The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 3

[jbvb]

The Tahope roads you propose give the feel of the town having been platted after the RR was surveyed, as everything is on the same grid.  One option would be to have most streets laid out square to the RoW and one or two skewed, dating earlier.

I've seen a good deal of street track laid in concrete, but I can't recall grade crossings done without at least a little wood, asphalt or rubber (modern era) next to the rails. Grade crossing rail goes from open ties to pavement to open ties, and is subject to cracks, wears, wheelslip burns etc.  Usually the MoW Super insists on rail which can be replaced without delays to either trains or autos.  Waiting for concrete to cure doesn't fit well with that.

[ACL1504]

Looks good, Tom.

Volume three is kicking along nicely!

Cheers, Mark.

Mark,

Thank you! I'll be very busy for the next few months on the center section.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom thanks for the great instructions on designing and testing the road. Timing could not have been better. I am just researching how to put a road in my little layout. You are doing the heavy lifting for me.

I will be interested in how you put the road down with tracks running parallel to the town buildings. The second siding on my layout is planned to have that happen. Being 1910 or so my roads will be brick.

Looking good

Thanks
Jim D

Jim,

Thank you, much appreciate you letting me know this will help. I discussed in much more detail how to do the paved roads in two locations through out the thread. Sorry, not sure where they are but you need to read them as it will give you a "step by step" system for great looking roads.

Tom

[ACL1504]

SHouldn't the road have a center crown, to let the rain drain to the sides?


dave

Dave,

Yes, you are correct. I've done road crowns in the past and to make the crown visible, it doesn't look natural in HO scale. My opinion only though. Also, I found it hard to do crossing tracks.

However, you now have issued a challenge, intended or not, so I'll see what I can do with the road crossing the 5 tracks.


I appreciate the idea.

Tom

[GPdemayo]

Tahope is coming together Tom.....

As Tom eluded to earlier, he has made it very clear that there will be a very low speed limit in Tahope and that any violation of said limit will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I'm sure that after he and "The Judge" have a come to Jesus meeting, A&S RR style, I will only be permitted to run a steam engine to of from the roundhouse between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM so as to limit the exposure of the locals to any hazardous conditions along the rails. 

[ACL1504]

Tom,
Thanks as always for your elegant, patient description of how things should be done correctly.
Selfish question: would you change this process if you were building what the B&O called "center running", locales where the railroad ran down the center of the street (not in an island arrangement)? Planning to do the first area of a layout showing urban running with the tracks in the street.
Not trying to hijack your thread.
Thanks for any comment/suggestions.

Chip,

Thank you for the kind compliment on the thread.

I'll answer your question with what my father used to say was a none response to his question. My answer is Yes and No. First, No as I wanted to do some "center running" on the island portion of the layout. This allowed me to have two tracks and points of interest.

And secondly, Yes, as I plan to do some urban "center street running" on the third level as well. This "center running " section will be more of a business district area.

Hijack my thread any time my friend. We are all here to help each other and share our experiences and ideas. I may be the author of the thread but it is all our thread.

Tom

[ACL1504]

The Tahope roads you propose give the feel of the town having been platted after the RR was surveyed, as everything is on the same grid.  One option would be to have most streets laid out square to the RoW and one or two skewed, dating earlier.

I've seen a good deal of street track laid in concrete, but I can't recall grade crossings done without at least a little wood, asphalt or rubber (modern era) next to the rails. Grade crossing rail goes from open ties to pavement to open ties, and is subject to cracks, wears, wheelslip burns etc.  Usually the MoW Super insists on rail which can be replaced without delays to either trains or autos.  Waiting for concrete to cure doesn't fit well with that.

James,

Thanks for checking in and offering your comments. One of my options was to have a road parallel the the RR ROW. This took up to much room and didn't offer me a chance to have more structures.

When I said earlier that I hadn't decided to have wood next to the track or pave it, I was pretty much just speaking out loud. Not sure why. Anyway I fully intend to have the wood planks next to and in the middle of the two rails. The photo below shows what I did just north of Sandlando. The photo reminds me to finish the weathering across the track.



In the photo below, I do have the road between the two citrus plants at an angle to the main highway. The one road we just decussed, is the only one on the layout that is perpendicular to the layout itself. This was done to ease into the "center street running" section.



As always Jim, I appreciate the input and comments.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tahope is coming together Tom.....

As Tom eluded to earlier, he has made it very clear that there will be a very low speed limit in Tahope and that any violation of said limit will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I'm sure that after he and "The Judge" have a come to Jesus meeting, A&S RR style, I will only be permitted to run a steam engine to of from the roundhouse between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM so as to limit the exposure of the locals to any hazardous conditions along the rails. 

Greg,

Thank you my friend. It has been fun.

