Join me for a discussion and the 1st video on; how I am building my helix, on my HO Scale Model Railroad. Music By: www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Here we thought that it was about cutting wood, putting down track and planting some trees and we got trains running. Who knew we had to bring the pencil protectors out for our shirts and calculators and sharpen our pencils to run trains. Great job Ben, put the hard work in now and the rest is easy and fewer headaches down the line. Great job.
Awesome...great progress....definitely the way to test any of your track work....run your longest cars....Sparky having the same issues with his and long cars....
Awesome work, Ben. You lost me on the pie thing. HA HA Just kidding. Excellent explanation. I agree with passenger cars. Even just a regular flat track, they can be a pain. Thanks for sharing, brother.
Hi, great stuff. Beautiful work on the helix. A suggestion, if you enclose it, make sure it’s removable. Roy S. learnt his lesson. He had to open his back up. See ya next time.
Ben. Looks good , I am planing a three level helix, two tracks 24 and 26 inch radius, no passenger cars , this should give two reverse loops at the other end, lower loop will be 26 radius, upper loop will be 24 inch radius, can’t wait til your next update , keep up the great work
Nice helix, Ben! Great workmanship! Building helices is challenging and requires the kind of careful approach to it that you are taking. I like your description of how you are building it. I also appreciate your mention of my channel. ...Roy
Ben, Glad that You found those problems early-I guess I never noticed those notches in Roy's-I will call You when I get ready to build a helix-jk-lol-Thanks Ben!!
the tighter the curve the more friction on the trucks, longer the train the more it pulls sideways. there must be a formula for that too. you got it easy. lol. smaller cars and locos have a easier time in a helix. I run a line of auto racks, and any humps and bumps cause a issue. your helix looks really good. slow and steady my friend.
Personally I stagger my rail joints. By using a hobby knife to remove just the tie plates under the joint the opposite rail is held in place by the ties and helps keep the gauge intact and creates a smoother flowing joint. In critical areas such as a helix I also solder them.
That is a cool helix man. I might need one soon. Wish I had the tools to cut those out. Bigger is always better but you need to be able to work with the space. Passenger cars are tough to deal with as well lol. I have issues on track that’s not in a helix so I can just imagine. Keep up the great work
Great work Ben, looks fantastic. I cant wait to see the bridge scene. A continuous curve adds a lot of stress to the train and in a sense increases the grade. If you compensate for the curvature it may be closer to 3%. Car weight may be a very important factor if you plan on any trains of length. Too much weight and you cant make the grade, too little and you string line the consist and derail. Will be interesting to see how you operate the helix to make it work with such a small radius. Might have to have a helper for certain trains, could make it more fun to operate or even double the hill to get the train up. Cheers Rob
Hi Ben, Your construction method is very good. I suppose the bridge will have to be on a 2½% grade as well to maintain the clearance when the track rejoins the helix? Keep safe, David.
Not quite David. It looks like the bridge will be outside the helix so its radius will be somewhat larger, giving a longer run with the same rise. Mathematically that reduces the grade on the bridge itself, but creates a slight vertical transition at each end. Art...
So once you hit the grade that you want, every piece will be the same height from the on? So it could take 3 (full rings) to get the the 2.5% then the same height after that? Building another and looking for tips.
