I know that the mainline should always run down the straight part of the turnout, but there are two places in my layout plan where I see no way around having the mainline take the diverging route and using the straight part of the switch for the siding. It happens at the exit of a turn. I don't have a slick trackplan done on computer, just my rough sketches, so it's kind of hard to post my plan. I can take a picture and post it if it would help. Have any of you ever seen the prototype do this? I'm racking my brain coming up with an alternative, but can't figure it out. Any Ideas?
It's a model railroad dude. Don't sweat it. Even the prototypes track is often dictated by the terrain. In your case the issue is that the flat earth the layout exists on is about to fall off into space. Something we neglect to talk about on model railroad forums is that even real railroads have speed limits based upon the location the train is at. Hit a curve and the speed limit is reduced. If you have a diverging route spur maybe the speed limit is lower just to make sure the mainline trains don't jump the points. Errr... Exactly how sharp is this turn? I only ask because steam can be nitpicky about switches. Pilot trucks have a tendency to stay aligned the way they wereon the curve and hop over points. Maybe you can build a mock up and test your equipment on it first.
Yes it is better to keep a main line off of a diverging route. However, the world should not come to a bitter end if you must have the mainline take the diverging route. As Geeky pointed out, it may be just a matter of reducing speed of the train to avoid derailments. A mock up is a great idea, try it out and if it works....problem solved
Some manufacturers (PECO, Minitrix, Roco) have curved turnouts for similar situations where a siding starts in a curve. The main might be still the "inner" track but it is less obvious. Maybe one of these "special" turnouts helps? Cheers Dirk
There was a Model Railroader issue within the last 2 years or so that discussed just this subject. They provided a photo of an actual prototype that used the diverging route for the main and the tangent track to enter an industrail siding. It was an interesting article and demonstrated once again that there is a prototype out there for just about anything that we utilize in our modeling.
It's your railroad so don't sweat it. Look at the left side of the photo. My mainline there is on the curved part of the turnout. I've run trains at full speed and it's not a problem.
I've had this question, too. At my jct. at Plywood District I used the curved leg of the turnout. old thread Wolfgang
Thanks for the input. I thought about a curved turnout last night after I posted this. I'm re-drawing my plan and will post it after I get it done. Thanks again for your help guys!
