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50 years

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50 years
Posted by sdCowboyBen on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 2:23 PM

 

 

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Posted by maxman on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 3:23 PM

So that you don't get inundated with non-applicable answers, it would be helpful if you gave an idea as to what era you intend to model, what length cars you expect to have, and what type of motive power you think you'd acquire.  The answers for a trolley layout would be different than for someone that likes Challengers.

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Posted by wedudler on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 3:46 PM

 Go to the NMRA sites and you will find many hints and answers.

Wolfgang

Pueblo & Salt Lake RR

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Posted by dstarr on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 4:21 PM

 The simple answer:  18 inches is minumum radius in HO.  It is the radius of track packed into trainsets.  HO manufacturers all go to a lot of trouble to make sure their products run on 18 inch radius so it can be sold to enthusiastic new comers and not derail on the train set oval of track.  Just about every freight car, 4 axle diesels, medium steamers (Moguls and Pacifics, no articulateds) and SHORT passenger cars will stay on the track.  Full length (80 foot) passenger cars, and big steam needs a bit more.  

The more complex answer.  NMRA Recommended Practice 11 (RP-11)  available here:

or if the link doesn't work, go here. 

http://www.nmra.com/standards/sandrp/rp-11.html

The NMRA standards and recommended practices were written by real old time model railroaders, have been around a long time, and been updated by knowledgable railroaders.  They are the most reliable information available.

 

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Posted by dknelson on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 9:28 PM

A lot has changed in those 50 years my friend - fewer layouts are ovals, continuous running is less emphasized and many layouts are point to point.  The concept of staging yards was not fully developed back then.  There is more emphasis on switching cars to industries.  That is good news since one switcher and a bunch of freight cars can occupy you for hours, and with DCC two switchers and some cars can, with the right track plan, occupy a crew of operators for a long time even on a rather compact layout.

If you can get to a swap meet, I suggest buying as many back issues of Model Railroad Planning as possible (it started in 1995 and is an annual special edition of Model Railroader).  I finally completed my collection last year and I regularly re-read all of them.

It really gets into modern layout design.  The editor, Tony Koester, is opinionated and the articles mostly reflect his views but I think you will find it the best way to re-enter the atmosphere so to speak (for example, his long standing advice is, don't build a layout on a sheet of 4 x 8.  Cut it in half down the middle and make an L shaped point to point switching layout.  If you follow that advice then things like minimum radius curves start to matter a lot less. 

Dave Nelson

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Posted by jwhitten on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 9:57 PM

wedudler

 Go to the NMRA sites and you will find many hints and answers.

Wolfgang

 

 

Should also point him to the LDSIG.ORG site which is all about good layout design with lots of info, opinions, write-ups to help the designer, and standards information.

 

John

Modeling the South Pennsylvania Railroad ("The Hilltop Route") in the late 50's
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Posted by sdCowboyBen on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 4:18 PM

Very well said. I am modeling mid 60's to mid 70s ATSF. Also Apache RW. Both in the northern part of Arizona. HO for the basic main but I have a "far away" scene, a logging camp, that is in N scale. If any of you know Arizona then you realize a train going thru Flagstaff in January may accounter snow problems. I-40 sometimes closes at Williams and east at Winslow since they are at lower elevations. "Flag" is at over 7000 ft elevation. The Apache RW connects a lumber mill complex and a papermill complex (thank you Walthers.) Since most if not all of the track was on the White Mountain Apache Indian reservation that was the name it gave to the RW. I think it is being run now by a corporation or not at all do to Southwest Forest Industries in McNary closing and the price of making paper has been too high to make it profitable.

I am using Bachmann EZ track. If anyone has used it I would like to know the pros and cons before I start tacking everything down. One thing I haven't got figured out (with no help from Bachmann) is the turnoutswitch power. They have 3 wires coming from the switch but all the DCC decoders I see are all for 2 wire. Which wire is the ground? Sorry but my Multimeter was dropped during my move and it has not been replaced.

The only one thing that you might have guessed was that my big town is Flagstaff. It looks completely different now than it looked in the late 60s. I am having to pour over old pictures and my new ones to replicate the era.

I have 1/2 the layout on a 5 x 9 ping-pong table and the rest is along-the-wall. I have a couple of 1980 locos that a friend gave me that stay in the roundhouse since it's the wrong era. I have a set of F7As and F7Bs as well as a RS-1 switcher and another R-2 on order. Everything else are either GP35s or GP40s for ATSF and Apache. I am trying to keep my car lengths at 50 ft but I have some longer. No Intermodel but I will be adding some trailer cars as they are at the right era.

I'll throw in some pics another time.

 

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 4:26 PM

sdCowboyBen

I am using Bachmann EZ track. If anyone has used it I would like to know the pros and cons before I start tacking everything down. One thing I haven't got figured out (with no help from Bachmann) is the turnoutswitch power. They have 3 wires coming from the switch but all the DCC decoders I see are all for 2 wire. Which wire is the ground? Sorry but my Multimeter was dropped during my move and it has not been replaced.