Make no mistake, you will be monitored with the throttle in you fast little fingers. Remember, between the Judge and I, we can file charges, make the arrest, have an arraignment, determine quilt and pronounce sentence all in 10 minutes or less. This is known as Tahope Cracker Law.

Just saying.

Tom

[deemery]

SHouldn't the road have a center crown, to let the rain drain to the sides?

dave

Dave,

Yes, you are correct. I've done road crowns in the past and to make the crown visible, it doesn't look natural in HO scale. My opinion only though. Also, I found it hard to do crossing tracks.

However, you now have issued a challenge, intended or not, so I'll see what I can do with the road crossing the 5 tracks.


I appreciate the idea.

Tom

Hmm...  I guess you could get at least some of the effect through shading and weathering.  That's easier than trying to get a scale bump in the middle of the road :-)

dave

[GPdemayo]

Tahope is coming together Tom.....

As Tom eluded to earlier, he has made it very clear that there will be a very low speed limit in Tahope and that any violation of said limit will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I'm sure that after he and "The Judge" have a come to Jesus meeting, A&S RR style, I will only be permitted to run a steam engine to of from the roundhouse between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM so as to limit the exposure of the locals to any hazardous conditions along the rails. 

Greg.....Make no mistake, you will be monitored with the throttle in you fast little fingers. Remember, between the Judge and I, we can file charges, make the arrest, have an arraignment, determine quilt and pronounce sentence all in 10 minutes or less. This is known as Tahope Cracker Law.....

Tom

That's what I was afraid of.....damn little Florida towns are almost as bad as Georgia's. Absolutely no sense of humor where it concerns scofflaws and improving the size of the town coffers.....

[Zephyrus52246]

Here's how I put the crown on the roads.  The base is 1/8 inch masonite.  The road surface is 2mm Sintra (A PVC plastic).  I used a piece of stripwood to raise the center.  It's a six inch rise on a 26 foot wide road.  Too much crown?  Not enough?


Jeff

[jerryrbeach]

Here's how I put the crown on the roads.  The base is 1/8 inch masonite.  The road surface is 2mm Sintra (A PVC plastic).  I used a piece of stripwood to raise the center.  It's a six inch rise on a 26 foot wide road.  Too much crown?  Not enough?


Jeff

Jeff,

FWIW, the standard lane width for an interstate highway is 12 foot.  Prior to the construction of the interstate system lane widths were generally narrower.  When I was growing up in the 50's and even into the 60's some roads in the northeast were widened by adding a foot or more to the outside edge of the existing roadway.  Since the road base was not uniform, even after repaving across the lanes the outer edge would be higher or lower than the narrower section, usually due to the base settling.  After this type of widening process many roads had an annoying "seam" that drivers had to straddle because of the difference between the two portions of the road. 
The amount of crown in a two lane highway is generally in the range of roughly 2% of the lane width.  For example, a modern highway with a 12 foot lane width would generally have a crown of about 2 to 2 1/2".  Anything greater than a roughly 2% crown can be annoying when traveling on the road.  States that commonly have heavy rainfall may choose to use a greater amount of crown. 
Isn't it interesting how prior employment can fill your head with miscellaneous and sometimes useful information? 

[ACL1504]

Here's how I put the crown on the roads.  The base is 1/8 inch masonite.  The road surface is 2mm Sintra (A PVC plastic).  I used a piece of stripwood to raise the center.  It's a six inch rise on a 26 foot wide road.  Too much crown?  Not enough?


Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks for the two photos on how you did the road. In my opinion the crown is to much. I think half the rise would look more realistic in your future roads. That said, you may have a different look when viewing the road from the side.

If you look at the cars in your photos, to me,  they appear as if the are on a curve in the road and not the straight section.

My layout era is late 40's early 50's.


My country roads are 21 HO scale feet wide and the highway is 22 HO scale feet wide. Both roads shown below have no crown.


Tom




Country road - 21' wide.



Highway road - 22' wide.

[ACL1504]

Here's how I put the crown on the roads.  The base is 1/8 inch masonite.  The road surface is 2mm Sintra (A PVC plastic).  I used a piece of stripwood to raise the center.  It's a six inch rise on a 26 foot wide road.  Too much crown?  Not enough?


Jeff

Jeff,
 
Isn't it interesting how prior employment can fill your head with miscellaneous and sometimes useful information?

Jerry,

Not referring to you but in my world of prior employment I refer to this minutiae as superfluous BS.  


I can't stand to watch any law enforcement shows as I see all the mistakes being made like throwing bullets Lone Ranger style. Officer safety is off the charts and it drives me crazy. And that doesn't take much.

Tom

[deemery]

I'm always amazed how
  • everyone shoots forever without reloading
 
  • someone gets a first round perfect hit or they expend a lot of ammo and can't hit the broadside of a barn

  • someone gets shot right in the shoulder and gets better in a day or so

  • no one gets knocked on his/her ass when they get shot

dave