Model Railroad Podcast

  





hosted by: Ryan Andersen & Will Ayerst
Model Railcast Show #35
Sun, Oct 19, 2008
Posted by: Ryan Andersen

MRC Show # 35 Notes

Catch up items: Ryan catches us up on some content not posted in previous weeks.

Yard Office: An update of our own projects at ModelRailCast and what's going on with MRCS - Helices, Staging tracks, wiring and editing video.

Roundhouse:  The Philosphy of Layout Design with Marty McGuirk

Poor man's Helix: Ryan, Will, Marty and Tim talk about the helix.

Decoder Pro update with Alex Shepard: Clinics (videos) on Model-Railroad-Hobbyist.com

Interchange & Outro: Our 'links of the week' summarised here for you!

Download the enhanced (better sounding) version of the show with chapters:  MRC Show 35(AAC)

 
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Posted by: CVSNE MRCS Pioneer on Mon, Oct 20 2008     snery.com
Oh heck . . .

Am listening to the show and realized I was mis-figuring the grade of Ryan's helix.

The length of run needed to determine the grade is determined not by radius x pie (3.14) but is, of course, diameter x 3.14 -

That means xTrak CAD and Ryan are correct and I was wrong.

Apologies to all, all I can say is Ryan had us up early (Will, Tim, and I had a wonderful, insightful conversation full of great tips that was never recorded . . .)

Seriously, sorry if I confused anyone.

On another note, I agree with the caller, DON'T spend any time discussing the length of the show.

Also, if listener "Dave" from Raliegh contacts me off list I can get him a simple to follow track plan that can be built on a door.

Marty
Posted by: Ironsiderodger MRCS Pioneer on Mon, Oct 20 2008     www.ironsaddcasts.mypodcast.com
Yep I agree- I'm telling my wife to pop me one in the arm (and she's got an excellent punch) if I ever talk about the length again- I shoulda known better.

My apologies to ALL listeners for that.
Posted by: BCRail_Andy MRCS Pioneer on Tue, Oct 21 2008    
Great Show again.

The extra pioneer section interview with Craig talking about his epoxy water debacle was hysterical.. (and informative of course). That would make a good Chuckle Coupler segment..
Posted by: ChrisNH MRCS Pioneer on Tue, Oct 21 2008     model-railroad-hobbyist.com/blog/671
Good stuff! I think having a regular piece where Marty discusses his evolving thoughts on the SNE would be cool..

I fall into the camp of thinking the practice layout is the way to go. For me, knowing that I don't have to keep it around forever gets me over the "analysis paralysis". Its a lot easier to forge ahead when you don't have to live with your choices forever. It also lets you leave your mistakes behind.. I know my next layout will be ten times better then this one just from what I have learned doing it.

However.. the caveat is that you have to manage the scope of the practice layout and plan to salvage the expensive stuff to make it reasonably achievable and affordable in a shorter amount of time. If your practice layout takes 10 years then you are probably not building a practice layout anymore...

I think the choice of whether to build a smaller layout first, and whether its a "throw away" layout, really depends on the temperament of the individual modeler.. and a practice layout doesn't have to be boring..

Chris
Posted by: dramos_1701 MRCS Pioneer on Thu, Oct 23 2008     www.nyhrr.com
Love the podcast! Great job! I put a link to your site on my construction journal and I will be putting one on my home page tonight! You may want to think about having a premade graphic for people to use as a link button. I just Photo Shopped the banner of your homepage and made it a button.

I enjoyed the layout design conversation. It captured most of what I've talked to Craig Bisgeier about in the design of the Housatonic and my New York Harbor.

Don't worry about the show length! Just keep it up it cooking with the great content!
Posted by: dmcree MRCS Pioneer on Fri, Oct 24 2008     www.tamvalleyrr.com
Another great show. I loved listening to the helix part - I kept screaming "its 2 pi r" at the ipod but no one listened. Ryan's idea is quite interesting. I think that 18" radius in HO is too small for most layouts but it could just work fine for Ryan's theme. The problem is the tight radius compounds the grade limiting train length, the clearance is too small for modern, taller cars and the radius too small for longer cars. However, Ryan is modeling an older period with short trains and shorter cars and locomotives with limited height. It sure was cheap and fast! Now if they only made some Easy Track with 30 inch radius.

By the way, I put up another blog entry at my Tam Valley RR website discussing my ideas for a sound system http://www.tamvalleyrr.com/blog/oct23soundxperiment.html.

Duncan
San Diego
Posted by: ironsidejackson on Fri, Oct 24 2008     Youtube.com/Milwaukeeroad261
hey guys, another great show as usual
Posted by: markpierce MRCS Pioneer on Sun, Oct 26 2008    
Hi guys!

As long as the content is interesting, I'm not concerned at all about the length of the show. And of course, more is better!...................

I believe I heard/read here that the radius of the track has no effect on length of trains for given motive power. This is wrong! Sharper radius curves create more drag than broader radii. So, an 18-inch radius helix limits train length compared to say a 30-inch radius of the same grade. Also, a larger radius means a lesser grade is necessary for vertical clearance between the circles allowing longer trains to traverse the helix. Of course, a lesser grade means the length of the run in the helix is longer than one with a greater grade.

I'm not a fan of the helix. I find it disconcerting for my train to be out of sight for a good proportion of its run. I built a double-decker layout (a 5x10 "donut") forty-five years ago and didn't need a helix to connect the decks.

Mark Pierce
 
 
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