Wonderful work, Mike!
A very useful guide.
NW
Mike,
You have written an impressive ng/sg primer. This is the kind of dedication to detailed information that makes this forum such a great resource. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to the next installment.
Wilton.
"JaBear"Awwwwww Gee Mike, an actual hands-on modelling thread on the forum this week, whats the world coming to ??!!!
Bear,
Yeah, what is the world coming to when we start discussing modeling, instead of wasting time on pricewhining or the NMRA-ate-my-layout threads?
I've posted this pic before, but decided to re-document it here. If the Atlas is too rich for your blood, then use a Bachmann 44-tonner. I had to fabricate a mount out of plastic for it, but still a fairly simple install. One issue that came up with it you do have to watch is having enough clearance behind the end beam so you modified couplers don't interfere with the truck. For this model, I extended the end beams a little over a foot to deal with that, but she still looks good.
OK, lets start with a dual gauge track primer, because this can get confusing -- I know.The only RTR dual-gauge HO/HOn3 track components are made by Shinohara. These are good, reliable turnouts, although not cheap. They are code 70 rail. Nothing dual gauge is cheap, BTW. They suffer from a bit of sloppy tolerances in the frogs -- every dual gauge turnouts has three frogs -- causing a slight bobble when rolling stock passes through. Beyond that, it's either custom builders or build your own. FastTracks does make dual gauge jigs. Track itself is pretty limited, all code 70 AFAIK. Shinohara has dual-gauge track in HO/HOn3. I prefer Mirco-Engineering track myself. Not sure about any others. Instead of just right and left turnouts, dual gauge has 4 types, 2 right and 2 left. This is to account for which side the common rail is on. Pictures do it better than words. Note the notation of II_I, etc shows how the rails are arranged when looking from the single track end at the points. Right, II_I Right, I_II Left, I_II Left, II_I Next thing to figure out is which side you want the rail on when it goes through towns. Passengers and freight being loaded or unloaded figures into this. Consider a SG boxcar and a NG boxcar both on the same dual-gauge next to a freighthouse. If the common rail is on the side next to the warehouse, it avoids a big gap between the dock door and the boxcar. If the common rail is on the side away from the freight door, then it's a long reach to access the NG car. Also consider passenger stations. The preference is to not have passengers stepping over the standard gauge rail when boarding or unboarding from NG cars. Think all this through thoroughly, even a crude drawing helps if it's accurate. If you order turnouts either RTR or custom made, you don't want to guess at what you need, as they are too expensive and won't fit...aaargh! BTDT with a couple. But before you draw, more complications... LoopsI have a return loop for turning passenger trains at Durango. It runs along the base of the hill in the left mid-ground then goes around the back of the roundhouse, etc. But it is only HOn3. Don't know why? Make a drawing of both rails, showing the 3rd rail properly oriented as it enters and circles the loop. What happens to the 3rd rail when you get almost back to the beginning? Dang! Wrong side! Draw it yourself if you don't believe. There is a solution, which is to buy or build a "draw" (there are other names for it, like "swish," etc), which uses a set of opposite facing points to move the 3rd rail side from one side to the other. BTW, the same thing happens with a wye and it has the same solution, to install a draw on one leg of the wye. It's your choice whether to do a dual-gauge loop or wye with the added complication of a draw. In my case, I chickened out and built the loop 3 foot only. Turning locos does get complicated under dual-gauge by the fact that the extra couplers are offset to one side or the other, but usually not both sides. You need to have it properly oriented to run on the dual-gauge track, unless you're using a bunch of draws to go back and forth like a drunken sailor... Then there are turntables. Obviously, the could swap a 3rd rail just by turning, but the what about going into the stalls? Typically, dual-gauge turntables use 4 rails, with the NG centered between the SG rails. Same for the stall or finger tracks. The approaches to the TT can be separate by gauge (easier) or can be dual-gauge and utilize special draws to center the track just before moving onto the TT. Once again, I chickened out and have a NG-only service area served by my 3 foot gauge TT. It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage. Back later with more...
