Ok everyone, I have question on what is a good spacing for between each HO Scale track? I am in the process of planning a small staging yard for the futrue Bethlehem Mine 33. I have seen where some are saying 1-1/2 inch from the center of the track, others have gone 2 inches from the center and etc etc. What would be the best option for this that would give me a closer to prototype look? This is the first part of my railroad that I’m working on as to me it will be the easiest.

If it's straight track sections, my rule of thumb is 2 inches center to center, but if you're placing rolling stock between two trains it's nice to have a bit more room for fingers. On curves, I'd up that to 3 inches, but in those cases, it'll depend on the length of your rolling stock. Prototypical spacing is around 14 or 15 feet I believe with some variability.

(03-02-2025, 05:53 AM)TMo Wrote: [ -> ]If it's straight track sections, my rule of thumb is 2 inches center to center, but if you're placing rolling stock between two trains it's nice to have a bit more room for fingers.  On curves, I'd up that to 3 inches, but in those cases, it'll depend on the length of your rolling stock. Prototypical spacing is around 14 or 15 feet I believe with some variability.

The staging yard is going to be all straight tracks and the mainline will be single tracked. I do know that at least two of the yards on the Cambria and Indiana both started out on curved track and then to straight track. I do have the track laid down on the short section of wood but not tacked down just yet.

storage yards i go with 1&1/2 train make up yards i go with 2, on passenger storage 2, on engine storge 2&1/2 curved is done by eyeball. that's my method but go with whatever you comfortable with just Rember that if too close side swiping is possible. 

Jim

It depends on what you'll be using the staging for. If it is just to stage trains and not build them up, I would go with 1 3/4" to 2". But if you plan to build up trains there (placing and removing cars from the track) then I would use 2 1/2" as a minimum.
F.Y.I. The prototype uses around 14' for double track spacing which would be close to 2" in HO scale.

Dan

Thank you all for the replies. I’m going to be using it to store the hopper cars when they aren’t being used for mine runs that way there isn’t congestion at the mines with a bunch of hopper cars sitting around lol.

I would measure a thumb and finger on each side of the hopper. With luck, you'll not need more than that in the yard.
The NMRA standards gauge is 2 1/16" wide.