Hmmmmm...I'l have to study on that, Bear. Somebody mentioned a dairy for a spur...I think that might be more to my liking. Doc
OO - slightly bigger trains than HO which run on HO track. I'm married to a Brit but that doesn't count.
If you modify the benchwork and cut back on the left side to allow a bigger right side you could have a dogbone in the shape of an upsidedown U. Or a liftout bridge and leave the benchwork alone.
Now you are seeing why you need to design track plan AND benchwork on paper before building anything physical
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Now you're getting somewhere.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
We should also keep in mind that our experience is mostly with North American prototype models, and presumably this one will be strictly British. While OO scale is slightly larger, it is more than offset by the smaller dimensions of the British equipment. Narrower and shorter cars, and much lower overhead clearances. That gives some leeway to squeeze what North American modelers normally consider minimums. I don't recollect whether the OP said what era he was considering.
John
Hey, with a gin distillery you can have rolling stock delivering raw materials to the distillery, and loaded box cars delivering Beefeaters or Bombay to whereever. And, believe me, you will find a new religion when it is time to ballast the track work. Ballasting track is a pain but I have approached it as an experience in Zen.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Well...it's hard to go wrong with gin. (I can't believe I said that after 30 years as a pastor...now retired and morphed into a professor of philosophy and religion...can't go wrong with gin???).... Well, with what you all have already given me, I can take another look at some of the track books I have (I have 3 from Model Railroader) and run one up the pole and see if it flies. At least, with the option of a swing gate I can look at some closed circuit rr's. Doc
The setting is Merry Old England, I vote for a gin distillery.
Sidings an spurs are good, far as "industries" in MRR lingo an industry is ANY trackside facility that is served by the railroad, so and industry could be a steel mill, power plant, quarry, lumber mill, mine, auto factory, even a small local business, so you could have a freight house by the passenger stations, and maybe a Dairy farm or something rural, maybe have a furniture company, or brewery in the town(s) just something to provide operation options.
I prefer mountainous rural scenery in the western US that said I still am going to have a yard and a few "industries" on my layout, otherwise you might end up with an overgrown trainset that you'll quickly become disinterested in.
This is all for you to decide I'm just passing along information.
Doc, right now we are talking in the abstract. Two run two trains at the same time you will need at least one siding and all the other stuff, e.g. spurs, depends on your space and on the mainline route.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but we need a track plan. A track plan will draw others to this thread the way honey draws flies.
OK, this seems like its beginnnig to form into a plan...am I understanding this correctly: a continuous run track (closed track) made posssible by a swing gate with two towns and scenery. If so, I like it! Could I also have sidings at the towns, spurs along the way and some other interest makers for my rr? Could I run two conbtinuous runs in order to run two trains at once? Doc
We need a track plan.
If you want a continuous run train, that can keep going around and around, then yes, I guess it would be the swing gate.
I'd like to do a search and see what kind of equipment you'll be using. I always loved European trains, even though I've never been close to one.
I have collected a few coaches, but haven't bought a loco yet, as I wasn't sure of any voltage stuff, or something I didn't know about.
Mike.
My You Tube
I think what we have here is an bigger than HO scale train running on HO gauge track. I do not think you are going to go around an 18 inch loop at the scale speed of a bullet train, not to mention the overhang of those long passenger cars as they negotiate the loop.
That's correct, Mike...so, is it the consensus that given the benchwork i have, I will have to either have a swing gate that will get me to the 40' x 48' section across the walkin divide or put in a turntable alone or run a locomotive on either end of the rolling stock or try to fit in a loop? If so, I think the swing gate would be my preference if it will work. I wanted to run depot and terminal sidings in both Stowe and Wells on either end of the line...possible??? Doc
It would also be interesting to see what kind of equipment he'll be using.
He seems confident that what he has in mind will make it around an 18" radius, even if he has to add on just a few inches where the loop is, on the narrow end.
If only one passenger train and two stations with scenery in between is the plan, then it may be doable, but, if continuous running is in the plan, then there is still the issue of the 36 inch penninsula which will not take an 18 inch radius with overhang, not to manetion that those passenger cars may be on the long side and not look all that great maneuvering through an 18 inch loop.
I think what we need here is a track plan drawn to scale.
So just a passenger train. OK, you could use a run around track on each end, as I mentioned earlier.
I had wanted to locate Stowe at one end of the line and Wells at the other end and on the long, 2 foot section just have scenery and one manor house with out buildings and quarters. That was my plan anyway. Doc
I hadn't considered a swing gate. The line that runs from Stowe to Wells is a passenger line. How would I incorporate an industrial line in that context? There are no industries in that part of the Cotswolds...used to be a big wool producing area but that's about all they ever had. Doc
So, OO scale is 1/76, correct? HO is 1/87.
But OO gauge is the same as HO gauge, in the spacing of the rails.?
To The Bearman: yep
Reply to Rio:
I'm going with OO which is thew British equivalent of HO Doc
He could put a loop in the 4ft wide section for reversing it would be 22" radius which is still tight for passenger equipment, I'd suggest for continuous running a swing gate across the aisle. Also Doc you should consider having at least two or three small industries and one yard, it will allow for some operations even if it's just rotating out cars from industry to yard and from yard to industry. On the bright side you have enough room for a turntable! Which is likely your best bet because you can turn Locomotives in less space than having a loop and if you only have one approach track and no roundhouse you are good, but add a round house you will quickly run out of space.
Trouble is he is working in OO scacle slightly bigger than HO scale. I dont think you want anything tighter than 18" in HO.
Ok so a square is 4 x 4 inches - 3 blocks = a foot in a linear direction and a 3x3 on that is 1 square foot.
So on the right side, 36 inches wide will force you to have basically a 16 inch radius curve to fit inside, which is very sharp in HO. In N-scale, not too bad.
Remind me what scale are you working in?
2 ft and 4 ft
How wide is the layout at the two red marks?
My scaled layout on Imgur below:
https://imgur.com/aS1kJl7
Doc
Got it. Will do. Doc
Very cool! Lots of that kind of thing in the greater Washington DC, northern Virginia metro area. They call many here "beltway bandits" who are government contractors who just go from contract to contract over the years.
That track plan I posted was one of my paper copies that I scanned to an Adobe PDF document on a flat bed scanner on a large combination copier scanner and emailed it to myself. In that case I scanned two separate 11x17 pages and there are in a PDF together as one long page. I uploaded it to IMGUR, which is my photo host. It displays smaller since it is one long two page PDF. It is also photocopy of an original drawing so some of the detail is lost on it.
Another method, which also works, is you can take a careful photo with your smart phone and email it to yourself and then upload it to a photohost. A flat bed scanner works best but a carefully taken photo as a jpg can work well too.