OK, lets start with a dual gauge track primer, because this can get confusing -- I know.The only RTR dual-gauge HO/HOn3 track components are made by Shinohara. These are good, reliable turnouts, although not cheap. They are code 70 rail. Nothing dual gauge is cheap, BTW. They suffer from a bit of sloppy tolerances in the frogs -- every dual gauge turnouts has three frogs -- causing a slight bobble when rolling stock passes through.
Beyond that, it's either custom builders or build your own. FastTracks does make dual gauge jigs.
Track itself is pretty limited, all code 70 AFAIK. Shinohara has dual-gauge track in HO/HOn3. I prefer Mirco-Engineering track myself. Not sure about any others.
Instead of just right and left turnouts, dual gauge has 4 types, 2 right and 2 left. This is to account for which side the common rail is on. Pictures do it better than words. Note the notation of II_I, etc shows how the rails are arranged when looking from the single track end at the points.
Right, II_I
Right, I_II Left, I_II Left, II_I Next thing to figure out is which side you want the rail on when it goes through towns. Passengers and freight being loaded or unloaded figures into this. Consider a SG boxcar and a NG boxcar both on the same dual-gauge next to a freighthouse. If the common rail is on the side next to the warehouse, it avoids a big gap between the dock door and the boxcar. If the common rail is on the side away from the freight door, then it's a long reach to access the NG car. Also consider passenger stations. The preference is to not have passengers stepping over the standard gauge rail when boarding or unboarding from NG cars. Think all this through thoroughly, even a crude drawing helps if it's accurate. If you order turnouts either RTR or custom made, you don't want to guess at what you need, as they are too expensive and won't fit...aaargh! BTDT with a couple. But before you draw, more complications... LoopsI have a return loop for turning passenger trains at Durango. It runs along the base of the hill in the left mid-ground then goes around the back of the roundhouse, etc. But it is only HOn3. Don't know why? Make a drawing of both rails, showing the 3rd rail properly oriented as it enters and circles the loop. What happens to the 3rd rail when you get almost back to the beginning? Dang! Wrong side! Draw it yourself if you don't believe. There is a solution, which is to buy or build a "draw" (there are other names for it, like "swish," etc), which uses a set of opposite facing points to move the 3rd rail side from one side to the other. BTW, the same thing happens with a wye and it has the same solution, to install a draw on one leg of the wye. It's your choice whether to do a dual-gauge loop or wye with the added complication of a draw. In my case, I chickened out and built the loop 3 foot only. Turning locos does get complicated under dual-gauge by the fact that the extra couplers are offset to one side or the other, but usually not both sides. You need to have it properly oriented to run on the dual-gauge track, unless you're using a bunch of draws to go back and forth like a drunken sailor... Then there are turntables. Obviously, the could swap a 3rd rail just by turning, but the what about going into the stalls? Typically, dual-gauge turntables use 4 rails, with the NG centered between the SG rails. Same for the stall or finger tracks. The approaches to the TT can be separate by gauge (easier) or can be dual-gauge and utilize special draws to center the track just before moving onto the TT. Once again, I chickened out and have a NG-only service area served by my 3 foot gauge TT. It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage. Back later with more...
