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TrackStripsTM
- What are TrackStrips?
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TrackStrips help you with two difficult parts of layout
design and track-laying:
- easements, and
- grade transitions.
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Your grades and curves can look great
& operate flawlessly.
- Web-based service, available 24/7
- Prints full-size easement centerlines
in your scale. Lay directly on subroadbed
- Large-scale modelers can use them as a rail-bending template
- Lay out proper grade transitions
- Add prototypical superelevation to your curves
Easements:
The transition between track of two different curvatures
is called an easement. Easements help prevent derailments
and look great.
You need easements between:
- straight track and circular track
- circles of two different radii
Grade Transitions:
When changing grades, you need a grade transition, that smoothly
changes the grade over a distance so that cars don't uncouple
and the pickup wheels on older locomotives aren't lifted from the rails.
Trains running on a proper grade transition look better and operate better.
You need grade transitions between:
- level track and a grade
- two different grades
And, where you have both curvature changes AND grade
changes, TrackStrips become really useful.
What TrackStrips are not:
TrackStrips are NOT that useful for laying out the straight or
circular parts of
your track, nor those areas with a constant grade. There are lots of easy
ways to do those things. For constant grade areas, you can use a level
with one end raised at different points by a thin dowel. For circular track, use a pencil
on the end of a string.
How to use TrackStrips:
You work with the internet calculator to specify a piece of your railroad,
where you need an easement or a grade transition (or both!).
When you think you have a suitable design,
generate the TrackStrip, print it out, cut out the pieces and glue them
together.
Indoor railroaders who are using plywood
subroadbed can use the TrackStrip as a sawing template
to put the correct curve right into the subroadbed. Then, using clamps, you
adjust your risers until the inclinometer readings match the values
shown on the trackStrip. Then screw or glue your subroadbed into place
and move on to the next section of your railroad.
Garden railroaders
can use the TrackStrip as a rail bending template,
during construction when grading
the gravel or other roadbed material,
and for maintenance after winter frost heave or an overnight animal attack
(we have raccoons that love to rearrange our outdoor track overnight).
To see an example TrackStrip, click
here.
The example is in HO scale, standard gauge, and
is an easement from straight track to
a gentle curve, with the sharpness of roughly
a #6 turnout. It includes a small superelevation of 2 scale inches.
The track also forms the peak of a summit, from a 1% upgrade to a 2% downgrade.
Click
here
to see a demonstration of the online calculator (use
Username "guest" Password "guest").
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