So I've got some good rail nippers from xuron, I've got some roadbed (cork) on the way at my LHS, and I'm wanting to make a layout. I don't feel like spending money on a computer program or the time to learn it, and I work better if I 'see' it in front of me type of thing. So I got some white foam board, and set up a 60"x40" area to 'play' with some ideas. Eventually I'd like to set one up along the wall in a room with multiple areas but for now I'd like to 'get my hands on it' since I've not ever done a layout other than an oval. So I'm thinking I want to have to plan out a real curve instead of just bending the track and hoping I get a decent radius. I'd like to be able to put some larger passenger cards but I don't want a 5' radius either. I'm guessing that 19" radius would be the best, but can I go any tighter without the passenger car looking goofy when going around corners? I'm going to pick up a beam compass at an art supply store to make my circles for the centerlines of my curves. I've got that MRR book on realistic operations. My one hangup is if I want to build a yard, what radius of a curve do I striaghten out a #6 Atlas switch with? If you hook em together it just goes out kinda wonky instead of creating the parallel tracks. Thanks for the help. Getting excited to try things out and decide what to do.
XTrkCAD is free. Yes, that is a fine radius. Probably 15" is a minimum, but the definition of "goofy" will depend on you. In real life scaled to N, curves would be measured in yards. A yard stick, two pencils and some tape works too, and is cheaper. That will depend on the separation of the parallel yard tracks. Real life is 1.25", most use 1.5". I like 1" because the N Scale stuff is a bit wide. Making things fit is made harder because the Atlas #8 Code 80 switch has a curved diverging route. The Code 55 switch line has a straight diverging route, and it it a lot easier to make a transition curve. In real life, some sidings swing out then back in. You could do this to help connect up. Happy training!
First off, Welcome to Trainboard!! I am like you, I'm not a trackplanning program freak--I do all my trackplans in Microsoft Paint! My first suggestion is to get some pink or blue extruded foam board. The white stuff is the beadboard, I'm assuming, and it is very weak. I use only the poink or blue stuff on my layouts, and it is light, strong, and isn't as messy as the white stuff. The Xuron nippers are the best rtrack cutters out there, treat them well, and they'll last a long time. I use mine for track only. I have other cutters for other tasks. i suggest the same. Xuron's tool line is very good-quality, FWIW. I own several of their tools. For a layout with passenger cars, autoracks, and other 89' cars, 18" is as tight as you want to go, before things really look goofy. Those cars will negotiate 15" curves, but they won't like it much, and will tolerate no mis-aligned joints, kinks, etc. 19" curves will look great. I use a camera tripod, a piece of 1x2 (drilled at 0" and at 16-20" radius), and a pen. I like to draw my curves first, so they don't get tight on me. Freehanding it results in curves tighter than desired (at least that's my tendency). Heck, I drew out 1/4 circle arcs on a sheet of scrap plywood, and cut them on my bandsaw. I then use them to draw curves. Works like a charm! As for the turnout question--I dunno. I use Peco #6's and 8's. I guesstimate a 19" radius curve track comes with the turnouts. I don't fully understand that particular question--could you re-word it for me a bit different? Again, welcome, and remember; the only dumb question is the one you didn't ask!
So in my playing around if I take two #6 switches and take one left and one right and connect they're switched sides together it's not making a straight line, it curves slightly. maybe my head is on crooked. I'm using Code 80 Atlas flex, and #6 Atlas Code 80 switches right now.
Correct. Here is XTrkCAD output showing one way to do a crossover. This avoids the weird S curve that would foul up your passenger cars:
Using XTrkCAD, I made this crossover, which uses a piece of flex track 4.73" long to create a smooth crossover. As you can see, the parallel tracks are wider apart than normal (2"). This is a result of the curved diverging legs.
Ah, that explains what I was doing wrong, thanks for giving me the terminology of diverging as I didn't know what to call it. Unfortunately, I'm weird and like my Mac OS X so XtrkCAD doesn't run on it. Working on getting the windows thing to work using the virtualization software but the stupid activation thing puked and said I've invalidated my license. Not really happy at windows right now.
As well you should. I am checking on the XtrkCAD Yahoo group for instructions on how to get the OSX port. The group supporting XTrkCAD does not state obvious things, like how do I get it and what platforms does it run on. You know, the little things... mg:
My dad used to always tell me that the way to use Atlas Flex track is to keep the side of the flex track that the rail "slides" in to the inside of the curve - I find that most people have never heard about this.
I'm usiing Parallels http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/ I have had great success with very touchy Windows programs. You lost your "validation" becasue windows sees the Virtual machine as a different machine and Redmond assumes that you are pirating a copy. If you go to microsoft.com and search "validation" there's a phone number to call. When you ask for a new key, just tell them that you put it on a new machine. I am assuming, of course, that you have a legitimate copy and went thru the registration and validation process when you put XP on the Windows machine
Yeah totally legit copy. Heck the CD hadn't even warmed up to room temperature from getting it in the mail before it told me I violated my license. Installed Windows under boot camp, applied patches, rebooted and set up Parallels and got the message. Boot camp doesn't like my bluetooth keyboard and won't let me back out of windows until I go find a USB keyboard. Apparently I can't run virtualized or Full Hardware thanks to the new WGA according to Microsoft. I'll need to buy a second copy, and install it in a second place should I care to do that. I have a few words to describe that but won't use them here. So right now I'm trying to decide if I want to run windows natively with Boot Camp, or virtualize it. But I digress.
If you decide to buy IF you decide to buy, don't overlook newegg.com's OEM XP Media center. It's the cheapest that I could find and it runs just like XP Pro. THe Media description just adds a few bells and whistles that we don't need with a Mac. It is what I'm using with Parallels as a VM - no Boot Camp - just another application