Right, I_II
Left, I_II Left, II_I Next thing to figure out is which side you want the rail on when it goes through towns. Passengers and freight being loaded or unloaded figures into this. Consider a SG boxcar and a NG boxcar both on the same dual-gauge next to a freighthouse. If the common rail is on the side next to the warehouse, it avoids a big gap between the dock door and the boxcar. If the common rail is on the side away from the freight door, then it's a long reach to access the NG car. Also consider passenger stations. The preference is to not have passengers stepping over the standard gauge rail when boarding or unboarding from NG cars. Think all this through thoroughly, even a crude drawing helps if it's accurate. If you order turnouts either RTR or custom made, you don't want to guess at what you need, as they are too expensive and won't fit...aaargh! BTDT with a couple. But before you draw, more complications... LoopsI have a return loop for turning passenger trains at Durango. It runs along the base of the hill in the left mid-ground then goes around the back of the roundhouse, etc. But it is only HOn3. Don't know why? Make a drawing of both rails, showing the 3rd rail properly oriented as it enters and circles the loop. What happens to the 3rd rail when you get almost back to the beginning? Dang! Wrong side! Draw it yourself if you don't believe. There is a solution, which is to buy or build a "draw" (there are other names for it, like "swish," etc), which uses a set of opposite facing points to move the 3rd rail side from one side to the other. BTW, the same thing happens with a wye and it has the same solution, to install a draw on one leg of the wye. It's your choice whether to do a dual-gauge loop or wye with the added complication of a draw. In my case, I chickened out and built the loop 3 foot only. Turning locos does get complicated under dual-gauge by the fact that the extra couplers are offset to one side or the other, but usually not both sides. You need to have it properly oriented to run on the dual-gauge track, unless you're using a bunch of draws to go back and forth like a drunken sailor... Then there are turntables. Obviously, the could swap a 3rd rail just by turning, but the what about going into the stalls? Typically, dual-gauge turntables use 4 rails, with the NG centered between the SG rails. Same for the stall or finger tracks. The approaches to the TT can be separate by gauge (easier) or can be dual-gauge and utilize special draws to center the track just before moving onto the TT. Once again, I chickened out and have a NG-only service area served by my 3 foot gauge TT. It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage. Back later with more...
Left, I_II
Left, II_I Next thing to figure out is which side you want the rail on when it goes through towns. Passengers and freight being loaded or unloaded figures into this. Consider a SG boxcar and a NG boxcar both on the same dual-gauge next to a freighthouse. If the common rail is on the side next to the warehouse, it avoids a big gap between the dock door and the boxcar. If the common rail is on the side away from the freight door, then it's a long reach to access the NG car. Also consider passenger stations. The preference is to not have passengers stepping over the standard gauge rail when boarding or unboarding from NG cars. Think all this through thoroughly, even a crude drawing helps if it's accurate. If you order turnouts either RTR or custom made, you don't want to guess at what you need, as they are too expensive and won't fit...aaargh! BTDT with a couple. But before you draw, more complications... LoopsI have a return loop for turning passenger trains at Durango. It runs along the base of the hill in the left mid-ground then goes around the back of the roundhouse, etc. But it is only HOn3. Don't know why? Make a drawing of both rails, showing the 3rd rail properly oriented as it enters and circles the loop. What happens to the 3rd rail when you get almost back to the beginning? Dang! Wrong side! Draw it yourself if you don't believe. There is a solution, which is to buy or build a "draw" (there are other names for it, like "swish," etc), which uses a set of opposite facing points to move the 3rd rail side from one side to the other. BTW, the same thing happens with a wye and it has the same solution, to install a draw on one leg of the wye. It's your choice whether to do a dual-gauge loop or wye with the added complication of a draw. In my case, I chickened out and built the loop 3 foot only. Turning locos does get complicated under dual-gauge by the fact that the extra couplers are offset to one side or the other, but usually not both sides. You need to have it properly oriented to run on the dual-gauge track, unless you're using a bunch of draws to go back and forth like a drunken sailor... Then there are turntables. Obviously, the could swap a 3rd rail just by turning, but the what about going into the stalls? Typically, dual-gauge turntables use 4 rails, with the NG centered between the SG rails. Same for the stall or finger tracks. The approaches to the TT can be separate by gauge (easier) or can be dual-gauge and utilize special draws to center the track just before moving onto the TT. Once again, I chickened out and have a NG-only service area served by my 3 foot gauge TT. It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage. Back later with more...
Left, II_I
Next thing to figure out is which side you want the rail on when it goes through towns. Passengers and freight being loaded or unloaded figures into this. Consider a SG boxcar and a NG boxcar both on the same dual-gauge next to a freighthouse. If the common rail is on the side next to the warehouse, it avoids a big gap between the dock door and the boxcar. If the common rail is on the side away from the freight door, then it's a long reach to access the NG car.
Also consider passenger stations. The preference is to not have passengers stepping over the standard gauge rail when boarding or unboarding from NG cars.
Think all this through thoroughly, even a crude drawing helps if it's accurate. If you order turnouts either RTR or custom made, you don't want to guess at what you need, as they are too expensive and won't fit...aaargh! BTDT with a couple. But before you draw, more complications...
