Alistair -
I agree with all of that except the part about transitions on a typical layout being too long to be practicable. If you set out the transitions as explained in the Scalefour Digest, then a transition from tangent to 30 inch radius with a shift of 1 inch is just under 20 inches long. I have used these in the past with great success, including back-to-back half-transitions between reverse curves.
Apologies for misspelling your name first time!
And if you use flex, you get and automatic transition, since it's impossible make the bend from zero curvature to maximum curvature (smallest radius) at a single point.
Transition curves not only look better, they make for much smoother operation. Reduces or eliminates buffer lock on close-coupled cars, for example.
HTH
a transition.
You can if you use Tracksetta templates.
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Maybe so, but why would you want to?
To emulate the prototype - assuming your prototype is the Hornby catalogue ;-)
Plenty of real railways managed without transition curves (generally industrial lines, but the point remains). I can think of one curve (probably long gone now) which not only lacked any sort of transition curve into it, but was made up of short lengths of straight track (Longtown armaments depot, about 35 years ago, but not unique). Never seen anything like that modelled..
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