Another advantage of bright yellow is that they do show up easily when laid across the rails. Makes finding that sudden short circuit a lot easier. The reason I also paint all my track gauges and Kadee coupler height gauges bright yellow.
Don't forget that sleeper sizes for straight track are different to that under switch and crossing work - again mentioned in the MROL article. Unfortunately, the geometry and construction of track is widely misunderstood. I suspect this is probably due to the lack of availability of documentation on the subject. While such documentation is available (at least in the UK) it is often expensive and its availability is not publicised.
"An Approach to Building Finescale Track" Iain Rice, Wild Swan Publications, 1991 GBP 12.95
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and the thick manuals published for members by the Scalefour Society and the EM Gauge Society. There is also a comprehensive manual on trackwork in preparation by the Gauge 0 Guild.
regards,
Martin.
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That might improve the appearance of the track in isolation, but when trains are seen on the tracks, will make things look even more like narrow gauge. Won't it?
Yes and no. If you have already accepted a massive gauge reduction of 7" from 4'-8.1/2" (18.83mm) to 4'-1.1/2" (16.5mm) it would be somewhat perverse to object to a further small reduction of only 7/8" to 4'-0.5/8" (16.2mm).
No-one will be able to detect the difference visually without actually measuring it. But they will be able to see the huge visual improvement made by the reduced flangeway gap. This is because it makes such a big difference to the very long and unrealistic gap in front of the vee.
I have made a screenshot showing 00-BF (16.5mm) and 00-SF (16.2mm) crossings side by side, and this difference (and the improvement it makes) is very obvious:
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They will also notice the big improvement in smooth running through crossings (frogs) because wheels are fully supported, which many would think would be worth having even if the gauge reduction was visible.
regards,
Martin.
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Hi Martin, I was talking about the documentation produced by the Permanent Way Institution and what was the RailTrack documentation. As far as I am concerned, this is the only authorative source of information on permanent way design, certainly in the UK. Such documentation is available from HMSO, but individual volumes are expensive. I prefer not to use software that simply projects geometric shapes based on templates or photographs. Railway track really isn't designed like this! Graham Plowman
I must correct myself. I should say 'extrapolations' rather than 'projections'. Real railway track design is based on properly defined formulea, not optical interpretations. Graham Plowman
Don't go with the between the track 321 magnet. Besides the unprototypical apearance, the guys at Warley are correct.
I cut out a hole using a jig saw before laying the track,(I use ply wood for my track support) and use a thin piece of styrene to stop the scenery and ballast from falling through. I am now using the KD78 on new equipment and have a web page showing it's advantages over the older KD couplers. It is great for people using prototypes with buffers.
A recent article in Model Railroader added 2 thick metal plates to the KD electro magnet, increasing it's strength. Then you can hide it under the track. I have not tried this.
There are many prototypes of track, each is based on varying geometries. The prototypes formulae might be OK to use for scale length turnouts, but because of the small scales we use, the practical tolerances make such formula academic. Other than the track gauges used at the critical parts when building turnouts, the rest can be done by eye, working off a paper template without any need to use formulae for geometries.
I use similar gauge correction for RTR wheels in H0. The minimum track gauge I use for frogs is 16.25mm, yet use 16.5mm to 16.6mm track only 20mm away. You cannot see the difference with the naked eye.
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