[kristopher1805]

Good idea buy the Peco catalogue and the set track plans book, this is still useful

Generally the standard radius are R1 =371mm
R2 = 432
R3 = 505
R4 = 572

So if you take this then a half loop in R3 needs 1.01m plus the extra width which is 20 mm (10 either side) and you need a bit of swing space too so say another 10 each side. Now if R3 is the outer then the minimum end width of your plank is 1.05m so you are looking at 42 inches and this is the minimum to be effective. You can inside in a sort of a dog bone shape might help a bit to get reach and access.

If you have the space Streamline is great, I use this but you will never get a tight curve using this it is great for long sweeping realistic curves, for a train set on a plank it will be too difficult.

Points, the minimum radius of the set track points is R2 = 432mm and ALL Hornby locos will tackle this, big Heljans will come off the track some Bachmann locos will dislike it too so again much better to use Streamline electrofrog but you do not have the space. As the curves tighten up coaches will cut the chord and end sweep more so the physical separation needs to be greater - and you do not have the space for other than set track.

R1 is for very small locos such as the Peckett but Hornby Railroad range will tackle this radius including the Railroad 9F just goes to show what you can do if you try!

From this you will see that - you never have enough space!

The UK outline of locos is good, UK stuff is pretty reasonably priced compared to continental and it is hugely better than it was before,

The quintessential loco for UK is the Hornby Black 5 - did everything and last used by BR on 12 August 1968 (the day after steam officially ended) - it shunted Preston yard 45212 the Hornby model os a 'good 'un' will take tight corner, has flexible axles and is pretty robust.

 

[kristopher1805]

Good idea buy the Peco catalogue and the set track plans book, this is still useful

Generally the standard radius are R1 =371mm
R2 = 432
R3 = 505
R4 = 572

So if you take this then a half loop in R3 needs 1.01m plus the extra width which is 20 mm (10 either side) and you need a bit of swing space too so say another 10 each side. Now if R3 is the outer then the minimum end width of your plank is 1.05m so you are looking at 42 inches and this is the minimum to be effective. You can inside in a sort of a dog bone shape might help a bit to get reach and access.

If you have the space Streamline is great, I use this but you will never get a tight curve using this it is great for long sweeping realistic curves, for a train set on a plank it will be too difficult.

Points, the minimum radius of the set track points is R2 = 432mm and ALL Hornby locos will tackle this, big Heljans will come off the track some Bachmann locos will dislike it too so again much better to use Streamline electrofrog but you do not have the space. As the curves tighten up coaches will cut the chord and end sweep more so the physical separation needs to be greater - and you do not have the space for other than set track.

R1 is for very small locos such as the Peckett but Hornby Railroad range will tackle this radius including the Railroad 9F just goes to show what you can do if you try!

From this you will see that - you never have enough space!

The UK outline of locos is good, UK stuff is pretty reasonably priced compared to continental and it is hugely better than it was before,

The quintessential loco for UK is the Hornby Black 5 - did everything and last used by BR on 12 August 1968 (the day after steam officially ended) - it shunted Preston yard 45212 the Hornby model os a 'good 'un' will take tight corner, has flexible axles and is pretty robust.

 

[kristopher1805]

hmm, Er...well Hattons will send by DHL so you get it less 20% vat, cheaper with the postage than we can buy in Blighty.No new Bachmann stock as they fell out

forget spirals they need R3 (in OO) as well so no advantage for you either

study the Peco set track book before you throw money away as this tells you exactly what you need

 

[kristopher1805]

You could try OO9 which is OO in scale but runs on N size track and there is a lot of OO9 models out there and very nice they are, maybe worth a look at?

 

[kristopher1805]

sure that can work - but only you can decide that, I did see one clever option where the entire railway could be hoisted up and out of the way.

 

[kristopher1805]

It will work, to get R4 you need 576 x2 or thereabouts and 3 foot gives you 915 and 10 inches is 254 so you have 1169 mm and you would need 1152 plus overlaps of 18/20 each side so you can just about get an R4 plus R3 inner loop for a twin track railway. Things depend upon what sort of railway you want, I run no less than 8 loops and like to see trains running round but some like to shunt or whatever but most UK rail is twin track.

A 3' middle gives you a couple of loops in fact long ago I had a table layout and I put the loops at the ends to stack a pair of trains and had both a station on one side and a spur with station and you could do something similar, just have to try fitting it as best you can, one point that can help is the PECO streamline Y point this is because it has a 24 degree parting so you get the standard 12 degree in each direction off the centre so this can be very helpful as it works like a standard point.

Since my computer died I cannot find these older photos so sorry not available.

