No, not the Scottish Highlands. How much clearance does the longest coach have in the entrance to the “Stägä-Tunnel”?
And the longest freight car?
That is plenty good enough. BTW that is a 1500mm radius curve aka just under 5ft.
Looks good to me. Just don’t forget to post a Close Clearance sign to warn the crew not to hang off the side of a car!
Nice…, until you have a derailment and the railcar cuts to the inside of the curve putting a nice long scratch along its side when going from left to right in the picture. It may behoove you to cut the lower grey block (along the inside of the curve) back a bit more or to an angle for more clearance in this eventuality.
I’m down to 1/2" in a couple of locations. I prefer more of course.
Yes derailments cause road rash.
Greg
I would not feel comfortable with that narrow clearance on a curve. For that matter, I would not feel comfortable with a curve in a tunnel, either. But that’s just me.
Sometimes there just isn’t any choice.
To protect from Road Rash a piece of 3MM PVC could be curved around that sharp corner and held up with some stakes.
Consideration to chipping a bit off that concrete block has been given, but the easier solution is a thin plastic corner protector. As far as derailments go lifting the concrete steps is not too bad, good track placement and reduced speeds — with proper signage — will help.
I have teflon tape, put that on and damage will be minimal if any.
http://www.elmassian.com/images/stories/track/tunnel2.jpg
Greg