Snagging the top container of a container car on a tunnel portal or bridge while running a 16 car train is not a pretty thing, and I speak from experience. Better to err on the high side. Now I maintain a minimum height clearance of ¼. One thing people didnt bring up is that a little track maintenance, like eliminating a hump by raising adjacent track, can end up raising the track height locally. I will say that debugging a layout to reliably run a draw bar coupled set of 3 Des Plaines container cars was an experience. One gentle s curve needed to be made even gentler. Cars were finally reworked to use metal AM trucks and weighted containers to eliminate some strange derailing due to leaning which occurred with the snap together plastic trucks that came with my cars years ago. Cars now run reliably on our 36 radius module curves and even on the one end of my layout that still uses flyer radius.
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ken garber Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 8:19 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Vertical Clearance I would think that if you take your tallest car, measure its height and add maybe a 1/4 inch, you may be safe. As long as you don't add hycubes or autoracks later on, you'd probably be okay. Just don't forget to install tell-tales in front of the low clearances. : ) regards ken On 9/12/07, Ed Kozlowsky <soldado7264@ <mailto:soldado7264%40yahoo.com> yahoo.com> wrote: > Gentlemen, > The NMRA standards specify 4-1/8" vertical clearance from the railheads > for S. I have one spot on my current layout design that is a bit of a > problem. I'm modeling 1951, so will have no modern equipment to worry > about. I don't even like modern equipment, so It's no temptation for > me. What do you think is the minimum I could get away with? Ideally > I'm looking at 3-5/8" if it's at all doable. What do you think? I > don't have anything to measure yet, but it's on the way. > > Ed Kozlowsky > Sanford, Maine > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
