My new helix and staging yard

[soo]

Howdy all, I have had some time on my hands so I decided to get working on my first helix. ;D

Info:

 7 1/2 loops at a 20" radius
 30 pieces of flex,,, which comes to 870" or 72 1/2',,, wow that is alot of track!!!!

  Bottom track height 3'-2 1/4"
  Top track height 4'-8 1/2"

 Which leaves 1'-6 1/4" seperation. The grade roughly comes out to just a little more than a 2%,, I think.
There is just enough clearence to clear a Red Caboose auto rack,, maybe 3/8 of an inch.

 The staging yard is going to consist of 8 tracks,, the total yard lenght will be right around 14' for each track...  I do plan on having two different yards, cause there is one more helix to build

  I used 1/2" plywood to cut the sub-roadbed. I drew curves in 120 degree arcs, making sure the width was 2 1/2". I pre assembled the circles on the garage floor using biscuits and glue. Let that dry several days. For the uprights I proceeded to use 1 1/2" x 3/4" stock with a dado groove cut 3/8" deep every 2 1/4" . I was going to use a supports on both sides to create a sandwich,, but after I secured the outside with #1 square head  drive finish screw ,, I found out that was plenty strong.

  So enough of the words on with the pictures.




  Here is shot looking towards the main yard and you would be running westbound leaving the helix on the upper level.


  The next two pics are of the staging yard and helix together. Right now since the other throat is not in yet,, the tracks are about 9 ' long.



  So there ya have it,, I will take a video also of a train traversing the monster.

  Adios for now,, Wyatt

[AlkemScaleModels]

Nice job. Looks like some nice craftsmanship.

[conrail98]

Wyatt, excellent job on the helix, it looks awesome.

[Ian MacMillan]

Looking good Greg. Now come over and build my two.

[GaryHinshaw]

Looks great Wyatt - very nice workmanship.  The specs are very similar to the one in my plan so I have a few questions for you:

* Do you feel like the 120 deg arcs with biscuit joints is worked well?  Any close-ups of the joints?
* Any problems with the plys splitting or bulging with those screws?
* At 2+ scale miles long, any regrets not having a 2nd track to alleviate the bottleneck?

Cheers,
Gary

[ednadolski]

7 1/2 loops at a 20" radius
 30 pieces of flex

Impressive!    A helix that size could serve as serial staging for several trains (perhaps with occupancy detection).

Do you solder or stagger the rail joints?  Are there feeder wires for every section of flex?

Another thought - might not be a bad idea to add some kind of plastic or cardstock strips around the inside & outside edges of the ply roadbed, to contain a derailment.  A single stringline could take (almost) a whole train to the floor.

Ed

[Dave Schneider]

I would second the derailment containment suggestion. It is bound to happen, and odds are that it will involve your favorite cars and locomotives. From that distance onto a concrete floor...well, it would be nasty.
Nice job on the helix. I like the colors of your locomotives, even if they have that ugly black panel and white lettering.  : Kinda like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa.... Those Soo Line cars look great as well.

Best wishes, Dave

[davefoxx]

Another thought - might not be a bad idea to add some kind of plastic or cardstock strips around the inside & outside edges of the ply roadbed, to contain a derailment.  A single stringline could take (almost) a whole train to the floor.

You could also staple some fabric to the bottom of the helix as a sort of catch net to prevent rolling stock from making the trip all of the way to the floor.

DFF

[soo]

Thanx for all the comments guys!

  Yes I do know that I need some sort of fall protection. My Milwaukee FP 45 already took a nose dive to concrete floor. But that was a mistake on my part.

  I had thought about sheet styrene,,, I could attach it using screws. I could even use strips...say 1 1/2" or 1 3/4" and screw them on. You could still see the train move,,and it would be protected from falling. I have to think on that.

  DaveFoxx,, I had though about the " net " concept,,, I am going to try that after I get the wiring finished.