LoopsI have a return loop for turning passenger trains at Durango. It runs along the base of the hill in the left mid-ground then goes around the back of the roundhouse, etc. But it is only HOn3. Don't know why? Make a drawing of both rails, showing the 3rd rail properly oriented as it enters and circles the loop. What happens to the 3rd rail when you get almost back to the beginning? Dang! Wrong side! Draw it yourself if you don't believe. There is a solution, which is to buy or build a "draw" (there are other names for it, like "swish," etc), which uses a set of opposite facing points to move the 3rd rail side from one side to the other.
BTW, the same thing happens with a wye and it has the same solution, to install a draw on one leg of the wye.
It's your choice whether to do a dual-gauge loop or wye with the added complication of a draw. In my case, I chickened out and built the loop 3 foot only.
Turning locos does get complicated under dual-gauge by the fact that the extra couplers are offset to one side or the other, but usually not both sides. You need to have it properly oriented to run on the dual-gauge track, unless you're using a bunch of draws to go back and forth like a drunken sailor... Then there are turntables. Obviously, the could swap a 3rd rail just by turning, but the what about going into the stalls? Typically, dual-gauge turntables use 4 rails, with the NG centered between the SG rails. Same for the stall or finger tracks. The approaches to the TT can be separate by gauge (easier) or can be dual-gauge and utilize special draws to center the track just before moving onto the TT. Once again, I chickened out and have a NG-only service area served by my 3 foot gauge TT. It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage. Back later with more...
Turning locos does get complicated under dual-gauge by the fact that the extra couplers are offset to one side or the other, but usually not both sides. You need to have it properly oriented to run on the dual-gauge track, unless you're using a bunch of draws to go back and forth like a drunken sailor...
Then there are turntables. Obviously, the could swap a 3rd rail just by turning, but the what about going into the stalls? Typically, dual-gauge turntables use 4 rails, with the NG centered between the SG rails. Same for the stall or finger tracks. The approaches to the TT can be separate by gauge (easier) or can be dual-gauge and utilize special draws to center the track just before moving onto the TT.
Once again, I chickened out and have a NG-only service area served by my 3 foot gauge TT.
It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage. Back later with more...
It's these sort of design decisions that you need to fret over when designing dual gauge track. There's also the fact that while dual-gauge can handle both SG and NG, they both can't occupy the same space on that track. Be sure to leave enough room for all your SG and NG ops, or you may need to add another track or two to accommodate the cars of one or the other, as I recently did to hold SG cars in Durango. Just too much NG stuff going on to devote one of the precious dual gauge tracks to SG storage.
Back later with more...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Awwwwww Gee Mike, an actual hands-on modelling thread on the forum this week, whats the world coming to ??!!!
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I'll show you how to do a dual gauge coupler install in a moment. First some background on my layout's dual gauge track. Then I'll discuss available track and products to help you get going with dual gauge. I'll add more thoughts on planning and operating dual gauge lines after that as I get a chance.
With all the interest in HOn3 stirred up by Blackstone's marvelous line of RTR narrowgauge, more people than ever are planning on how to work narrowgauge into their layout plans. In the pre-Blackstone days, many were said to include an interchange with a standard gauge line as a way budding narrowgaugers could ensure they had something that actually ran while fiddling with the 3 foot line. With Blackstone, there's no need to do that, of course, but modeling a standard gauge/narrowgauge junction and transfer point is still an attractive theme.
On my layout, narrowgauge dominates. I added Rio Grande standard gauge, it is true, to have something running. But it's also the case that modeling Colorado narrowgauge makes such a junction theme tempting. In a few cases, there was just a simple cross-platform transfer at the break in gauge. But in Colorado, because the Rio Grande was dominant and operated both SG and NG lines, it was very common to see dual gauge track in use. This sort of track is just so visually interesting it's very tempting to model.
I would have liked to include Alamosa and it's extensive dual gauge yards. But there just wasn't room to do that and do justice to my desire to model the Silverton Branch and the three "little lines" Otto Mears built from there up to the mines. Hold the presses, I had a great idea.
