Scalefour Forum

I've seen a few society, member posts in the last few months about modelling inset track using girder rail.

So I thought I'd share a progress update with my current expansion of the "Electric Avenue" girder rail system that I developed for the Proto:87 and by extension, for the HO/00 tram community. The reason I'm posting about it here is that the girder rail itself has been deliberately made to exact P4 standards. So that it can be used as inset track on P4 layouts, and by similar extension, on EM and 00 layouts also.

Currently I'm going well beyond just providing rail and turnout parts. It is now possible to create and provide complete, and even complex, street sections with the rail easily embedded in the road(or yard or dock) surface. The short video clip below shows a small testing track oval, made of the new individual sections, with a new functional scissors crossover as one section.



While this sharp radius crossover would be only suitable for UK trams, we already have #4, #5, and #6 girder rail turnout parts that, when installed in the appropriate matching size new road surface sections, will provide an easy, accurate way of laying P4 tramway and paved girder rail yards and dock trackwork.



See: http://www.proto87.com/Paved_industrial ... track.html for more details

The system has been designed to support normal 2-rail wiring, whether operated as DC or the newer DCC, so is perfectly suitable for normal railway vehicles that expect 2-rail working.

Just as an aside, I did write a response to Bill's last post on the Calcutter Sidings topic, which quite understandably was only recently added, but is backdated to it's original Sept 6 date of posting. BTW My heartfelt congratulations to John McAleely on his new happy state .

Andy

Interesting.

Andy,

Can I take it from your posting above and reference to your website that us p4'ers can use the P87 components as are, there being enough 'slop' to cater for the tad extra gauge when using the etched inner and outer curved rail sections?

Thanks,
Peter

decauville1126 wrote:Andy,

Can I take it from your posting above and reference to your website that us p4'ers can use the P87 components as are, there being enough 'slop' to cater for the tad extra gauge when using the etched inner and outer curved rail sections?

Thanks,
Peter

Yes, The rail sections are ordinary semi-hard nickel silver and the radii can be finger adjusted slightly with no problems. If you also used the new slotted sectional track bases, those would be machined to give 18.83 mm gauging and would tend to hold the curved rails sections to the revised P4 gauge requirements exactly, even if the hand reworking was only approximate. If the frog angles on curved diamonds ended up slightly out they can be replaced with butt jointed rail and the crossing groove carved out with a normal 0.025" Dremel cutting disc, or fine file.

The cars in the video are actually out of the Box RTR HO units with normal HO wheels. No adjustments or modifications whatsoever. And certainly no working suspension. The green/yellow cars are recent US Bachmann offerings and the cream articulated is an elderly ROCO unit.

P4 wheel sets would operate normally by running on the rail head, whereas the HO wheels run with the tips of their wheel flanges resting on the base of the flange way, as shown below.



In the latter case the two upper edges of the girder rail act as a twin check rails, steering the wheels from a little above half way up the flange depth. And of course the track gauge shown above and in the in the video for RTR HO is adjusted narrower to compensate for flange tip running. Only track laid for P:87 or P4 would be traditionally gauged to the values in their specific standards.

Hope this helps.

Andy

More (under construction) progress on the inset track street sections for trams, etc. This is the 6o degree double junction.



And a close up of the rail curvature through the curved diamond crossing, showing what I hope is a realistic aging dry concrete ( sunny weather) effect.

Andy

After a long hiatus due to the usual domestic pressures of marital bliss, (Workshop relocation and then a long asked for remodeled kitchen and relaid floors) I have moved a little further along on making my realistic tram and railway inset track.

The picture above shows that it is now possible to represent curved setts around P4 specification girder rail in true 3D with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Or at least to the era that they were originally carefully laid. The gauge shown is HO, but they can just as easily be made to fit EM, P4 and the appropriate narrow gauges if desired.

Also below I've included a you tube of the simulated just plain road surface HO double junction and HO double crossover track showing highly reliable running using ordinary RP25 HO wheel sets and the gauge specifically matched to the ordinary HO wheel set flange-flange dimension. However using P4 or P:87 wheel sets with a true gauge and working suspension should give 100% reliability in all situations.



Hopefully this may be useful for current or future P4 projects

Andy

Andy,

Is it possible to connect code 55 FB to your girder rail? I’m thinking of a dockyard/pier with mixed track, inset and open.

Cheers,

David

If you are using proto-scale wheels and gauge, such as P4, the it's just a matter of shimming up the lower track rail head to match the higher one. I'm using nominal 1/8" base material and the girder rail is protruding up about 0.010" higher for ease of cleaning.

If for EM, 00 or other coarse flange way track, then I've made up 2" long Linker sections (single and double track) to manage the gauge and flange way transition. See the example pictures below:

,

For popular established legacy HO systems such as Hartel, I've included specially "squiggled" sections to link to their particular double track spacing as well as changing the flange ways.






For P4 railway applications, I still have to draw up large radii sections and bases for the #4, 5 and 6 turnouts. I'm open to suggestions for the required radii.

Cheers

Andy