--- In [email protected], Jamie Bothwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> When I was building a layout in my attic I found a trackplan
that fit, and did all the freight things I wanted. It was sadly
lacking in the passenger department, but I learned to embrace my
limitations and move forward. <snip>
I've kind of ducked this one, but as a 'died in the wool passenger
train geek', it has been hard! In several publications and even in
earlier exchanges on this forum, there are discussions of many
prototype RR named trains (Nancy Hanks, Pony Express, Choctaw Rocket,
etc.) that were 3 to 5 cars in length. That's equal to about a dozen
40' box cars. Lots of trains and terminals you can model. Even when
the inclination is to model the Pennsy mainline from say, New York to
Chicago! I think Linn Westcott dubbed it selective compression!
Also, I dug out my venerable Trackwork Handbook (written by the late
Paul Mallery in 1977) and noted that NMRA's "Curvature and Rolling
Stock Strandard" lists 43.5" as minimum radius in S scale for "All
cars to 80' long with diaphrams". To encompass "All passenger cars",
the NMRA minimum is 53". We run 48" at Des Plaines Valley and the
passenger trains look and run great! IMHO, that's the sweet spot.
As to accuracy, well every time I look at Railway Classics web site I
think (for a nanosecond or two) about getting out of S! While I
agree that if a window is 1/2" off, it can pass; whether a passenger
car had 5 windows on its side or 10 or 15 is important. Nuff
said... We'll see some of you at the Big E in West Springfield on
Saturday.
Jim K.
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