Flexible or not, curves offend me

[catbricks]

Hello,

Relatively new AFOL here, escaped the dark ages just in time for Cafe Corner.

My son and I got a pile of track, the Cargo Train (his), and the Emerald Night (mine) for Christmas. So we pushed three coffee tables together, got out some 80's era road plates, and were ready to make a town with the modulars and some other odds and ends. I was happily snapping straight track along the side of the baseplates (it fits the old ones quite nicely), feeling good about the whole thing, until I got to a curve. Uh-oh. Now what?

I guess my options are:

* remove all track from baseplates - which I don't want to do, because my table is just barely three baseplates wide, and I can't really secure it next to the baseplates, since these baseplates are (obviously) not a full plate high. Plus having baseplate in some areas offends my sensibilities in some way.

* Raise all of the track up by one plates on top of the base plates. So straights would have another 2x8 underneath, and I'd support (but not really secure) the curves with a tile on the base plates. That'd require a big pile of plates I probably don't have (except in primary colors), but I guess is the better option.

* Something else?

Thanks for any ideas/examples of how to make this work!

p.s. To borrow from the Town thread, here's my first train:

It was still running when my son got me out of the dark ages a year ago, but now the motor has failed. Bah.

[JuanERdz]

My guess is that the second option is your best bet. That's how I had my small layout setup. Back then I found a website that suggested where to locate turntables (part 3680) to specific places in curves to secure the track. Running your train slowly should not pose a derailment risk if you don't support the curves. But if you've got the plates, by all means use them.

Also, you don't have to support the entire sleeper. When running out of 2x8 plates, even 2x2 plates on the edges of the sleeper, under the track is enough support.

-Juan

Edited December 31, 2010 by JuanERdz

[AndyC]

Raising it by one plate is definitely the way forward. You can probably get away with just using a few 1x1 plates at strategic points to support the rails. Of course you may want to work on building up the surrounding area to make it all look nice, but that's really down to how much you worry about the aesthetics.

[catbricks]

Raising it by one plate is definitely the way forward. You can probably get away with just using a few 1x1 plates at strategic points to support the rails. Of course you may want to work on building up the surrounding area to make it all look nice, but that's really down to how much you worry about the aesthetics.

I do want it to look nice, but don't want it to totally consume the budget, at the same time. :) I think ya'll are right - I should bite the bullet, buy the baseplates I need and build up one plate - then I can fill in as bricks permit...

[legotrainfan]

You could raise the whole track layout by one plate - as you suggested yourself - and use 2x2 turntables to secure the curves on the baseplates.

A picture of such a turntable: http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/3680c01.

Edited January 1, 2011 by legotrainfan

[peterab]

* Raise all of the track up by one plates on top of the base plates. So straights would have another 2x8 underneath, and I'd support (but not really secure) the curves with a tile on the base plates. That'd require a big pile of plates I probably don't have (except in primary colors), but I guess is the better option.

This is what most of us do. Here is a useful picture of where turntables will line up correctly.

Even if you don't want to use a whole layer of plates Dave Sterling did a ballast study that might give you ideas here.

On a side note for our M>LTC show layouts we don't use turntables or tiles, just black plates, which have the same problem as baseplates; you can't connect curves, turnouts, or diagonal track. We just connect the straight track where we can and if there's enough of it it tends to keep the curves in place floating above a baseplate.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Lego set 7722 is still beautiful, and on bricklink you can find a new motor paying few dollars.

[Rijkvv]

At Brickshelf, I've found a picture that shows even more attachment points:

Link.

I think the green dots are exact, in other words they can be connected with a 1 x 1 plate. The blue ones have a half plate offset, so you can use jumper plates for them. The red ones can be attached with the previous noted turntable.

[hoeij]

It was still running when my son got me out of the dark ages a year ago, but now the motor has failed. Bah.

Most of these old battery trains have a motor that is still perfectly fine, but have a battery box that has been corroded (over a time span of several decades, it's easy to see how someone might forget to remove the batteries before storing the train). That's why on bricklink, the motors are very common (in other words, they're cheap).

[catbricks]

Most of these old battery trains have a motor that is still perfectly fine, but have a battery box that has been corroded (over a time span of several decades, it's easy to see how someone might forget to remove the batteries before storing the train). That's why on bricklink, the motors are very common (in other words, they're cheap).

Remarkably enough, I managed to remove the batteries (or perhaps a parent did?) from both the train power supply and also a stand-alone battery box that came with a lights pack. Train power supply still lights up the 2x2 brick lights, so it does appear to be the motor. And yeah, I'll probably replace the motor eventually, but in the meantime the loco has a spot of honor in a small park near the tracks. Must take a photo...

[Halloween King]

Help I am pretty new to trains and would like to know the best way to attach curved track to baseplate and didn't find a topic on it in the pages I look on.

[Scorpio]

Here are some topics that already exist about ballasting track. That is your best bet for curves on baseplates.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44133&st=0&p=774622&hl=ballast&fromsearch=1entry774622

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9629

Don't forget to check out the pinned Train Tech topic. That has loads of useful information.

[Brickthus]

Curved track, straights at angles and flexi-track can be fixed to a baseplate using the techniques

here

Apply ballast and sleepers to the track itself.

Apply any cant (tilt) to the track itself.

Use composite tiles to make any slope that is required in the trackbed. My example has a slope of 1 plate per 4 pieces of flexi-track, or 1 in 40. That's the same as 1 plate per piece of standard track. I support the track (or the composite tile) every 2 pieces of flexi-track.

Begin by marking out the edge of the ballasted track on the baseplate, so you know where to put the supporting bricks.

The supporting bricks will make the border between sloping track and the flat adjacent trackbed.

Cheeses mounted on headlight bricks keep the track in place when a heavy train goes fast round the corner.

The technique applies particularly to flexi-track as it has a lot of flexibility so that a train can move it, but also to standard track because that can open its joints under the force of a heavy train.

It is best when the track is always at least 3 plates above the baseplate. Good scenery means this is not an overhead.

For flat trackbeds, tiles will do, keeping the ballasted track at least 1 plate above the baseplate. The main attachment is at each end of the curve but adjacent ballast studs sticking up next to the track ballast can serve to limit track movement.

Mark

[PaulF]

curve ballast by zamboni_driver, on Flickr

curve ballast by zamboni_driver, on Flickr