of curved and/or flex track to mate up with the final 45 degree left turn, which will transition into an upper level, 3 &1/2" or so above and opposite the entry point, which is the mirror image of the original (upper left) side. Maybe it can be drawn, now. Thanks for the suggestion to lay this out using a CAD program. That's a worthwhile help.
I sincerely hope that no one is offended by my remarks or that no one misinterprets these com- ments, which are only an attempt to clear the fog, given my inability to xmit the geometry given above. JWH
Maybe buy some turnouts and flex or sectional track and just start putting pieces together on the floor to see what will fit and work/look right for you (you might be able to photocopy some turnouts so you can play around with full size components). If you make a scale drawing (CAD or pencil and paper) figure in a little extra space for spatial errors, there always seems to be error in scale drawings so draw it as big as possible.
Don't be afraid of buying too much track/turnouts, if they are in good condition (or unused) you can resell them if you don't end up using them. If this is a first layout, don't be discouraged by making mistakes...we have all made mistakes on our way to the master craftsmen we are today. If people are saying something is a bad idea, it might be because they made the very same mistakes and are trying to steer you in the right direction; nothing personal. Most of us start out trying to fit a Class 1 railroad into a spare bedroom, then after years of wrestling with issues, scale things back a bit and realize a branch line with half the trackwork is much more reliable and therefore more fun to run. Anything is possible, but not necessarily practical. Look through the layout database and compare your space with others of similar size and see what they accomplished. If you try to fit in too much, you might not be happy in the long run...maybe you will be; go ahead and build it, then rebuild it if necessary.
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
RetGM The center peninsula on my "E" shaped one-car garage HO layout is a climbing 5' x 8' sorta race track which crosses over itself after making about a 45 degree angle into the first turn.
The center peninsula on my "E" shaped one-car garage HO layout is a climbing 5' x 8' sorta race track which crosses over itself after making about a 45 degree angle into the first turn.
Just a reminder that the OP didn't say his layout was 5'x8', but that he has a 5'x8' peninsula off of a larger layout....