  The other Dave,, well for the first time in my life I am trying to stay within an era,, so it requires me to have bandits. Now mind you I do have regular MILW units also,,, without the bandit patch.LOL  I never did care for the Mona Lisa.lol

 Ed,,, I staggered the joints on the first loop at the bottom. What I did not like about that was too many ties had to be removed. So what I did was to assemble sections of the track. I removed two ties from each end, making sure the movable rail was away from me,  I then soldered three sections of flex together. Making sure the movable rail was on the outside of the curve.  Then soldered that to piece on the loop already. Last step was applying latex adhesive caulk, putting the track down,, and blammo,, back to pre-making sections of track for the next loop. There are not feeders yet,, there will be. I can notice the drop in voltage by not having them. Going to work on that tomorrow.


  Gary,, The 120 degree arc worked ok,,no noticable droops between risers supports. On the next one I build I am going to use 90 degree arcs, so that the joints can be secured at a riser using the finish screws. As for the screws,, I pre-drilled the holes then fastened together. With the biscuits,,, I glued the full circles together,,laying them on the garage floor,,then applied weight(s) to the joints to make them flat and flush.If I had a rise or a bulge I would take my palm sander and sand them smooth till no rise or bump was detected. As for the second track,,, yes it would have been nice,,, just my hobby dollar could not afford another box of 100 pieces of flex.

Ian,,, you fly me out there,, feed me, give me a place stay,, and I could build all the benchwork for ya. LOL

Conrail,,thanx,, it was a long time in the making.

Bernie,, Thank you,,, There are somethings that I could have done better,, on the next one I know what to do .

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Looks great man!

I'm thinking about how I'm going to be approaching staging on my future layout, and I like the idea of "serial staging".

[asciibaron]

I like the idea of "serial staging".

it will work, but requires a huge amount of planning and several operating sessions to iron out.  i have operated several layouts that used serial staging and on the one's with well established and refined sessions, it worked like a dream, on the layouts where everything was still being debugged, it was a PITA.

on one layout the dispatcher couldn't release a freight due to yard congestion and stopped traffic.  the passenger train behind the freight couldn't get out and was eventually annulled.  that really sucked cause i was supposed to run the passenger train and ended up helping sort out the meltdown in the main classification yard.  the dispatcher didn't pace out the first few trains enough and everything got to the yard at once and the poor YM was overwhelmed and went out for a cigarette break and never came back.

good times.

[oakcreekco]

Simply awesome. Great work in every way.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like the idea of "serial staging".

it will work, but requires a huge amount of planning and several operating sessions to iron out.  i have operated several layouts that used serial staging and on the one's with well established and refined sessions, it worked like a dream, on the layouts where everything was still being debugged, it was a PITA.

on one layout the dispatcher couldn't release a freight due to yard congestion and stopped traffic.  the passenger train behind the freight couldn't get out and was eventually annulled.  that really sucked cause i was supposed to run the passenger train and ended up helping sort out the meltdown in the main classification yard.  the dispatcher didn't pace out the first few trains enough and everything got to the yard at once and the poor YM was overwhelmed and went out for a cigarette break and never came back.

good times.

Yeah, it sounds like it wouldn't be THE way to go, but a part of the overall staging solution. For example, commuter trains could easily be done this way, but it might not make sense to stage a train that has work on the layout behind something that just runs through.

[soo]

Thanx for the further comments.
  Serial staging is something I did not think about,, put very good idea,, you just have to run train in order,, or have the thru trains first.

  I am working on a video now.  In the video the train is 4 atlas 4 axle units , 30 grain hoppers and 1 caboose. Almost 13' long,,, Gotta love it!!!!

  See ya , Wyatt

[wm3798]

I stapled fiberglass screening along the edge of my one-turnlix to form  the guard rail...  This has several advantages...

1:  It's cheap and plentiful, especially if you have a cat that likes to claw up window screens.
2:  It's totally flexible and soft.  Reaching in won't give you paper cuts, and if you catch your cuff link on it, it won't get broken.
3:  It has millions of tiny holes that can grab a coupler glad hand and prevent a run-away without busting off the part.

I thought I had a photo of my installation, but at this moment I do not...  I'll have to take one.  But basically, I take a strip of screen about 3" wide, fold it over to make it 1.5", then staple it to the side of the plywood with the fold at the top.  Installed 4 years, and not one single freight car has left the right of way, despite many that have left the rails...

Lee