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Model Railroader 1937 May
CONTENTS
THE HAPPY VALLEY RR O gauge road in Belleville, NJ highballs some realistic equipment.
GREAT SEABOARD GOES TWO-RAIL simpler distribution system also gives more trouble free operation
TWO TWO-RAIL SYSTEMS each road has its own equipment. But both use same track layout
A COMPLETE O GAUGE SYSTEM the Chicago, salt lake & pacific owns its building for right of way
CYLINDER DRAIN COCKS how railroads work
ACCOUNTING FOR CASH FARES
CAR LIGHTING SYSTEMS
HOME MADE SWITCH MOTOR any small motor will do maerklin HO motor has the gears and all
Relation Between Curves and Operation.
MODEL railroad curves deserve more consideration than any other item in the track layout. This is because operation on curves is affected not only by the accuracy of construction but by the planning as well.
Long radii for model railroad curves cannot be emphasized too much. If you have space enough, don't stop at the minimum. Build 10 ft. curves if you can. The longer the radius the better your trains will run. You can't build curves bigger than scale even if you try, but you can and will build curves much sharper than scale unless you watch your plans carefully.
All curves except sidings should be banked. This is more for the sake of appearance than operation. The model train which leans realistically toward the inside on a curve presents a much more true to life picture than the train which stays upright.
The amount of banking cannot be varied with the curvature as it is in real practice, as the variations are too small to notice. We would suggest a flat figure of 1/8" elevation of the outside rail for 0 gauge and A" elevation for HO and 00 gauges.
If curves are sharp the banking will seem to start too suddenly, and long cars such as Pullmans will tend to derail. This must be counteracted by "spiraling" the curves. The transition from straight track to circular curve must be gradual. Straight track has a radius of infinity, which needs no banking. Then from that we can go to a very large radius, which needs just a slight banking, from that to a little less radius and more banking, and so on. The idea-is to increase the banking gradually, and increase the curvature the same way.
In real practice the banking and amount, of curve are related mathematically. The elevation is increased at a regular rate and the curve likewise increased according to this mathematical relation. The resultant form of transition curve is a cubic parabola, or spiral; hence the term "spiral" for a railroad transition curve.
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