Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

curves or straight runs

5604 views
34 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 3:28 PM

TrainzLuvr

...

Are you a nature modeler, or a railroad modeler? Wink

 

Ought one not to be both....if one calls hisself a 'modeler'? 

If a modeler wishes to depict a typical railroad main line, he'll need at least some curvature, in both axes. and I'm not talking about the diverging routes on turnouts.

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • 869 posts
Posted by davidmurray on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:54 PM

After you build scenic curves, it will look better if there is a reason for the curve.  A twenty foot hill that was easier to go around rather than thru.  A water feature that would have required a bridge, etc.

 

David Murray from Oshawa, Ontario Canada
  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,483 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:37 PM

From a modeler's perspective, I prefer some curves and track lines that are not parallel.  I just think it's more interesting.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

DrW
  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Lubbock, TX
  • 371 posts
Posted by DrW on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:26 PM

TrainzLuvr

Nature might prefer more organic, visually pleasing, shapes, but the railroads hate curves (as well as bridges, tunnels, etc.). They would like to live in a world where everything from A to B is always an uninterrupted straight line.

Are you a nature modeler, or a railroad modeler? Wink

 

 

True. I do not think it ever occurred to the engineers who built the Trans-Australian railway line through the Nullarbor Plain to introduce some curves to make it more interesting. No, they built nearly 300 miles (478 km = 297 miles) of uninterrupted straight track.

  • Member since
    December 2016
  • 231 posts
Posted by TrainzLuvr on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:14 PM

Nature might prefer more organic, visually pleasing, shapes, but the railroads hate curves (as well as bridges, tunnels, etc.). They would like to live in a world where everything from A to B is always an uninterrupted straight line.

Are you a nature modeler, or a railroad modeler? Wink

  • Member since
    August 2022
  • From: New England (Cape Cod)
  • 128 posts
curves or straight runs
Posted by DonRicardo on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 12:54 PM

This is my third layout. Since nature abhors straight lines, 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 went with straight runs on my first, a double track loop with passing sidings, and felt it looked toy like.

This one will also have gentle curves and s curves. I used 1x3 for the becnch work, and 2 inch foam for the base, ready to start laying the track.

The 1x3 seems more than adequate for bench work, even with the cat running around on it...a nosy pest!

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!