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I would like to see lionel O31 curves on a 36 inch wide table. I want to know if track roadbed will come right to the edge or will it leave a little room? any pics will be great and helpful.. O31 is as large as I can go for the room I have, I have heard to many horror stories about MTH realtrax. and O27 may disappoint me since new track may be hard to come by in future.

 

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Leroof posted:

Mike,   Rob figured out what your fastracks close  to the edge would leave! 

Yikes!

031 Tubular rail would be at least bankable. 

You could always set up a fence or a baracade  around the fast tracks or have a restricted speed limit. Best of luck.

Check your clearances as you build. Steam cow catchers and cabs, and diesel pilots hang over a lot on a 031 curve. Even worse on 027 (ask me how I know )

Leroof's video is a good example.

Here's how it looks in SCARM. Board is 36" wide.

031 curve

031 3D

Bob

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  • 031 curve
  • 031 3D
Last edited by RSJB18
ADCX Rob posted:

That's only 14.14" center rail radius, FasTrack O-31 is 15.5" center rail radius with 4" wide roadbed.

Rob, are you sure the roadbed is 4” wide and not 3.5”? I have RealTrax and it’s 3” wide. I just watched a video comparing the 2 (one on top of the other) and it didn’t look like a full inch difference. Then I saw that Amazon lists the dimensions for a 5” section as 5”x3.5”.

My calculations say center-to-center distance of an oval is 31”. Roadbed adds 3.5” (1.75” on each side) making the overall width 34.5”. This means the roadbed will be .75” from the edge of the table. The track center rail will be 2.5” from the edge arguably leaving enough clearance for a barrier around the outside of the table.

The bottom line is that an O31 oval will fit on a 36” table and will leave a little room.

RSJB18 posted:
Leroof posted:

Mike,   Rob figured out what your fastracks close  to the edge would leave! 

Yikes!

031 Tubular rail would be at least bankable. 

You could always set up a fence or a baracade  around the fast tracks or have a restricted speed limit. Best of luck.

Check your clearances as you build. Steam cow catchers and cabs, and diesel pilots hang over a lot on a 031 curve. Even worse on 027 (ask me how I know )

Leroof's video is a good example.

Here's how it looks in SCARM. Board is 36" wide.

031 curve

031 3D

 

rsjb18 is right about the “overhang” ,  especially Steam Engines!  And more especially if your Layout is next to a wall! Your Engine will “HIT” the wall! Of course if you run any kind of articulated Engine, you will definitely hit the wall!!

Believe me I know as well!!

Fredstrains

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