First, I've got to thank NtheBasement for turning me on to Armstrong's track planning book. A great resource, belongs on everyone's shelf. I may have missed therein the answer to a question that arises: Is there a standard space I should allow between parallel tracks? Also, I've said elsewhere that I intend to scratch build my structures. Concerning bridges, piers, trestles, portals, and the like, would it be appropriate for a modern diesel freestyle layout for those to be constructed out of scale timber? And, can anyone give me a source for a LL GP38 truck? I busted one of the clip-on tit things (fat old fingers).:sweat:
I can answer your first question, I think. I believe the standard is 1.25" between track centers. I've used both 1.25" and 1.5" myself. Jim
A bit surprised that no one checked in on this issue, so I'm getting it back up on top again. Grateful as always for any help.
The use of wood trestle bridges is pretty much obsolete. Those that are left are on branch lines with some speed restrictions I imagine. The days of those long pretty wood trestles have been gone for a long time. I am not sure about when this started, but I imagine its around the 1930 or 40's. Wood trestles are more expensive to maintain and not as reliable safety wise.. Sent from my Commando
There's a wood trestle in a city next to mine that is still in use by the CP for going up to a toyota car plant. Here's a video(not mine) from last year showing how slow they go over it though. I'm planning a scratchbuild of it for my new layout and so I went and had a closer look and it's actually got steel beams running length-wise under the ties. I think it's gonna be a nice build even though it's not a massive tall trestle it'll still be fun. They added the galvanized steel just last year or in 2012 I think, there never were guard rails of any kind before that time.
Cosmic..... If your love of wood trestles is a priority. You may want to consider a time frame change? Unless you have already committed to the modern era with lots of purchases. I would recommend you try the forties era. Thats when diesel was just gettin started and there were plenty of wood trestles... Sent from my Commando
Now that's a thought I've been entertaining myself. I've done the same for years in my ship modeling, staying in the area of the sail/steam transition which always seemed to me to afford the most interest. But it's a decision I can defer for now, I'm pretty busy with studying operations and track planning, and won't be hands on for a while yet. It's just that I'm at a stage where I'm looking at topography and the question arose of structures to accommodate that. Thanks to everyone for the information. I'm still looking for that LL GP 38 truck if anyone knows of one.
See my response to the same question, here: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine...le-track-Spacing-distance&p=809788#post809788
Well, another post in that thread seems to echo my sentiment: "Also, a suggested compromise is using 1 1/2" centers if you have fat fingers or if the double track area is a long reach away. Your sanity while keeping a low frustration level is probably more important than proto accuracy". I definitely have fat fingers along with anemic eyes, which are the reasons I'm abandoning scratch building ship models for this activity. I think that from all of this I'm going with 1.5". Thanks.