I asked for some advice about modular track before buying some for a test track.  Pretty universally everyone said the turnouts from Bachman EZ track were not good, poor quality etc.  They all steered me toward KATO HO Unitrack, which it turns out wasn't all that expensive for much of the modular track, especially if you buy it from a good discount mail order outfit like MB Klein.  Basically you get what you pay for is pretty true.  Go cheap and get cheap.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by BATMAN on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 4:32 PM

There is a six year time shift in this thread. Maybe it has to do with the return of the X-Files on TV.Whistling

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by BigDaddy on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 4:42 PM

There must be a newbie contest to see who can rekindle the oldest thread.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by sdCowboyBen on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 4:46 PM

I have 2 things going for me. One, it's me, myself and my dog operating the layout so I have more than one way to complete a round trip. I have a small turntable yard and it fits only in one spot due to the number of large and small buildings. And 2, I can do some switching at the paper mill, lumber mill and roundhouse yard. I will being adding in the near future a switching/classification yard underneath the layout. 

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Posted by sdCowboyBen on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 5:01 PM

I can't go back. I have almost $1000 invested in Bachmann track. So as I begin my layout testing I will be on the lookout for problems. At the time about 6 years ago the big thing was Bachmann and I didn't hear anything bad about it. Sometimes it pays to slow down. It took me over 50 years to get to this point so I guess I have a good 40 more years to decide if I should change. You would think that a DCC turnout that costs in the $80 neighborhood means it is a good manufacturer. A talk with the Bachman staff might be in order soon.Flagstaff about 1/3rd finished

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Posted by Catt on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 5:59 PM

Bachmann is continuosly upgrading their products (and raising their prices).If you have a problem with the turnouts it can usualy be cured with a little investigation and some tweaking here and there.

Don't give up on it because of what some said about the way it was years ago.

 

Johnathan(Catt) Edwards 100 % Michigan Made
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Posted by riogrande5761 on Thursday, January 21, 2016 7:24 AM

BigDaddy
There must be a newbie contest to see who can rekindle the oldest thread.

Normally I'd agree, but if you take a second look, it was the original thread starter who necro'd his own topic.  Wink

 

 

sdCowboyBen

I can't go back. I have almost $1000 invested in Bachmann track. So as I begin my layout testing I will be on the lookout for problems. At the time about 6 years ago the big thing was Bachmann and I didn't hear anything bad about it.

It sounds like you are heavily invested, but it might be wise still to set up something temporary and do some extensive operating to be sure you really want to stick with it.  It may be a hassle but you can sell the track and switch if it doesn't meet expectations.  I wouldn't usually recommend spending a large sum without getting a lot of advice from experience hobbyists and spending some time with the product to get the warm fuzzies or buyers remorse is a high risk. 

In the past, Model Railroader magazine has tried to offer their sage advice in their Christmas issues because they realize often readers may be considering getting starter sets for family members or their kids.  To that end they reviewed train sets of the day, but their best advice was always to steer the reader to buy individual compontents of good quality to put together a "better" train set to hopefully avoid the user being turned off by an inferior experience that lower quality train products and result in.  In the past that meant an Atlas diesel, rolling stock from Atlas or Athearn, Atlas modular track and an MRC DC power pack.  Bachmann wasn't usually in their line-ups in those magazine features. 

I will say that Bachmann has improved their products to raise the quality above the traditional train set fodder that they used to be during the past 10 years.  That said, they are still in the lower tier in the hobby and the feedback I got from experienced folks was to choose a better quality of modular track - KATO is really the only other choice if you want track with a base.  I hope it works out for you; there are folks here on the forums who can offer help if you come across issues that you need help with.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by Soo Line fan on Thursday, January 21, 2016 7:49 AM

I remember space mouse always complaining about those turnouts. Pretty sure at some point he gave up on them.

Jeff W used them and always warned others it took some work to get them to function properly. As he has passed, a search of the archives may help find some answers.

Jim

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Posted by kasskaboose on Thursday, January 21, 2016 8:15 AM

sdCowboyBen

I can't go back. I have almost $1000 invested in Bachmann track. So as I begin my layout testing I will be on the lookout for problems.

With so much money and time invested, you might want to consider joining a local train club to get additional advice.  I bet plenty there model the local area.  That would also steer you on what type of decoder to purchase, using Bachmann track, etc.

 

 

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Thursday, January 21, 2016 1:39 PM

Soo Line fan

I remember space mouse always complaining about those turnouts. Pretty sure at some point he gave up on them.

Jeff W used them and always warned others it took some work to get them to function properly. As he has passed, a search of the archives may help find some answers.

Cooincendentally, there is a new topic here where a user was asking about a Bachmann EZ track turnout problem.  The last post was the OP concluding the turnout was faulty and is going to replace it. 

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/253790.aspx

Some feedback from someone who used both KATO and Bachmann:

The Kato track is vastly superior although quite a bit more expensive. If you want to use any turnouts, it's even more important because Bachmann's are junk. If it's just a temporary setup, maybe it's not that big of a deal. I actually used some Bachmann track for the staging yard on my Kato Karpet Route for a while... I made a conversion section. The Bachmann rail is so rough you could hear the difference when a train passed from the Kato to the Bachmann, it sounded like something had derailed. The turnouts were really trash, and that's why I eventually ditched it and went all Kato.

The little table top layout I built for my wife is Bachmann track - it has one turnout and siding which doesn't cause any problems, but the QC is poor - one of the #6 turnouts I had before was unusable.



Read more: http://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/796/bman-kato-temp-test-track#ixzz3xuWFLlDE

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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