The entire inspiration for my layout started with a McMillan calendar shot by Steve Patterson - "Arizona Divide and Conqueror" of the reverse "S" curves at Chalendar, AZ with the San Francisco peaks in the background. Throw in hard superelevation, grade, rocks, trees, and a signal bridge and you had me at hello. This same exact spot turned out the be the cover, years later, of McMillans "Canyonlands and Super Chiefs" book. The signal bridge is gone now and the trees are taller.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0072/5972/products/Canyon_Lands_book_large.jpg?v=1571438586That was basically everything I loved about the Santa Fe, in the most scenic spot I've ever found on the entire railroad. But those multiple "S" curves just west of Flag are something else, too, although compressing the living daylights out of them with telephoto lenses makes them appear a lot whole sharper than they actually are. You go onto Google Earth and check them out, and now I have track charts, and they are deceptively broad. But my entire love affair with this area started in '72 when the Amtrak Chief was whipping through these same curves fast enough to bang my head into the dome car glass and wake me up from a nap, watching F-units in the lead weaving through a forested series of S curves. Heck, I wasn't even sure where I was, I'd fallen asleep in the desert.... and as you know the 'normal' schedule of the Super Chief put Flag in darkness both directions, I'd never seen this. But the point is they LOOK sharp in photos and checking....they really aren't. 50mph speed restriction in the timetable.
So, "worshiping the curves", years later, I'm finally sort of 'there', although I've been tweaking this scene for years. I'm now starting to scratchbuild that signal bridge in brass as I've pretty much given up on Bob Knights plan to etch one.
http://www.randgust.com/Chief_Riordan_02.jpghttp://www.randgust.com/5616%20Riordan%20west%20sm.jpgNow another principle is that you can get away with a lot sharper curves with a higher 'eyeball' level from the track, even 15" radius looks a lot better at above 50" above the floor than 36", and typical table module height for T-trak makes things really look like a carnival ride. If you are stuck with tighter curves, getting it further up toward eyeball height and being on the inside of the curve helps appearance a lot.
Futher west at Winslow yard, there was an historic reverse curve on the main dodging around the roundhouse that was sharp enough to pile up a passenger train at speed in 1948, and even today you can see how that curve was realigned when the roundhouse was cut back. Again, it's a whole lot broader when it's measured compared to the way it looks and feels on the ground.
http://www.arizonawrecks.com/aztrainwreckspg2.htmlAnd that, BTW, was only an 8-degree curve and the train overturned at 83mph.
