Having torn down the old layout I'm getting ready for the new tin plate layout construction. I'm trying to use my Lionel hallgate bridge with the two 0gauge track option. This puts the two tracks 3.5" apart on center. That's really tight, so I did a test on the ping-pong table. I'm finding that bigger engines (260 or 263) on the inner circle overhang enough that they'll bash passenger cars passing on the outer loop. Right now I have 42" curves on the inner and 54" turns on the outer.
I could alter the design so i have one 72" curved section to start the turn on the inner loop, I checked and this will avoid the crashes, but it doesn't make of the nicest looking curves and loses the nice parallel in the two loops on those back curves.
Or, I could bend those straight aways slightly, increasing the space between the two lines. I'm using Lionel tinplate track, so this is doable. This makes the straight section of the track look a bit sketchy.
Anybody have other solutions to this issue? Anybody experience the bashing of passing trains?
Tim