--- In [email protected], Bill Rigsby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The question for you Layout owner/operators, is what are you using
for grades on your systems.
Bill...My layout wraps around the walls of a 20' x 30' room three times
with a near-continuous grade of 1.4%. Half of it goes up. The other
half goes down. Not much flat except for the main yard.
> The other question is the amount of power required to haul cars up
these grades.
Interesting question. The only time I actually kept track of what was
happening power wise was at a BASS club meeting where the stated goal
was to have a 100-car train. We had an A-B-B set of WP SHS F-units for
power and reached 97 cars before the loco's wheels started to spin and
the train stopped. The cars were mostly plastic, but with a smattering
of brass, wood, zamac (no crumbs -- yet), etc. Maybe 20% of the train
was non-plastic.
It will be difficult to obtain meaningful data because the radius of
the curves has an effect. As does the lubrication, or lack thereof, on
the freight cars. Oil has a bit of drag. Graphite powder does not.
Dry works OK, but only for awhile. Then lubrication is better. Not to
mention the type of wheels on the locos. Stainless steels pulls quite
a bit more than nickel-plated brass. Also, some track cleaning liquid
is a bit slippery and others are not. Don't forget to determine if the
track is dusty or glistening? Some folks use Flitz which is a metal
polishing/cleaning agent. Depending on how much accuracy you want, all
of these factors, plus superelevation or not, should be tabulated.
Lack of superelevation does cause a bit more drag on long trains. Not
to mention if the rails have been cleaned with an abrasive pad (Bright
Boy) or never abraded for fear of scratches collecting dirt. Surface
roughness of the rails will affect pulling power. Whoops, did I forget
to mention the type of rail metal? Nickel-silver is rather slippery.
I have a very steep Sn3 track that uses steel (not the stainless type)
and the short train runs right up slick as can be. Could not make it
at all using traditional flex track. What have I forgotten? Ah yes,
the wheel smoothness. AM's older sintered metal whheels have a rough
surface -- sort of like sandpaper. Their newer turned wheels are much
smoother. I've never tested it, but I suspect there is some difference
in rollability. Then, naturally, are the axle tip shapes. Newer stuff
has pointed axles rolling in conical holes. The angle of the hole is
slightly greater than the angle of the axle tip. Thus, only the very
tip of the axle rubs against the sideframe hole. Older ACE trucks, on
the other hand, used a fairly large diameter straight axle rubbing in a
brass eyelet. Lots of surface area there for friction. But then ACE
came out with some delrin or nylon plastic bearing inserts which made
things roll a lot easier. Heck, that's enough variables for one email
message.
I guess the point of all this is that to have some meaningful and
accurate data tabulated and recorded will not be very repeatable
because of all the many variables that will not be the same from one
layout to the next.
But it was a great question and made me think a bit.
> Another question is that of Layout design sofware, that is usable for
S scale.
I would think any well designed software would be workable for all the
popular scales. But then again I designed my layout on quadrule paper
using an Eagle No. 2 "computer" and a soft red eraser and cardboard
templates cut to various radii. It worked even though I did not have
it plugged in. Heh, heh.....
Have fun...Ed L.
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