I agree with Dave, although every modeler has to make their own decision - it's your railroad!
I have always been greatly influenced by information in Paul Mallory's "Trackwork Handbook". I would recommend it to anyone contemplating a layout! Buy, borrow or beg a copy of that as well as Linn Westcott's "Building Model Railroad Benchwork". Mallory always advocated using the widest radius possible for better appearance and avoiding what he called the "toy train effect" of using a short straight to connect two curves, rather than one continuing larger radius. Jim K. --- In [email protected], "ctxmf74" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "rhettgraves" <rcandamoonpie@> wrote: > > My > > layout space is 10' wide and I'd like to get as much "straight run" in > > that width as possible. I'm trying to go larger (32"-34") for > > the sake of appearances, but dropping an inch or two would really help > > with getting things to fit. What would you consider to be the > > practical minimum for my situation? > > Hi Rhett, I recently had an O scale layout in a 9.5 foot wide room. > It had 46inch radius which just left enough room for a bit of scenery > between the track and the walls. Lets see, 9.5 feet is 114 inches - 2X > 46=22 /2 = 11 inches scenery each side I guess. Anyway it would have > looked better done in S scale with the 46 inch radius than it did in O > scale so I'd suggest using the largest curve possible and just build > any sidings or spurs on the end of the layout as curves. If you use a > short straight between two sharper curves it won't be any more useful > than one big broad curve, 10 feet is 120 inches -say 10 inches per > side for scenery=100, - 2 X34 =only 32 inches left of straight. Broad > curved switches look very realistic and operate as well as sharper > straight switches...dave > ------------------------------------ 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/
