Hi, My partner would love to have an overpass where one train goes over another. The layout isn't all that big. Kind of U shaped so you can walk into the middle but, is more V in the middle then the full U. I'll try to explain. There is a 4x8 board on the right, a small v shape board that is about 1 1/2 feet wide at the widest you can walk into and then another almost 4x8 on the left that goes out more of an angle. I guess a large A would be more like it in retropect with the left part of the A arm going out more at an angle. I've never worked with O gauge and I'm trying to set up his track for him and what he wants. So far I only know he wan't an overpass. Is the 2% still going for max hight in slope for the O gauge and how many inches up would I need to pass over another engine, 4? How many inches would I need to run piers to get the hight over another engine. He hasn't run a train since he was a child in the early 50's and I haven't played with an O since I was in the early 70's and that was only a figure 8 design when I was a child. Thanks for any help.
For clearances, I know the NMRA has standards gauges available. You might check their site and see. They may also have suggestions for measured clearances without using a gauge. If you don't find what you need at the above site, try taking a piece of roadbed, put a section of track atop that, then place the very tallest piece of rolling stock or motive power at hand on those and see what you have, all totalled. Then I would probably add another one half to one more inch. From there you can see what grade you'd need to obtain the height required. At least you can get started looking at what is possible, or not.
Hi Growler, BoxcabE50 is like me; he likes to start by seeing the real deal! Another source of information is the Atlas O site. Here is a link to their O scale track planning: http://www.atlaso.com/menu3.htm that may give you some guidance. Atlas is a good product and although we are an Atlas dealer, we don't carry O (yet?) or perhaps I could be of more help. Good luck! Roger Bernhardt
My dad did it on a layout about 4x8 or maybe 5x8 with Lionel Magnetraction, O gauge curves 18" radius, etc. Track went up, over other track, around reverse loop and back same way it came up. Only one ramp. If you can't get a track both up and down, you might consider having a BRANCH go up and over, but return via a reverse loop, OR it could be a deadend switching branch with a runaround siding at the top.
Hi guys, Sorry, I haven't had the time to get into looking right now. I've been really busy the last couple weeks. Just spent all day putting up sheet rock and doing some electrical in the basement. Dead tired. Really cool layout there. Love seeing the pics. Got some bad news when I went down and measured the board again. It's even smaller then what I thought it was for width and length. Now I know I can't put in a double track and am going to have to look into something else for my partner.
