Phase 3- Some questions to you guys!!

[CoggesRailway]

Hello All,

Phase 1 saw me establish a loop (with r1 and 1:35) round my veg patch and shed. Phase 2 involved knocking into the garage and hence opening up a disused piece of driveway and creating stabling for the stock. This has all been on my turf-- now I want to make a grab for that owned by SWMBO and the rug rats.

This Youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR3gk0YRj8g will give you and idea, as will the track plan in the track plans thread.

Phase 3 Is in the planing stages. I want to basically go around the whole garden with sweeping bends and a perfect level to allow me to run some big locos and trains- whilst intergrating it into the current line which will become a branch loop. The small picket fence is just to keep the kids out of "my" bit of the garden- so the line would pass through it on each side. It would also be part of the plan that the track on the rug rat turf would be robust enough fo unsupervised play with their Playmobil stuff.

Questions:

Any thoughts and suggestions generally?

I need to go through the lawn- is there a way of laying track inconspicously into a lawn?

What is the largest radius in LGB or shall I just use flexi?

What is the minimum radius to succussfully run USA trains style big stuff?

What is the minimum radius for an NG16 live steamer (one needs to plan for the future!)

Anyone got pictures of a railway sympathetically intergrated into a garden? - i need evidence in my planning app to SWMBO!

It is currently in analogue- is there anything specific I should do to allow future adoption of DCC?

This is less of a "chat" post and more of a "please help" one - so be very grateful for your time.

The opening will be marked by my first open day on the Cogges Railway!

Ian

 

[coyote97]

Hi Ian,

Gardenrailway through the lawn....yes while using Batterie and RC, NO while using track power. If u want to do so, u need a weed-free roadbed. If u use loose ballast, u need to take a plastic or rubber foil to hold back the weed coming up.
U can lay the track fixed in or on concrete, or u can put it on planks and lay it out unfixed.

But what i would do is to cut of all the sharp egdes. That steals the whole fazination (even though its facinating how a train can come arround such cruves.
Use (at least in the "sightable" area) no radius under 1200mm (8feet dia.) and if possible switces with more.

U asked of a track that was integrated in the garden....i hope mine is...take a look (more pictures follow the link in signature).

the big Steeltruss Bridge over the stairs is missing in this picture, but look at the smooth curves. Imagine your White-Pass-Diesel here! Going slowly upwards with a big roar......

Frank

 

[coyote97]

...but i have sharper curves, too......

this is a 1175/1750mm curved switch. straight switches are 6 or even 10 feet radius.

Dont give away your money for the cheap toy-switches. Less is more! Better use 2 good switches instead of 10 bad ones!

Frank

 

[railwayman198]

For what it's worth, here's 3 pics of a BBQ in our garden which, if nothing else, may be handy for showing your other half that having a garden railway does not prevent using the garden for other things. Of course you may not feel that a raised line can look integrated into the garden, in which case, don't show her the pics! Even friends with no interest in railways enjoy seeing the trains go round on a summer afternoon. Personally I would be wary of laying a line through the lawn at ground level without some form of edge protection. If you can raise your line even slightly off the ground it's worth doing. The last pic shows the garden when it's not full of people.

For the big locos you want LGB R5 would be ideal, or the even bigger rads from the U.S. manufacturers if you can get it to fit. Most locos will also manage R3 (even the NG16 with care) but a few of the real biggies will struggle. Set track is usually less hassle than flexi though a bit of flexi is nice if you want a really gentle curve somewhere.

Just my thoughts, I'm sure others will have different ideas.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Questions:


I need to go through the lawn- is there a way of laying track inconspicously into a lawn?
Well, yes and no, Minister You have to remember that you'll need to mow the lawn. So, ideally I would edge the lawn in some way, then dig a shallow trench, lay geotextile membrane of some sort, some gravel for ballast (not too small as the mower may suck it up) and then lay the track loose. You can occasionally drive a wooden peg into the trench, it helps to determine the levels and gives an occasional fixing point for the track.

What is the largest radius in LGB or shall I just use flexi? dunno

What is the minimum radius to succussfully run USA trains style big stuff?

Looking at the R1 topic debate in another thread, it seems that 8ft diameter (LGB R3) is reckoned to be the minimum for the US outline locos and stock. I aslo recollect that there has in the distant, murky past been some question as to whether LGB R3s are a bit less forgiving than USA/Aristo 8 fts - I believe there is some suggestion that the US manufacturers ease the gauge on the smaller curves whereas LGB do not. On simple observation, I would tend to agree, but I've never checked it with a micrometer. So I think you're better using USA/Aristo track

What is the minimum radius for an NG16 live steamer (one needs to plan for the future!) dunno

Anyone got pictures of a railway sympathetically intergrated into a garden? - i need evidence in my planning app to SWMBO!

