I have completed a Walther's kit. The roof overhang interferes with larger steam engines (I run transition era). If I pull the freight house and office back, it looks unnaturally far away. I have tried to gauge the approximate proper distance through pictures, etc., but cannot seem to get a handle on it. Do I need to raise the height of what the model sits on to get enough clearance or am I trying to get it too close the rail in the first place?
The pictures I have seen show the boxcar floor very close to the platform or loading dock, so a sheet of wood or "bridge plate" can easily span the gap. Here is a quote from the enclosed link: "Bridge Plate (Also called a "dock plate".) A bridge plate was used to connect the open doors of boxcars located adjacent to on another to facilitate loading or unloading and in conjunction with a loading dock or freight house... This method could be used anywhere the freight cars were located adjacent to a loading dock or freight door that was the same height as the floor of the boxcar." See http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/glossary.html for pictures and a more complete description. With high roadbed and ballast, I would raise the structure to compensate so that the boxcar floor is just about level with the dock. Hopefully, the steam engine will clear. Richard
It depends on what track and road bed combintation you're using. I have Kato Unitrack with no cork under it. To bring the "platform" level of the freight shed or passenger depot up, I lay sheets of 5mm thick foam core board, and put the kit on top of that. That gets the "platform" to the right height. It should then be a simple matter to put the building far enough back that the stock and building don't collide or that it doesn's look too far back. Regards, Pete Davies
nmra standard look at the nmra standard http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/consist.html. scroll down a bit and click on s-7 clearances to download the pdf. you're probably modeling old time or classic. P is the distance from center of rail to loading dock edge. E is the height of top of dock from top of rail. So for N scale, classic, E = 8mm and P = 11mm. So your loading dock should be 8mm above the rail height and 11mm from center of track or 11 - (9/2) = 6.5mm from edge of rail approximately.
NMRA GUAGE If you are using your NMRA track guage, it has a side that will give you the set backs for loading docks and the proper height for them.
