as the whole assembly moved upward. The helixes sit on an
aluminum box frame with a ¾” plywood deck.
The sub roadbed is 3/4” plywood laminated with ½” Homasote.
The roadbed material is beveled ¼” inch Homasote on the
mainline track and 1/8” Homasote for passing sidings and
branch lines.
Atlas code 100 flex track is used for the staging yards and hid-
den track. The mainlines are Micro Engineering code 83 weath-
ered flex track. Passing sidings are either code 83 or code 70,
with yard and industry tracks code 70.
The minimum mainline radius is 32” with most curves being
42” or greater. I took the time to add transitional spirals and
super-elevated the mainline curves. Turnouts on the mainlines
are #8 minimum with
#6 or so in yards and
industrial tracks.
The majority of the
turnouts are handlaid.
I like to have the turn-
outs conform to the
track plan, not have
the track plan conform
to commercial turn-
outs. I do have some
commercial turnouts
in places where a stan-
dard turnout will fit,
or in a location that is
too awkward to hand
lay. Tortoise switch
machines power the
Virginia Southwestern - 8
11
11: This is the framework at
east end of Norton Yard on the
upper level. On several of the
horizontal pieces you can see
my markings for the location
of the channel along with the
length I need for the channel.
MRH-Sep 2013
