Up Lines, Down Lines, Side to Side Bits, Unders, Overs and Roundabouts.

[PMW]

So:

 

Up lines and down lines. Having designed my layout (several times, and still tinkering) is there a common standard on which track runs which way? For example on a mainly twin loop layout is it outer loop clockwise, inner loop clockwise or is there no set practice? It will effect where I place crossovers of course. 

 

Watching Chadwick last night it seems that three way points are not always reliable. I don't have any but did think about investing in one, just to branch the tracks in my fiddle yard in a shorter length. Any comments on them?

 

The one thing my layout lacks is elevation, on track at least, it is all very flat. My dimensions are 5'10 by 8'3 and I don't think I can lift a train the required four inches or so in that space, but what are your maximum inclines?

 

I was originally planning a turntable, that is now seeming less likely, the latest redesign, v.5.1.22 I think is a little less track orientated and gives me a little more space for scenery. If a turntable is included is the minimum length being equal to me longest loco / tender combi OK, or is there an accepted minimum?

 

I think that's all for now

[Pete the Elaner]

Up & down lines are terms you don't necessarily need.

Up is towards the capital. In the case of the WCML, I believe it swaps over at the England/Scotland border so I expect the ECML & probably GW will be the same.

Maybe more useful to you what used to be London's Circle Line. I have only ever heard that described as Inner & Outer.

 

Inclines are something to be careful with. 8'3" is less than it sounds for an incline but it depends on what you want to run on it. One of the reasons for the Underground adopting multiple units was to have drive on every carriage to eliminate traction-less weight, so if you want to run Sprinters up & down a branch, you can get away with steeper inclines than longer freight trains. Model diesels typically have better traction than steam locos too.

Let's do some maths...I'll start by converting 8'3" to a more-calculation friendly metric  99 inches is 254.5cm or 2545mm. 70mm clearance is just about ok, but you also need a trackbed , so maybe a further 5mm for this, so a rise of 75mm is required.

2545/75 is a 1 in 36 climb. For a train, this is quite steep (Lickey Incline is about 1 in 38 but they use bankers) You won't be able to use the full 8'3" but I guess you will be taking around a curve. This would allow you to ease the incline but turning the corner adds to the adhesion required.

What did you have in mind?