I'm installing a highway overpass on my layout and want to make sure double stacks clear it. Problem is I don't currently have any to measure from, as I'm still building my fleet, and mainly just contingency planning. What is the height I need from the rail tops to safely clear double stacks? Thanks !!
1:1 doublestacks intermodal cars can be 20'2" high with railroads using clearances of at least 21'2" which equals 1.6" in n-scale, i would use at least 1.7" to 1.75" of clearance on to be safe side, since some n-scale intermodal cars measure a slightly taller than the prototype. rises and dips on layout can affect the needed clearance thinking about it, modern highway overpass built today may try to use 25' (1.875 inches in n-scale)
heigth HI i just measured my deluxe container car with load on my kato unitrack and from rail top to con. top is 1and 5quarters so i would go 2in.
They vary according to railroad, but as per CSX, they have three clearance heights from top of rail: Doublestack 1 — 18 ft 2 in (5.54 m) Doublestack 2 — 19 ft 2 in (5.84 m) Doublestack 3 — 20 ft 2 in (6.15 m)
1 and 5 quarters is more than 2 inches, it is 2 1/4 inches, I'd go at least 2 1/2 inches to be safe. fatalxsunrider43
They don't vary by railroad. These clearances are industry-standard, based on the container load-out (two different container heights). That's just what CSX calls for them. "Doublestack 1" is 2 standard containers (8.5 ft high each) "Doublestack 2" is 1 standard and 1 high cube (8.5 and 9.5 ft) "Doublestack 3" is 2 high cubes (9.5 ft each)
Walthers and Con-Cor containers ride higher in Deluxe wells than the Deluxe containers. Our club found out the hard way. It was pretty ugly.
height I used a Concor 40 ft. container and a Walthers 48 ft. container loaded onto my deluxe well car when I measured the height knowing that these containers are higher, that is why I figured if he goes 2 inches from the rail top to the bottom of his bridge he would have good clearance for his layout.
That sounds like the plan. I don't want to have to go back and tear this out later!! Great info all around.