I'll see what I can do - remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - but SWMBO was unsure when I started to build some of the sleepers, but since it's been finished is very happy with ours.

One of the questions I've often asked, after I found that our experiment worked - do you want a railway on your garden, or a garden in your railway?

Whatever the merits or demerits of a non-scenic route that runs partly on raised sleepers, in un-ballasted track, is that, in some way, it seems to frame and complement our garden - it may not work for others.
It is currently in analogue- is there anything specific I should do to allow future adoption of DCC? dunno - I'm antediluvian analogue

Hope this kicks off some ideas, Ian

 

[Rhinochugger]

Overall pictures of the Wild West Sussex Railroad are somewhat lacking.

Here's one I took during construction, to give the idea.

And here's a few I've just taken on a grey, cold day :impatient: Edit - just realised the Picassa is set to export in avatar size - so small piccies - doh! :Looser:

 

[GrahamMills]

The larger the curves the better. Whilst the catalogues suggest 8ft minimum, except for the USTrains Big Boy which apparently needs 16ft diameter curves, I would strongly recommend 10ft diameter curves at a minimum with equivalent sized switches and no S curves unless very gentle.

I noticed last summer that when I had a Dash-9 pulling a set of passenger coaches that whilst it went around 10ft curves OK it did overhang quite a bit. Made me think that I should have gone even larger.

I have seen photographs of railways going through lawns, Nico's for example. I never have understood how people manage to mow close enough to cut the grass without sucking ballast into the mower or mowing the track. I remember asking someone who replied "get SWMBO to do it". Since my SWMBO does most of the mowing I would get my head slapped if I suggested that.

 

[CoggesRailway]

thank you very much for the help chaps....

 

[Rhinochugger]

no S curves unless very gentle.

Yes, a simple way of dealing with 'S' curves (or reverse curves) is to slip a short straight length in the middle. I achieved this by accident, but their use looks OK and running is never a problem

 

[coyote97]

...the straight between the "S" is elementary.

Just try it out...even with R1 switches (switch-connection between two parallel tracks). By putting a straight segment in the middle of the "S", you can solve many "security"-problems in driving.
The length of this segment should be at least the amount of the biggest fixed wheelbase of your roling stock.
For this, you can consider the 4-axle-truck-cars as a wheelbase with just the length of the single truck wheelbase. BUT its better to make it as long as "middle-truck" to "middle-truck". But this is often too long and makes too much distance between parallel tracks.

I point on my picture with the 10 degree and 10 ft radius switches once more.
The big advantage of those switches is the prototypical construction with a straight frog, means, the bow of the switch ends at the frog. Frog and the following, outgoing track are straight. Most prototypical switches are like this. Its a question of secure operation.

These switches have nearly automatically the needed straight part between the "S", and thats why they look so good, and why its such a fun to see a train going over them.....i think i could (should) do a youtube clip. eh?

Frank

 

[Rhinochugger]

...the straight between the "S" is elementary.

That'll be me, then

 

[coyote97]

thats one more joke my limted english doesnt grab.....sorry.

Why are u the straight between???

???

:thinking:


Frank

 

[Rhinochugger]

thats one more joke my limted english doesnt grab.....sorry.

Why are u the straight between???

???

:thinking:


Frank

No my friend, I'm the elementary one - just a little bit simple

 

[korm kormsen]

thats one more joke my limted english doesnt grab.....sorry.

Why are u the straight between???

???

:thinking:


Frank

No my friend, I'm the elementary one - just a little bit simple

coyote,

"the straight between" translated to german would be "der gerade zwischen (den beinen)"

 

[Rhinochugger]

OK, back to the original question

I had the chance to run the full 1:20.3 train this morning, and my curves are a mix of 8ft and 10 ft.

1:20.3 looks fine on 8ft as a minimum, but, as some of the others are saying, if you're looking to run 1:29 standard gauge, you may do better to consider 10ft as a minimum.

Turnouts - go large, as Frank (coyote) was saying, irrespective of th geometry of the curves. USAT and Aristo both do a #6 turnout, but the Aristo one is still only available in 1:29 standard gauge sleeper spacing, USAT is in narrow gauge spacing. Both have slight electrical continuity problems over time, and I believe thaht there are a couple of forum members who have persevered with the USAT remote electrical switching.

I converted mine to manual, but it looks booootiful

 

[coyote97]

thats a great looking junction, really.

and thats what i mean.
i saw many layouts with 8-tracked stations like 4 mainlines coming together....
...because nearly NOONE has the space to do this, all in R1 turnouts.

BRRRR

i dont understand why not using the fine things...and less of them.
Some modelers define themselves over "amount of locos" and "amount of switches".
Cant understand that.

Frank