G-Track

[IanT]

When I were a 'Lad' - my first model railway was 'Triang' and the track comprised a grey plastic base with the rail & sleeper detail all incorporated. I guess this was a 'modern'  version of the early Hornby (3-rail?) tin track that had all the detail printed on. By the time my sons got their first 'train set' (Hornby) the track base had disappeared but the track was still provided as standard items (straights, curves, turnouts etc.)   

I've been trying to find some details of how the geometry (or dimensions) of the old track parts were designed to enable them to be connected together so neatly - but not really made much progress. Anyone have any useful pointers in this area?

Regards,

IanT

[John Candy]

Ian,

I still have a few oddments of HD 3-rail track and points in a box "somewhere" .... probably in the loft .... I'll have a look.

I seem to remember that HD used two "stock" radii of curved sections.... 15 inch and 17+ something inch.
The points were all 15inch radius so far as I recall.
Whether HD 2-rail used different geometry I cannot say.
I seem to remember that my friends all had Triang and that the radius was smaller (13inch I think).

John

[Andy B]

Ian,

You can get a pretty good idea from this page: http://www.trianghornby.net/layout.html.
It is done in 'Super 4' track, not the earlier type, but I'm sure the geometry was very similar.
Also a catalogue page here: http://www.vintagemodeltrains.biz/contents/en-uk/d74_super4track.html

There were 3 radii. All basically had 8 standard length curves to a circle, but half length curves were also available.
Points were 2nd radius only, and 1/16th of a circle.

Andy

[IanT]

Thanks guys, useful feedback which helped.

The results you get back from search engines do depend on the 'words' you search with. Digging into the numbers above, I found this page which helped explain it further (I hope)

http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/1999_1_106717291.html

I was really after some DXF files (that I could easily scale) but thus far had only found track planning software, not quite what I wanted. But the underlying geometry might be enough to begin with.

However, the Antics site also reminded me to check Peco where these PDFs can be downloaded.

http://www.peco-uk.com/page.asp?id=tempc75

Again not quite what I wanted but potentially useful. I'll have to have look into it when I get the time (Coffee break's over, guests arriving shortly and I've been told to get the Hoover out). It's blowing pretty hard outside so I'm quite pleased it's not me driving today.

Regards,

IanT

P.S. Maybe I should have called this thread "GeTrack" (with a silent 'e')     

[John Candy]

I am attaching two DXF files exported from Templot.

a) A 12ft radius circle in G3
b) A 1/16th segment of same circle.

Have no idea if these are of any help or, indeed, what you are hoping to produce.

Regards,
John.

[IanT]

Thanks John - it's just something that I'm "toying" with shall we say.

Regards,

IanT

[John Candy]

If you need different radii or segment sizes....or anything else from Templot (but please don't ask for a double slip!!) just ask.

John

[IanT]

I've just refreshed my copy of Templot (to the latest version) John and I'm once again trying to (re)learn it. From time to time, I've looked around at potential alternatives but Templot still seems to be the best software for the kind of work I do (in G3).

It's clearly a very sophisticated piece of software (and potentially a powerful design tool) but I've always struggled with it. I'm certain that it's very much like using 'CAD' in that you have to put the time and effort in to really master it - although it's very unlike CAD in it's general approach. I've been trying to do that with TurboCAD over the years (and slowly making progress) because I tend to use CAD quite often. I only need to use Templot very occasionally and quite often for very basic designs (i.e. a single turnout) - so find it difficult to acquire the skills (and then retain them)

But I will have another go when I get the time - so thank you for your kind offer but it's something I need to work on directly.

In the meantime, the weather is a lot better here this morning (at least at the moment) so perhaps a good opportunity to get some woodworking done without giving my other tools a good dusting.

Regards,

IanT