John, I am not picky, lets face it, I gave up realism a long time ago... so which would be better a steam or a diesel for the curves? I think I could make either work.
CSX, WOW, you definitely know your stuff! If you look at it, I didn't put alot into it. I tried to keep the helix as tight as possible so to keep the grade as low as possible. I have not worked with this in two years, I think it was an 8in radius which climed to a total of 5ft high, the train worked well but would jump the track every now and then in the Helix.... Needless to say the engines are kind of worn out, so was about to buy another... I can make anything look Christmas. So would a 3 axle steam engine be better than a 4 axle diesel?
Shortround, the foliage is actually pretty easy... (keeping in mind I am using fake foliage that can be wired to any shape, lol. It actually works in your favor to hide wires or other unsightly things you don't want to see.
A lot is going to depend on weight for tractive effort and whether the loco has traction tires. For a steamer a 3 axle with small drivers is best. Diesel I would go for an SW type or the NW.
John, I admit I am still kind of new with this terminology. What is "small drivers." When I google it, it says its a person that drives a train, lol. I also am not sure what is an "SW" or "NW." I am learning but just not fast enough, I guess.
You can't just generically say that one is better than the other, there are just too many variables that it depends on so it's going to depend on the individual engines. "Small drivers" is just referring to the size of the driving wheels. Here's the 2-8-0 I refered to earlier along with a 4-6-2 that I have: Your first instinct might be that the 4-6-2 could take a tighter curve because it only has three driving axles; however, the 2-8-0 has much smaller drivers to where it's driven axle wheel base is about the same as the 4-6-2. In addition, the center two sets of drivers on the 2-8-0 are also blind (they don't have flanges), which lets it take a tighter curve than it could otherwise, so the 2-8-0 above will actually take a much tighter curve than the 4-6-2. With 4 axle diesels, the wheel size won't vary as much, but the wheelbase will vary a lot. A Kato P42 only has 4 axles, but it likely will not handle thosse curves because it is quite long for a 4 axle loco. With such tight curves, you want a short loco, but one problem with shorter locos is they are often lighter and won't pull as much up the helix. That's where traction tires come in handy, which you are more likely to find on steamers, but you can find them on some diesels as well. I've got an older Atlas RS-11 that has traction tires and can handle curves that tight. In fact, lighter weight with traction tires might be bettrer with such a steep helix because it would be easier on the motor. The 2-8-0 above has four traction tires so it pulls well for a loco as light as it is.
My ceiling limited how tall my train tree could be and my wife hated the tree because she couldn't put gifts under it.... so I got a new wife. LOL, I am just kidding, I did get a new house with higher ceilings, so I added a base to the tree. And as you all know, you can't add on without adding another train right? So I added the Lionel Polar Express! Please let me know your thoughts if you have time.
A train in the tree is one thing but if you want a real challenge put one in a ceiling fan. Then run both at the same time. Gives a whole new meaning to 'railfan'.
For fun I'd go watch the train hanging from the roof (ceiling) of the local hardware. It's so big the track has to be over 6 inches wide. He used to decorate it but it broke down a couple years ago.
I gotta ask, how was it hanging? was it like a shelf that ran around the room, I have seen that, but not yours sounds like it may have been something more than a shelf.
Is this a thing? Do you have pics? It makes my head hurt just trying to imagine it after all the heck I have had trying to get my train to stay on the tracks, lol.
The building has triangular metal roof trusses. There's cables hanging down from them to similar but custom made roof trusses that the tracks lay on. The tracks have ties but no ballast. So you can see it all from below. It's above the sections for fasteners and tools. So it's about 20 feet above us. I've talked with the owner about model trains several times. Rich
guys would there be any benefit to me setting this train tree up as DCC? I have to admit I have zero experience with DCC, but am thinking of buying more Christmas looking engines and I guess if I am going to switch to DCC, now is the time. Just not sure if there is a benefit, I really don't need sound although I am sure I could incorporate it. Would love to hear your thoughts.
I can think of two things you could get with DCC (in addition to sound): If you use decoders with bemf compensation you could get more consistent speed between the uphill and downhill legs of the run. If you wanted to run more than one train at a time you would get ability to speed them up or slow them down individually to keep them from running into each other.
