Large Scale Central

Portable Track Design

Track and Trestles
#1

I haven’t turned up any good leads on a local portable track for rent or purchase so I’m doing some R&D to figure out what building from scratch would cost. The questions I have about the design are related to how close is acceptable for track to be from the edge. I’m trying to lay things out so that I use as much of a sheet of plywood as possible and thus have the largest diameter curves as possible. The picture below show what I have come up with as a maximum size. Six of these segments would for one end and use 1.5 sheets of plywood. Seeing the track centerlines on the drawing dose this put the track too close to the edge on the out side and corners on the inside ? What are most operators comfort zones ? There would be no vertical wall, just a flat surface with the track.

#2

Perhaps this might provide some inspiration of a method without plywood:

G Scale Modular

Landrel/Ty/Folkwulf37 has this current thread here:

My indoor layout

As to how close to the edge has a bit to do with your curve’s diameter and the equipment that you intend to run. There was a relatively recent discussion here (or perhaps on MLS) regarding this issue but I can’t remember any of the specifics.

#3

Randy: You might consider using a part of a sheet of plywood rather than 'cookie cut ’ it. Our club modular layout is the way. It will be a little heavier to move around, but will be less flexable. You will also have some area to put some scenery down as well. You can then use either flex track or fixed track, LGB Code 332.

Remember to consider what you are going to run on the track and it’s radius requirments, that is how wide to the end pieces will have to be, if you don’t want a break in the curve trackage. Also, remember to provide for the joints between the panels of the layout. Provide for height adjustments on the support system as well to cover uneven floors. And keep it simple!

Paul

#4

Thanks for the links Mark. I have been meaning to look at the “My indoor layout” But the pictures in that thread don’t show here at work. I just looked on my phone, and it’s very nice but not too related to what I’m up too. The first link is pretty neat but not very efficient for material use. There has to be tons of scrap foam corners going to the trash. It would definitely keep things lighter.

Paul, I am just using parts of sheets. The above section is 48" by 24" so I would get 4 from one sheet. I would have 1x 4 framing underneath for support and rigidity. For legs I have a very simple and cost effective idea that will have height adjustment.

I’m planning this to run mostly F scale mikados or smaller. The smallest diameter in the design shown above is just over 12 feet. This should be more than adequate for those locos. My only real concern is the the ties in the extreme positions will end about 1" away from the edge in the module center on the outside track and 3/4" away on the inside at the joints between modules. Is this too close? Will people not want to run on it thinking that their precious investments could topple to the floor?

#5

When I was trying to figure out how I was going to construct my indoor layout I initially considered the cookie-cutter method and found the following technique to reduce waste - How to Make Model Railroad Sub Roadbed

I ended up using the the laminated Masonite spline method and am quite satisfied. It was a bit of time consuming but hey, it’s a hobby, what’s the rush!

#6

Thanks for the video Mark, I’ll check it when I get home. Here is an updated picture where I’ve added lines to represent rail and tie edges. This may make my question easier to visualize. The ties are 4" long like the AMS ties that I would be using. They are a bit longer than most I’ve seen.

#7

Randy, in HO scale FreMo (the modular standard the clubs I belong to use) they state that the track is to be no closer then 4 inches from the edge. This is to protect the trains from taking a concrete dive. That would equate to around 12 inches in large scale. I think 12 inches would be overkill, but its something to ponder.

If you were to put a small lip on the edge, that might help. Maybe an inch or 2 high. I know that some portable steam tracks I have seen, have this lip, or edge on the curved sections, just in case.

#8

I agree David, I’d like an appropriate area for my loco to plop over on its side. I’d think in this scale that would be at least 10" but I know what I have seen wasn’t that large. But how small? I think I just found my answer…

It only took me 4 edits to get the embed to work! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

#9

This is the size you get with a proper embed (instructions are now in a post in the TEST forum: http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/24070/how-to-embed-youtube-videos-on-lsc ).

X

#10

Randy Lehrian Jr. said:

Paul, I am just using parts of sheets. The above section is 48" by 24" so I would get 4 from one sheet. I would have 1x 4 framing underneath for support and rigidity. For legs I have a very simple and cost effective idea that will have height adjustment.

Don’t forget you loose at least 1/8" for the saw kerf plus any square error in the saw method used. A well trued panel saw would be best to break down the sheets, but most of us don’t have one. I have access to one at work, but it has been so heavily modified by former employees that the best I can get is 1/4" square error in a 48" cut (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)

#11

I use a homemade shooting board for straight cuts on panels. There are commercial ones but I’m cheap and this does amazingly accurate cuts with a bit of care during set-up.

#12

Thanks Joe! I looked a little but didn’t find that thread. I’ll check it out when I get home to a youtube friendly computer.

Cool idea Mark. I have two 1/2" x 4" bars of aluminum 8’ long that I use for straight edges. When doing lots of large cutting, I have a 8’ x 8’ table that folds down off of my garage wall that was built the same height as my table saw. With this I can set up my 8’ rip fence and cut 8’ sheets by my self very precisely. Right now i’m working on 2 40" wide floor to ceiling built in units with 4 drawers each and cabinets above. Lousy house needing finishing! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)

John, E-gads! thats horrible for a saw designed to cut panels. The 1/8" loss for saw cut won’t kill me.

I’m really more concerned about the expense and time to build this all for a once a year event that I’m just trying to help make better. I’m not really a big fan of this type of running anyway. I had a line on two already built setups one for the price of the track and one come and get it out of here, just add track. Those I could have dealt with better. Not too much time investment and relatively cheap. Alas both leads have fallen through. Having to start from scratch is much more daunting though. It may be more than I can deal with, especially with alot of the other big extra stuff going on in my life right now. We will see…