Model Railroad Handbook By A C Kalmbach Fawcett Book #133 1951 144 Pages
Model Railroad Handbook By A C Kalmbach Fawcett Book #133 1951 144 Pages
Pikes, groundwork, wiring, scenery, locomotives, rolling stock, trolleys, structures, operation.
MODEL railroading is at its best when it actually becomes a scale model of railroad practice, and in prototype railroading, the single-track short line, or division of a system, has the most to offer in interesting operation. The full-size pike runs from one yard to another, with its passing sidings and industrial spur tracks distributed along the route. However, instead of extending the layout in a long line, you may find, due to limited space, that you have to condense it. This can be done by looping the track over and around itself, the number of loops, of course, determining the length of a run.
Now let's look into your particular situation. Perhaps you have an attic or basement which can provide you with only a limited space along a wall or two. Your most practical layout, then, would be an elongated U shape, returning to the same yard you started out from. The legs of the U could be built on a shelf along one wall which, even with passing sidings and scenery, could accommodate the two lines of track in 18" of width.
The other basic design fills the requirements of a square or rectangular space. and, as mentioned before, consists of looping the track much as you would coil a length of rope.
These are the simplest forms of the layout type known as point-to-point, which, in past years, has almost superseded the old continuous loop. The loop, however, does come back as a part of a point-to-point layout when space is limited and there is not room for several coils of track-work. Then the loop becomes part of the main line, and a train may come out of the terminal yard, make a number of circuits around the loop, and end up in another yard. Or the original yard may serve as both ends of the railroad.
The layout illustrated uses a common engine terminal, and each yard has its own lead track for switching moves. The main line is a continuous loop so that, once made up, a train may leave the yards and make any prescribed number of runs around the loop before heading into the other yard. The long passing siding in the corner then will allow a train to be run at the same time in the opposing direction.
Whether you adapt this layout to suit yourself, or design your own, by all means avoid long expanses of straight track. Where you must run along a wall, you can get a much more pleasing effect by laying the line like a stretched-out Z, using three short tangents connected by sweeping curves. A curve, incidentally, may change its radius at several points, but should not change its direction. Thus a 4-ft. radius curve may ease into a 5-ft. radius, as long as it keeps bearing to the left or right, but an S curve, changing its direction, should. whenever possible, have a short piece of straight track between curves. This tangent must be at least a coach length long.
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