Large Scale Central

Surveying Terrain for Layout. Method?

Track and Trestles
#41

Todd Haskins said:

…

you could also take soem track and lay it down and let your eye be the judge. The best balance would be to have the track near level adn have the topography rise and fall creating the illusion of a rugged terrain.

Happy RRing

Really excellent advice from Todd I think, on both counts. For the track, at some point the grade will be too steep and look impossibly toyish, but I don’t see how anyone could know on any particular layout when you’re modelling a railroad category that typically pushed the envelope when it comes to grades without actually laying track in the area and giving it the eyeball test. The second point is well taken: let the terrain do the work (not your locomotives!).

#42

5% is rather extreme. I run at 2.58% and most of my locomotives are limited in what they can haul up (and down) that grade.

#43

5% is indeed extreme. In this rare case, it is also prototypical! That portion of the planned layout is intended to model a scenic railroad that had grades up to 7%! Since I am rather constrained in my radius, however, I will probably want to scale back on the grade there, both to avoid stalling and derailment and to avoid that toyish look.

#44

Ah ha, ok I understand. But before you build it in stone, as it were, you might want to test your locomotives’ abilities to handle that grade. I have a Bachmann 2-4-2, that I put on a major weight gain program, so it could at least get enough traction to get out of its own way. Even with all the added weight, it still struggles to pull 3 empty hoppers and a caboose up to the summit on my 2.58% grade. I am sure that with the added stress, that little Bachmann is going to strip a gear sooner or later. Since its replacement is in the shop waiting to be kit-bashed, it won’t be a major loss to my railroad when it eats a gear.