The dreaded S curve in switches.

[MrDuane]

After running my train on 6' of flex to see how it went. I went back to the drawilng board, wider curves are deffinately better. This plan lets me do a 5x8 early on and work on the side area and crossing bridge area at a later date.

So the question is, between the #4 switches, is a 6" straight piece enough to avoide the dreaded S curve syndrome?

And from experience is a 24" shelf prefered over a 30" shelf by 4 out of 5 model railroaders? ^_^, and hoping 30" walkiing area is sufficient.

ack, for some reason the squares didn't show right, dang,

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12961&stc=1&d=1322320664

[NIMT]

Are you talking about between the switches in the crossover?
I use #6's with no straits in my crossovers, that also gives you a 2" seperation, #4's crossovers work but they are really tight!:cool:

[MrDuane]

I wasn't as worried about the 2" but the S curve effect when the train goes from one loop to another at normal speed. And for a #6 switch, is any straight piece needed either?

[sstlaure]

#4's are good for yards where track speeds are slow. With my weighted cars I don't have any problems with derailments. However, for an at speed cross-over I'd use #6's.

[cbarm]

Why not go with #8's or even # 10's. Depending on what is defined as track speed, a #6 crossover might derail the works just as likely as a #4 would. If you are looking at making a crossover at track speed (Im gonna guess a scale 50 MPH) you will need a minumum of a #10 crossover...depending on how realistic you want it to appear also...
My mainline crossovers are only at the yard leads and are #8 turnouts, but my railroads timetable specifies turnout speed of 25 mph at those crossovers. Good luck...
My $0.02...

[videobruce]

How about using curved turnouts in the curves?