Track Close Along a Wall Behind a Viewblock
 
I was contemplating how close to the side wall of my layout I could place a long straight track that would sit behind a viewblock to disguise the train traveling behind the viewblock? Being a straight track I figured it could be as close as 1” to the centerline of the track, then another 1” to the viewblock.

But if long steam engines etc are going to be using that track, then clearances need to be allowed for the overhang swing of those engines as they entered and exited that track. I went back looking at my experiments with a number of locomotives, and discovered several that needed as much as 1+3/8” clearances,....like this Bachmann 4-8-4 Northern. (and the Big Boy & the PRR GG1, etc)
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/32599?page=6
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/32599?page=7

So my thoughts turned to whether I might make just the entrance and exit points have 1.5” clearance while the remainder had the 1” clearance? I decided to get out that engine and perform a little mock-up test on my outdoor work table.



(that white piece of plastic is 28.5" radius)
 
One end of that 'hidden track' was going to have a Peco large radius turnout on it. I took notice that the loco did NOT have that big 'tail swinging out motion' when utilizing this turnout!! In fact it was very little. I attributed that to the very large radius of the Peco turnout itself. It was acting like a very good 'easement'

Wow, could I disregard providing the full 1.5” wall clearance if I utilized this Peco turnout on the one end of the hidden track, and provided a corresponding easement on the other end??   I think so.








Here is that large radius Peco coupled up with a fixed curve 24” radius and still no problem with the tail swing of that long loco. (BTW I don't intend to utilize that tight of a curve following the Peco large,...just experimented) Its made me a big believer in using as large of a radius Peco as I can anywhere on the layout.

 
Does anyone see a problem with my analysis here?

Thought I would share my progress.  I'm building a new engine for the layout.
The wooden, bass wood, deck is 9" long and 4-1/4in wide.
The undercarriage will be hidden with a skirt of wood later.

Attached Files

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I have located a couple collections not easily found and I think we need a place to send us so we can spend hours researching all kinds of interesting railroad items. 
Here is one of the links 
http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/se...rder/title

and here is another vast collection in the Denver Public Library.
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/sea...tle/ad/asc

If anyone knows or finds others please share. I find less and less on google anymore.
Charlie

A couple from my layout today which is out of service for a gentle cleaning. It's 9 years old and not really bad, it paid to caulk every seam to keep the bugs and dust out.  
        Charlie

Can someone point me to an example were a single water tower (steam locomotive era) serviced 2 mainline tracks?
 
Perhaps at a wye?
Perhaps the water tower had two discharge nozzles on either side??

The Flying Fish Brewery's trackmobile pulls away from several cars it has just spotted at the Brewery warehouse.

Bruce

   

Hi, Guys. I'm totally new here and looking for info/help with an (as it turns out) incomplete old MDC Ten Wheeler kit issue. The kit is old and uses the metal screws to attach the siderods to the drivers rather than the newer plastic(?) fastener. In 1978 my dad wrote MDC for a list of parts and was sent the wrong screws. Now I'm building it and binding is severe with the wrong screws of course. Here's the question: I found a cheap MDC 2-8-0 chassis on eBay that I can rob for parts but it uses the plastic fasteners. Are they interchangeable with the screws that I am missing? If so I'll buy the chassis, but if not, how hard is it to find screws like that? I thought about using the 2-8-0 drivers, but that would leave me with a blind driver on the front axle. Not sure that's good. Any advice from someone well-versed in these things is appreciated. My dad got this when I was 7. I always wanted to see it run, but now that it's mine 4 little danged screws are holding me up.

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can anybody tell me where to get S guage Pennsylvania RR diesel decals.  Plz send me an mail at patston@msn.com.

I've included both names as I have seen folks address them with either name. I think what I am trying to create is principally a viaduct, but yesterday I inserted a bridge in a portion of it. I did it in a straight track portion, so I could alternately allow for it to be included in the final trackwork, or perhaps not.

The bottom deck of my layout is to represent principally the city Baltimore, home of America's start with the railroad industry. There is a neat stone arch bridge there in the suburbs, the Thomas viaduct that is even more famous as I read more about it. I wanted to include such a viaduct on my layout as a landmark representative of Baltimore.

I recently became aware that I had several photos I had posted of this viaduct that were not actually the Thomas viaduct, even thought they look very similar. One was a double track affair, the Thomas one, and one was a single track affair located in another state. I'll get into that later.

Turns out I have need of both a single track portion and a double track portion. How to construct them is another big question mark for me. I am making a mock-up using foamcore board right now, and it is presenting even more challenges than I originally anticipated.


from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Viaduct

Quote:The Thomas Viaduct spans the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley between Relay, Maryland and Elkridge, Maryland, USA. It was commissioned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O); built between July 4, 1833, and July 4, 1835; and named for Philip E. Thomas, the company's first president.[3]
At its completion, the Thomas Viaduct was the largest railroad bridge in the United States[4] and the country's first multi-span masonry railroad bridge to be built on a curve. It remains the world's oldest multiple arched stone railroad bridge.[5] In 1964, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark.