11-06-2011, 10:30 AM
I would make a test track before you build the layout and test using an Sd38-2 to push and pull some freight cars of various lengths around turnouts and curves to see what works.
When I first got into model railroading back in the 1980's, I had an Athearn Sdp40 and I built a layout from one of the Atlas track planning books. I fitted an extra industrial spur into the layout with a single piece of 15 inch radius snap track to clear a bridge abutment. I had planned that that spur would be worked on by Gp or Sw locomotives, but for kicks I tried it with the Sdp40 to see what would happen. The Sdp40 went through the 15 inch radius curve fine. If I tried to push a 40 foot car through with the Sdp40, the freight car would tip up onto just the outside wheels going into the 15 inch radius and then drop back down coming out of the curve. When I pulled the car back out of the spur, the same thing repeated.
You can easily make a test rack on a piece of plywood, and see how your train operates through various curve radii. If you are going to use the #4 turnouts in the interior part of the plant where 6 axle units are prohibited, you could use one for test purposes on a test track before installing it on the layout.
Typically a crossover should be a minimum of a #6 turnout and #8 would be better, but sometimes the space we have available dictates that we try to do stuff that we should not do to see if it is possible and if it looks too ridiculous in the process.
When I first got into model railroading back in the 1980's, I had an Athearn Sdp40 and I built a layout from one of the Atlas track planning books. I fitted an extra industrial spur into the layout with a single piece of 15 inch radius snap track to clear a bridge abutment. I had planned that that spur would be worked on by Gp or Sw locomotives, but for kicks I tried it with the Sdp40 to see what would happen. The Sdp40 went through the 15 inch radius curve fine. If I tried to push a 40 foot car through with the Sdp40, the freight car would tip up onto just the outside wheels going into the 15 inch radius and then drop back down coming out of the curve. When I pulled the car back out of the spur, the same thing repeated.
You can easily make a test rack on a piece of plywood, and see how your train operates through various curve radii. If you are going to use the #4 turnouts in the interior part of the plant where 6 axle units are prohibited, you could use one for test purposes on a test track before installing it on the layout.
Typically a crossover should be a minimum of a #6 turnout and #8 would be better, but sometimes the space we have available dictates that we try to do stuff that we should not do to see if it is possible and if it looks too ridiculous in the process.