Is this sleepering reasonable on these diamonds?

[Carl]

Hi guys,

 

I'm about to start building this bit of track, and I'm trying to get the sleepers roughly correct for it.  The era is 1990-2000 BR, it's part of Heaton Norris Junction that I'm modelling where a branch from the Down Slow crosses the Up Fast and Up Slow.  Obviously the junction is somewhat compressed.  In reality, the diamonds are probably 1:8 and relatively standard.  I'm trying to reach a balance between what the crossing looks like in reality, and what it would look like if the diamonds were this obtuse - I don't want hyper-strengthened diamonds like you would see at the likes of Newark.

 

The track is flat bottom, and the sleepering on the rest of my track is concrete.  I intend to build this with concrete-coloured sleepers, if only because the chairs I have for FB rail are concrete grey - after weathering.  It's N gauge, using code 40 rail, and British Finescale chairs.

 

With that in mind (if any of that makes any difference!), is the sleepering here reasonable?  I'm pretty happy with it, but the things that really jump out are the gaps where the sleepers return to regular track - there's a difference of 10 degrees or so on a couple of the exits, and that really stands out to me.

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Regards,

Carl.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Carl

[martin_wynne]

Hi Carl,

 

That looks a bit over-timbered. Also in the upper diamond the vee noses aren't supported on a timber.

 

Here's my stab at it. For such short angle diamonds, I think a couple of long timbers would be enough.

 

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[Carl]

You're a superstar, that does look a lot better, thank you!

[Carl]

Martin, I see you have PMs disabled - thought you would like to know, after donating, the page Paypal sends you back to 404s - http://85a.uk/templot/donation_thanks.htm (I've removed the query string.)

[martin_wynne]

22 minutes ago, Carl said:

Martin, I see you have PMs disabled - thought you would like to know, after donating, the page Paypal sends you back to 404s - http://85a.uk/templot/donation_thanks.htm (I've removed the query string.)

 

Hi Carl,

 

Thanks for letting me know -- I'm in the middle of some changes, see: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/admin-please-make-a-note-of-this.88/

 

p.s. many thanks for the donation to the Templot funds.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[martin_wynne]

Hi Carl,

 

Thanks again. This is what you should have seen:

 

 https://85a.uk/templot/donation_thanks.php

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[Carl]

You’re more than welcome, thank you!

[Carl]

@martin_wynne,

 

I thought you would like to see this : A 3D printed track base based on your design.

 

 

You can read about the gory details here : 

 

Incidentally, I know you are working on a 3D export for Templot.  But I wonder if there are plans to be able to export a 2D .dxf with holes on the rail/sleeper centre intersections?

 

Regards,

Carl.

[Wayne Kinney]

Really nice, Carl!

 

Are you going to stick to 3D printing now, over milling?

 

It is possible to print flat on the base plate so long as its really level and Z height set correctly. Here is my example with 3D printed chairs included (sorry for the crap photos):

[Carl]

We continued this conversation over on this post here.  I've nearly finished constructing the junction with the chairs and rails, I'll post pictures over there when I'm done.