# Track Height for 1:20.3



## jjwtrainman (Mar 11, 2011)

I know that in order to get a more realistic rail height, people in the garden railway community tend to go for smaller track sizes, most commonly code 250.

Here's what I need to know:

On 3 foot gauge railroads, what size(s) of rail to you typically see, or better yet, what did they use a century ago? I'm guessing either 40 or 50 lb rail for the spurs, and maybe as large as 65lb on the main.

What would the height of that track be? I'd go measure it myself, but A. it's trespassing, and B. the track now is probably a lot larger than it was then.

With that information, what would be the proper track height for a 1:20.3 scale layout?

Code 215 scales out to 4.36" high, Code 250 scales out to 5" tall, and Code 332 scales out to 6.73"

I will be starting an indoor layout next month and will be hand laying aluminum track. Trains will eventually be battery power.

I want the track to be realistic, I'm even going as far as bolting the rails together using (almost scale sized) nuts and bolts. The heads of the bolts and the nuts are 1/4" high, but I can file them down once tight. If I use code 332, it would be the best fit; but I'm worried it will look too tall.

Thank you for any information anyone can give me

--James


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## JohnKK (Jan 15, 2014)

Cumberland Model Engineering has most of that information on their site, http://www.cumberlandmodelengineering.com/CMEProductsTrack.html
as well as links to the NMRA standards pages.

Following is a quote from the CME website:
" Code 250 rail is roughly equivalent to 85 lbs. rail and is suitable for yards and other industrial trackage. Code 215 rail represents 65 lbs rail and is suitable for modeling 3' narrow gauge as well as 19th century standard gauge prototypes."

John


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Indoors, I'd go with code 215. It will be close to eye level, so the height of the rail will be emphasized since you'll be looking at it mostly from the side, as opposed to out in the garden where you're looking down on it, and the height isn't as noticeable. That, and you're not going to be stepping on it, so you can go for a good scale appearance.

Later,

K


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

You might look at this page: http://www.urbaneagle.com/data/RRrailsizes.html

On the D&RG, the rail was originally laid as #30 to #35. When the Ks started arriving the main portions were upgraded to #60 and then #90. The lighter rail was then used for sidings and branch lines. A lot of it was sold to small struggling lines like the Silverton roads or the Rio Grande Southern.

Hope this helps.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I remember back in the 1990s, there were people using code 150 rail for their 1/24th scale 3 foot gauge lines, and there used to be code 195 nickle silver rail available for the finescale railroaders, it might still be available somewhere. I think the code 215 aluminum rail will be easier to get, and you might still be able to get code 215 flex track from LLagas Creek with the narrow gauge tie strips on it. I have some of that from a while back, it's nice stuff.


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