Ok working on the next section and I have two choices go with my current layout plan or tweak it a little. Here is the drawing and here are photos of the tweakage. Not sure which way to go. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
The curves on the inside part of dorado seem a little tight. What kind of locos and rolling stock are you running?
I am running sd35, sd40, rsd15, 2-6-6-2t, f45, So far the locos make the curves fine. Most curves are at a min 24, a couple go down to 18. So far the only rolling stock that has issues are the three heavyweight passenger cars that have 6 axles. I need to tweak the center axle a little so that they won't derail. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
You might consider simplifying the track on the right wall. There is a passenger station there and some kind of passing siding. What would change: -The tracks coming from Dorado could have a larger radius if they connected with the main along the wall. -The industrial lead could be longer if it connected farther along, maybe even as far as dorado. This is the lead coming from the timber industry. -The passing siding could be two parallel tracks instead of how it is now. If you run that double siding all the way down to Price Canyon, you get a nice long passing siding for freight trains. I'm not a stickler on radius of curves, but the 18 inch ones will limit your use of longer rolling stock.
Actually all main line tracks are min 24". The 18 are on the branch lines or industries. I have a total of three mains. The concept is a railroad inside a railroad. Everything is built, except the price canyon part where the conundrum exists. I have run a big boy and challenger over the curves with no issues. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
What if you have the main enter Price Canyon from Uintah as far to the left as possible, and instead of a right turnout to the Atlas Platforms and then a #4 wye to staging and Atlas Station, you have a #4 left turnout to access the staging carts first and then a #4 right TO to access the Atlas Platforms and Atlas Station. Depending on how far to the left you could angle the main from Uintah, it is possible centerline of the diverging route to the staging carts could be 6 inches from the right edge of the Price Canyon module and the lower end of the turnout would be about 1 foot from the Uintah module. From that point, a 24 inch radius curve with easements would pass through the doorway, over the 6 inch gap, and could be tangent to the middle track of the 1st cart in the first foot of the cart.
It is a swing level. I am trying get the curve to fit. So far the curve as drawn is t working. So I Am working on tweaking it. The inside curve just doesn't match up right. I have a 7.5 curve turnout that didn't get used when I changed the route of the main line over where the roundhouse now sits so I am trying to see if that will fit. Here is a pic of the swing level down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Problem with that is the #4 switches are too tight a curve. Derailments would happen. I have tried to keep the mainline switches at #6 or #8. Yard switches are #5. I am trying to avoid a reverse section here by not connecting the Y ends. The staging yard tracks for that lead will have three tracks. The other lead will will have 4. Currently I am considering removal of the #8 switch as drawn and sliding the Y back toward where the main enters from the silver mountain side. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Something else I am thinking. As I revamp this section I have a choice too add a #6 switch in on the Moab (yes I renamed the helper town to Moab) main to add a spur track in. Gives another possible industry to switch. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
With a drop down, I would consider making the track on it as simple and bullet proof as possible. Just single track that curve so it's only one track section through the entire drop down. Maybe put a couple retailers on there too. It seems like things that move always end up causing problems. On my outdoor HO layout I had a hinged bridge section. It eventually got a little loose. Mind you, as I built it I thought it was gonna stay aligned forever. Despite being a little finicky my track was not fully bonded on the bridge section. It allowed for me to align it every time I ran trains. On my lift bridge, I had only two parallel tracks going over it. There were no switches near the approach or anywhere on the bridge.
Due to the need of moving trains onto staging I designed the Y into the plan. What you have said makes sense. Since the track coming from silver mountain has not been tacked down I will see what putting a switch there before entering the swing down section will produce. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Your last picture in Post#1 appears to show a (#6?) turnout in its packaging and an unwrapped wye producing a diverging route that would be parallel to the diverging route of the TO. If that alignment is still true when the two are properly joined, the wye is a much tighter radius turn than the #6 because it accomplishes the same diverging angle in a little over half the length. The first and second pictures after the track plan show a left (#6?) turnout with the base of a wye positioned at the end of the diverging arm of the TO, and the right arm of the wye curving back to parallel with the straight track of the turnout. But the pics also show there is a significant mismatch of the rail ends at the base of the wye. When the left TO and the wye are properly joined and where the rails join is perfectly straight instead of angled, then I suspect the right arm of the wye will no longer be parallel to the straight arm of the TO. Try this: set a wye directly on top of a #6 turnout and perfectly align the rails so the ends of the points of the wye are directly above the ends of the points of the #6TO and the frog point of the wye is directly centered over the middle of the straight track of the TO. The end of the points near the throwbar is where the curve actually starts, and (if the rails run straight out from the point of the frog instead of continuing to curve) the frog point is where the curve ends. If you run straight out from the diverging routes of the wye and the #6TO, and the centerline of the wye is directly above the centerline of the TO, then you have a #6 wye. If centerlines are parallel, then the wye has accomplished the same angle of curve on a tighter radius (smaller # turnout). For what it's worth... On both my N and HO layouts, the vast majority of my derailments in correctly closed or thrown turnouts have been caused by subtle errors in the horizontal and vertical alignment of the rails as they enter/leave the turnouts. The misalignments could have been caused during installation (not running track straight into/out of the turnout, or unlevel roadbed causing TOs to bow up, cup down, or twist), in which case problems usually showed up immediately; or they developed over time due to humidity changes warping the benchwork or track (and turnout) gauge. Like you, I prefer using larger turnouts on mainlines and smaller in yards or industries, and I've always had more problems with 6-wheel loco trucks than 4-wheel trucks on the tighter TOs. But fine-tuning my TO alignment and moving slower through tight radius TOs (#4s in both scales) has allowed all of my locos with 6-wheel trucks to successfully negotiate the tighter radius turnouts. (Full disclosure: I still have a tight Shinohara into one industry on my HO switching layout which my 2-8-2 can't handle, despite my repeated attempts to tweak it.)
Yeah the tracks I just set in place to see how it would work. I will try your suggestion and see what I can come up with Oh the packaging says it's a #3 Y. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
I do have some #5 turnouts I can use. The way I had it set is I will be using 2 different wyes, the rh #6 in the second pic was added to see if I could get another industry squeezed in. Here is a pic showing the alignment according to the track plan. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Ok here is another idea that I got after reading your post. Problem is it puts a switch inside a tunnel. Not too good. So I go back to this idea Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Option three which works the best is to totally remove the Wye and just use the #6 switch. To get the additional industrial spur I can try to use the #6 switch or a #5 Here is. #5 switch Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Um..I'm confused. I thought you didn't want to use #4 turnouts due to problems with 6-wheel loco truck derailments...but you are now considering use of the even tighter radius #3 wye into staging. Even with good tweaking, running the 6-wheel loco trucks through the tighter radius may be problematic.
I've drawn up a detail of Price Canyon using all #6 turnouts onto the staging carts. I'll try to get it uploaded tonight (DropBox is being temperamental).
