HO scale, branchline transition era. I am trying to decide between a small turntable and roundhouse or just a wye and wondering how much room I will need.
I want to turn 4 axle engines, and maybe a caboose not a whole train. I suppose I could mock it up to see how much real estate I would need, but I suspect someone knows or has done this. What size wyes does one use?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
The wye is usually just long enough to fit the equipment that needs turned.
Or it could be part of the main line:
Or a real conversation piece:
Sometimes just writing it down helps you think straight. Using an 18" radius and 12" tail, which would be on the short side 18+18+12+12 adds up to 5 feet. That's probably a bare minimum.
I think I'd be better off with a turntable, which is more interesting anyway.
Durango has an interesting curved tail on one of their wye's
http://tinyurl.com/y79ocf75
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Hammels Wye on NYCT is about a mile long on the flat side and eaisly a half mile long on the bridge side.
There is a Wye in Dickinson, ND:
Click on photo for a larger view. Like right into your livingroom, almost
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
RR_Mel if any layout is running steam it needs a turntable!
Prototype for everything:
MEC mountain division, Bartlett, NH. Dieselized in 1950s. Turntable was removed in 1915 so that 2-6-6-2s purchased from the B&M could be serviced. Turning was acomplished on a Wye. Pre-1912 map can be found on the Bartlett and Albany RR map http://www.whitemountainhistory.org/Bartlett_and_Albany_RR.html
1932 after TT removed:
http://bartlettroundhouse.blogspot.com/2013/08/
Google view today:
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.0767356,-71.2866769,98m/data=!3m1!1e3
Dont
This guy had a bit of a space problem for a Wye on his layout as well, so here is his solution.
C.P.R. in Vancouver had a 90' turntable and a balloon track that ran around the RH/TT for turning passenger trains. I just turn my bigger steam by running around the balloon track. It was a compromise, a smaller TT so I could have a balloon track as well to turn whole trains.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Hello all,
Here's another one that invokes my disclaimer...
My HO Wye consists of two #2 PECO turnouts; ST-240 & ST-241 Insulfrogs, and an Atlas Mark IV Wye turnout- -all code 100.
The legs of the Wye are 15-inch radius sectional track; two sections per leg.
Making the over all dimensions 34"x34".
The stub end is a 9-inch piece of sectional track. To eke out a little more room I added a 90º crossing; where the stub end crosses another siding, to get 3 more inches.
I run only 4-axle diesels on my coal branch pike, set in the late 1970's to early 1980's.
Because there is a "historic" wooden spiral trestle on this branch, the company decided to run an Olde Tyme excursion train on "weekends" and special occasions.
The excursion train consists of two 34-foot restored Olde Tyme passenger cars with a bobber caboose.
I use this Wye to turn the only two steam engines on my pike; a USRA 0-6-0 with a Vanderbuilt tender and a 0-6-0 side tank porter, used for the excursion train.
A MRC AD520 reversing loop module is used as I run DCC.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
BATMAN This guy had a bit of a space problem for a Wye on his layout as well, so here is his solution.
That's some impressive modeling. It looks EXACTLY like the prototype photo that South Penn showed earlier in the topic. I'd surely like to see the rest of the guy's layout!
Ed
This one is in a corner of the layout room, and the dead-ended tail track will accommodate two medium-size steam locomotives or one with an 85' passenger car. Radii are all 32"...
...and an over-all view of the area...
Wayne
7j43kIt looks EXACTLY like the prototype photo that South Penn showed earlier in the topic.
That's what happens when it takes you all morning to write a two line post. With constant interruptions, ten other guys beat you to the punch.
According to the Atlas track book I have, the 2nd example Cuyama gives takes up 23"x26 3/4", to the tips of the wye turnouts tails, using 18"r curves. You would have to add the length of the tails to that.
Good luck,
Richard
Richard's measurements are right in the ballpark. I have several wyes using roughly 18" R and #4 and #6 turnouts that measure roughly 30" square (or maybe "triangular" is a better term?) Using wye turnouts allows extra tight limits.
This is Red Mountain, up above Silverton, which also famously had a very tight prototype arrangement (Google for images).
This is the roadbed for Black Cat Junction and it's similar sized wye.
It's the legs that kill you with wyes, although it's clear they usually take up more space than most turntables. But turntables need lead tracks and if you throw in some finger tracks or a roundhouse they take up even more space. What it often comes down to is what one will work better with the space and track arrangement available. Sometimes what will be the wye's legs are mostly going to be there anyway, all that's needed is a connector track to finish the wye, in which case almost no space is really "lost" in adding the wye.
One example to be cautious about is using the "wasted" real estate of a corner to add the third leg. That's what I did at Crater Lake, but the end of the tail track is 4'+ away from the edge of the layout. It's also in a space to reach in that is about 12" high, making it all but impossible to "climb in" to reach. I built it pretty bulletproof and anticipated the need to scenic the area by "other means" - much like building a ship in a bottle.
I built things and set them in there. For some failures, I may have to diassemble, but it otherwise works well.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL