# plan starting to come together - some questions



## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

im starting to receive various parcels of track and turnouts. I began roughing out the lead to my planned grand stub end terminal. so far im doing this with R1 turnouts. the 4 track terminal will have tracks approx. 157" of straight (I would like to at least be able to back in a 4 car streamliner passenger train which are approx. 33" each). with those longer cars, will I have a problem using that radius of turnout for the leads? right now the two outer diverging are about 6-3/4 to 7" on center parallel. I plan to insert a small stubby straight to open it up more to fit a 4" wide platform. what is the closest I can run the two center tracks together to have two trains side by side? here are some pics. it got late so I had to stop using power tools to not wake the kiddies.
the branch all the way to the left I plan on using as a small siding for locomotive staging , maybe a fueling rig as well. the branch to the right will be tied into the main line.


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

Small curves + big cars = trouble.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

I agree with Mike. Long cars on R1 are a recipe for trouble. There is a slight chance they might work if the spur went straight, but a reverse curve after the curve on the switch is a No-No. I'd use as a minimum of Aristo 10' diameter switch, but I pulled those out and replaced them with LGB 18000 series switches. The curves on those are about 15' diameter.

Chuck


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## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

thanks for the input. I had a feeling about that. I will use these R1s for the trackage that I will be running the short stuff on.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Good idea.

Here are some pictures of UASt stream liner cars on Aristo 10' d curves.




























This gives you some idea as to how much overhang there is. You could probably push a stream liner through an R1 switch, but it could not be coupled to another car or engine. 

Chuck


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## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

that gives me a good idea of what to expect. the two ends of my dog bone will most likely be 10' diameter with the center being shallower... at least the most visible curves will be the least sharp. however, due to the sharper corner on one of my lower level return curves, I may have to hide that under a tunnel of sorts. what is the very tightest one can operate those usa trains cars without having mishaps?


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

I have a siding that serves a coal mine spur that has LGB 16000 (R3, 8'd) curves. I put two USAT cars (coach and pullman) on the spur. The made it through the curves, just barely. The inside corners almost touched. At one end of the curve was a reverse curve with a short piece of straight track (LGB 1015U) between last right hand curve and the left hand curve. One car came off the track. 

The inside corner of the car end was almost over the top of the outside rail.

I think that you would need a piece of straight track almost as long as your longest car between the two curves in a reverse ("S") curve (like coming out of your return loops on the dog bone) or coming off a switch for successful running.

I did not try it with engines. They present a different set of problems, depending on whether or not their couplers are truck mounted or body mounted. I will say that truck mounted couplers will not work with body mounted couplers on the streamliners with curves <10'D. The truck mounted couplers are always near the center of the track, while the body mounted ones are way outside the track.

Truck mounted couplers on cars will permit them to go through tighter curves, but the USAT streamlines don't come with that option.

For me, I wouldn't use less 10' diameter curves with those cars. If you are going to use <10' D curves, lay your track on the floor and check it out before you build it into a permanent layout.

Chuck


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Your track to track spacing is tight. OK for 1:29 and 1:32, most likely no good for 1:20.3, it works out to 11.4 feet in that scale. You want to stay around 13 feet in parallel straight tracks, and more on curves.

Greg


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## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

at first I wanted a double mainline , but when I started measuring stuff out , I had to go with a single.. which should still provide a good long run. my smaller stuff will run throughout and duck in and out on the lower level


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

if you want to/have to stay with R1 curves and turnouts, you might try to adapt your trackplan like below.
that way you still got R1, but at least without "S" curves.


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