 

[kristopher1805]

Insulfrog applies to all track, electrofrog applies to streamline as an option and unifrog is limited to the new bullhead rail which has a very limited model range so far but looks very promising, I did ask Richard at DCC Concepts as to whether his bullhead was compatible with the new Peco option and he did not know, I would want to know this is yes before going that way right now.

So your option is really Peco set track (spell checker keeps changing the real name) but the Bachmann is also valid, Continental track such as Flieschmann is actually a little tighter so your dimensions would work with F/Roco R4 and R3 comfortably but I still prefer the look of Peco.

DCC - now there is a can of worms and most people on here want you to buy the one they have, mine is the Roco Z21 and I went for this on the following grounds
1. It has infinite update ability
2. The graphics are provided by the iPad makes it cheaper.
3. It is compatible with other Roco track specials, turntable etc.
4. I have over 200 locos on the system (Android version gave up at 93) and still adding more!
5. I run 8 tracks concurrently
6. Not perfect but pretty good.

That said you may think differently !
Nothing cheap about this system and if you want a few blown decoders I can provide you at least 40.
Now my Goto 8 pin decoder is the DCC Concepts nano direct which so far has fitted everything
21 pin I have used the Bachmann again good results although DCCC make one as well
6 pin and 18 pin again Bachmann
4 pin - not yet been able to buy one! so my Peckett is confined to the tram track which is non dcc.

Finally - NEVER let dcc and analogue mix on the same track keep them completely and absolutely separate!

 

[kristopher1805]

Yes. Set track is only insulfrog! (at least last time I checked)

 

[kristopher1805]

One of the problems is point angle and loop separation I too looked at Flieschmann and found an 18 degree angle, Set track is 22.5 degree and Streamline 12 degree, obviously the wider the angle the shorter the point and thus longer the loop, the other critical factor are coaches, the mark 1 in BR parlance has a longish wheelbase and significant overhang (as do Pullmans) so as you go sharper the end sweep and the chord cutting of the centre of the coach needs more space so the 67mm centres of Set track are needed for R3 and under the other issue is end sweep and these can hit each other.

When I laid out my 4 track I used set track and kept the spacing under hidden areas but had to pull some tricks in the streamline areas to stop contact between coaches passing and you have no choice. Streamline has a 50 mm centres I found 55 to be easier, with your space set track is unavoidable.

By the way when I built the inner loop I used R3 and R4 and made up R5 and R6 using Flexi track and the little red Peco gauge.

The Heljan O2 is definitely NOT for set track - anything tighter than R6 and it gives trouble and the front truck is very thin on the flange as well
My two are seen here - still got to like them though

 

[kristopher1805]

You can use German HO with Peco OO which is HO anyway as long as it is code 100, I have done this in an earlier model railway as I liked some points they produced, in fact even if you go code 100 Peco but later want to go code 75 then Peco produce a connection piece that allows this to be done.
Rail joiners for code 100 all types I have as yet come across - you can use Peco, rail joiners for code 75 are smaller however.

 

[kristopher1805]

Z21 is future proof how I see it, just use the iPad version, it also is very expandable so a good choice I think certainly would not swap out mine.

 

[kristopher1805]

Another thought - if you choose a Peco set track layout then Osbournes of Bideford Devon will sell the track at a bit of a discount so you might save a bit

 

[kristopher1805]

As I said its a future proof system, some of the small suppliers will struggle to survive and it is ready to go, the downloads will improve over the next few years as well, but there is a good point here, if you are seeing a model layout as a sort of test - do `I like this? then maybe it is a 'not yet' situation as a decent Gasugemaster controller for DC is quite cheap so maybe delay the investment but if you are planning a steady expansion of your layout and making it a principle hobby then - Go for it!

In regards to my views well I do not give up easy and persist also once I switched to the iPad it was so much better, these systems are not however fast unless you happen to be on the correct page just have to allow for this, also the suppliers of the decoders have improved, a few years back there were a lot of badge engineered ones and I had a heap of trouble but now as I honed in on a select group of suppliers then the reliability has improved greatly and such that in one case I have had no failures at all.

 

[kristopher1805]

I think I said before

8 pin Direct = DCC Concepts nano direct - fits everything so far
21 pin direct = Bachmann (DCC Concepts as reserve but the Bachmann is easier to source from local shops)
18 pin = Bachmann
6 pin = Bachmann
4 pin = not found any but should be Hornby only applies to my Peckett
Hard wire - ESU V4

Trams and OO9 = analogue

In addition I have two sound locos but do not use this facility.

As to the failures pretty much everything else although some are good.

 

[kristopher1805]

Hey Kiwibarge it is now a year on - so what did you do/go for whatever.

 

[kristopher1805]

Another year has gone by and we are on radio silence so do let us know how you are getting on.