What is the proper length and width of dividing stripes for O-scale highways?
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If it were me, I'd walk out to the highway and measure them. (Not now, it's dark). You'll get a much more accurate response.
Look both ways. 
They are four to six inches in width. 1/4 to 1/8.
in the old days on the forum one usually got a useful answer.
bill d
Originally Posted by wsdimenna:
They are four to six inches in width. 1/4 to 1/8. ~3/32 to 1/8?
in the old days on the forum one usually got a useful answer. So true, so true. 
bill d
KD
10 feet in length
Automotive white or yellow pinstriping can work well as road lines. With a little patience you can go around corners with it. It won't work over gravel of course. I had the best resuts over black oak tag or black foam core board on my son's (long gone) HO layout.
In the old days we could also appreciate a little humor now and then as well!
just a thought.... when did yellow/orange highway lines start (chronologically)? my guess would be the early 1960's.
Originally Posted by overlandflyer:
just a thought.... when did yellow/orange highway lines start (chronologically)? my guess would be the early 1960's.
From the link I posted earlier:
The 1971 edition of the MUTCD included several significant standards; it required all center lines on two-way roads to be painted in yellow (instead of white, which was to indicate traffic moving in the same direction), and required that all highway guide signs (not just those on Interstate Highways) contain white text on a green background. Most of the repainting to the 1971 standard was done between 1971 and 1974, with a deadline of 1978 for the changeover of both the markings and signage.
-Mark
I use 3/32" airplane striping, either white or yellow, that I got at Yorktown Hobby in Timonium. It's been on my layout for at least 6 year snow and shows no sighn of lifting off. When I built my grandsons layout they didn't have any yellow in stock so I taped 12" strips to a piece of poster board and spray painted it safety yellow and the cut into the lengths I needed.
Jerry
Originally Posted by NumberOne:
Originally Posted by overlandflyer:
just a thought.... when did yellow/orange highway lines start (chronologically)? my guess would be the early 1960's.
From the link I posted earlier:
The 1971 edition of the MUTCD included several significant standards; it required all center lines on two-way roads to be painted in yellow (instead of white, which was to indicate traffic moving in the same direction), and required that all highway guide signs (not just those on Interstate Highways) contain white text on a green background. Most of the repainting to the 1971 standard was done between 1971 and 1974, with a deadline of 1978 for the changeover of both the markings and signage.
-Mark
So to replicate highways from the 50's and 60's then, the center strip should be white and not yellow, if I understand the above.
Thanks, Greg
Originally Posted by cngw:
So to replicate highways from the 50's and 60's then, the center strip should be white and not yellow, if I understand the above.
Thanks, Greg
yes, exactly what i was thinking. i remembered the change growing up, but didn't think it was that late. in fact it was right around the time i got my driver's license.
i suppose you could go back even further.
1910's? ...lines? what lines?
I use tarpaper cut into 5 inch wide strips for the roads. The weight of it helps the paper to lay flat. I paint the lines with this little gadget I found years ago. Its a little jar with a wheel attached to the lid. I just fill it with yellow paint and then roll it down the center of the tarpaper using a yardstick to keep the line straight.