If you know your history, Durango actually WAS dual gauge for a brief time. To counter a potential Southern Pacific intrusion onto its turf, the Rio Grande built a standard gauge line south from Durango to Farmington, NM. All the SG locos, rolling stock, etc were imported in across Cumbres Pass, a line which was also anticipated would eventually be standard gauged. After some years, the odd set-up, lack of threat from the SP, and the fact that the narrowgauge would eventually be abandoned rather then widened caused the Rio Grande to do an unusual thing and narrowed the Farmington Branch to 3 feet in the early 1920s.
My layout assumes that instead of widening the Cumbres Pass line, the Rio Grande built SG in from Utah through Moab to Durango and then down to Grants, NM. With lots of business still on the NG, Durango became a busy junction and transfer point with considerable dual gauge track.
I've built a number of kits and modified other items to take advantage of the charms of dual gauge. Here a looks at my latest creation, a now dual gauge coupler equipped Atlas H15-44 road-switcher. Keep in mind that this mod can be applied to almost any diesel loco. I've already converted a Bachmann 44-tonner to dual gauge couplers.
I base my design on the arrangement of couplers on the Rio Grande Models #3026 dual gauge idler car.
http://www.riograndemodels.com/HO.htm
It uses a Kadee 714 coupler for the SG coupler paired with a Micro-Trains 1015 coupler for the NG side. You can experiment with other couplers, but the reason these work well together in this application is because the size of their draft gear allows them to nestle close enough to serve both gauge cars. This mod will work on any loco with a coupler mounting pad wide enough to hold both couplers. There are other ways to solve this if you mounting pad isn't wide enough, just ask.
Take the shell off the loco. It comes with standard Kadee-like clone couplers. However, the mounting hole for it places it too far back to use with the 714. On the Atlas H15-44, there is just enough metal to drill and tap a second mounting hole for the 714 closer to the endbeam.
Next, cut off the mounting ear on the side the NG coupler needs to be off-set to. This is something I will discuss in more detail later, but what's important now is to mark the side of the loco that the coupler should be offset so you don't get mixed up. Both NG couplers should end up on one side in virtually all cases. Once you've done that and are sure of what to cut, cut away.
Drill and tap the hole for the NG coupler 15 scale inches (1.25 scale feet) offset from the centerline where the SG coupler sits. Here I've fitted a 714 box next to the 1015 to verify clearance. The 714 draft gear may need a slight trimming.
The end plate of the shell will need some trimming to allow room for the NG coupler.
The 714 should mount at about the right height. The 1015 will likely be too high. Here's a pic of that. After some checking with the Kadee gauge, shims are installed to lower the NG coupler. They can be seen peeking through in white. Here's pics of one of my RGM dual gauge idler cars. It has standard gauge trucks, plus the two couplers on each end. Makes a neat little train for handling local switching. As I noted, with care this conversion can be applied to lots of locos. I'll be back later to add more about dual gauge.
The 714 should mount at about the right height. The 1015 will likely be too high. Here's a pic of that.
After some checking with the Kadee gauge, shims are installed to lower the NG coupler. They can be seen peeking through in white. Here's pics of one of my RGM dual gauge idler cars. It has standard gauge trucks, plus the two couplers on each end. Makes a neat little train for handling local switching. As I noted, with care this conversion can be applied to lots of locos. I'll be back later to add more about dual gauge.
After some checking with the Kadee gauge, shims are installed to lower the NG coupler. They can be seen peeking through in white.
Here's pics of one of my RGM dual gauge idler cars. It has standard gauge trucks, plus the two couplers on each end. Makes a neat little train for handling local switching. As I noted, with care this conversion can be applied to lots of locos. I'll be back later to add more about dual gauge.
Here's pics of one of my RGM dual gauge idler cars. It has standard gauge trucks, plus the two couplers on each end.
Makes a neat little train for handling local switching. As I noted, with care this conversion can be applied to lots of locos. I'll be back later to add more about dual gauge.
Makes a neat little train for handling local switching.
As I noted, with care this conversion can be applied to lots of locos. I'll be back later to add more about dual gauge.