and the notes -
"Duplication" rather than "Replication" - there is a difference.
One satisfies, the other cannot.
Raleigh in calm and quiet Maine.. ;-)
BTW your comments are never 'useless"... R.
At 08:37 PM 9/8/2008, John Picur wrote:
>I guess it's about time I added my useless comments.
>
>Somehow, a 10 percent overage in the proportions of a coupler
>doesn't seem that significant to me when we routinely:
>a.. employ curvatures that are 500% or more too sharp to be
>prototypical. In flatland, a sharp curve is 6 degrees -- about 180
>inch radius in S. Without superelevation, the maximum comfortable
>speed around a six-degree curve is 28 mph, according to Canadian
>National Rys. engineering documents. Maximum safe speed is 37 mph,
>and overturning speed is 68 mph. In mountain territory, where
>sharper curves are used, a 12-degree curve (the maximum used by
>Canadian Pacific) still works out to about 90-inch radius. Without
>superelevation, the maximum safe speed around such a curve is 26
>mph. Overturning speed is 48 mph. A 36-inch radius curve in S is
>about 30 degrees. Note that even the narrow gauge Silverton branch
>uses a maximum of 24 degrees (45-inches in S).
>b.. hand lay track without a semblance of tieplates, with 3-4 spikes
>per. Tieplates are essentially mandatory on any line that would be
>used as often and carry loads as heavy as we typically use ours.
>c.. omit fishplates. If you want to talk about scale appearance, how
>many of us have six-bolt fishplates connecting our rails? Real
>railroads differ in their practices as to how the bolts are to be
>positioned (facing in, facing out or a combination). How many of us
>cut our track into 39-foot rails (I'm talking steam era here) and
>stagger the joints as per North American practice?
>d.. employ oversize rails. Prototype-size rail, scaled down, has
>previously been reported as being too weak in the web to support S
>scale equipment. Regardless of height, commercial rail is too fat.
>(A friend recently remarked, "John, you hair is thinning." Well," I
>replied, "who wants fat hair?")
>How many of us limit our turnouts to a #8 frog minimum? #8-10 is a
>yard size. Most Class 1 railroads were replacing their #8s with #10s
>in yards as long ago as the 1930s because of longer equipment. Main
>line turnouts are a lot longer. (Prototype rule of thumb: Maximum
>speed through a turnout is twice the frog size.)
>
>Some of the above things are fixable, some are not, unless you own a
>warehouse to build your layout in and have a bevy of serfs to maintain it.
>
>Do you use Proto:64 wheelsets? These, although still out of scale,
>are closer to the ideal.
>
>In my experience, track, and not couplers, is an instant give-away
>in photos of our model layouts. Of course, photos that include any
>kind of scenery instantly tell us it's a model. Scenery is the
>biggest visual compromise on our systems. (By the way, here on the
>west coast, the shortest local mountain peak arising straight up
>from the sea is 4,150 feet high -- almost 65 feet in S scale. How
>high are your mountains?)
>
>I venture to say the most carefully constructed car, structure or
>scenic object on any of our layouts, prize-winners included, will
>have something not prototypical about it, whether in dimension or omission.
>
>To reply to a previous comment, it is my understanding those wide
>draft gear boxes were intended to allow our semi-automatic couplers
>to get around our sharp curves without derailing the equipment. The
>fix is simple -- replace the offending box with some
>scratch-building at the end sill. Attach the coupler shank itself
>directly to the bottom of the car, just like with a dummy coupler.
>You will still have the operating knuckle and won't have to worry
>about an accordion effect. You will need to scratchbuild a centering
>device if that is important to you.
>
>It is laudable to want to make things better, to right wrongs of any
>kind. Although there is no such thing as perfection, the pursuit of
>it is admirable. But that pursuit does not involve endless debates
>on a chat group.
>
>regards ... pqr
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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