> Total length of main line, min radius, max grade? Well, I didn't expect this to generate much interest!
The main line will be around 140 ft., minimum radius 10 ft, max grade <1% (at least, for the first few months! :-). It's basically going to be a big loop, though our lot tapers towards the back, so the run closest to the house will be longer than the one along the retaining wall. I will have a spur to a couple of industries in one corner, and a steamup siding and yard between the patio and the wall. My wife wants an industrial line with a smaller radius, perhaps a separate circuit, to run the little lokies like the Cricket and a battery- powered critter I scratchbuilt. That will wait until I get the mainline done, however. The thing with the waterway and the adjacent "hills" is to give the illusion of traveling through varied terrain, while letting the manually controlled live steamers move with minimum hands-on in difficult areas. I'm waffling between a wooden deck truss and a plate girder bridge across the arroyo. Any suggestions? I think the wooden bridge would look cooler, but the metal girders would hold up better to being lifted in and out. -vance- "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. http://standforpeace.com
