Re-read John Armstrong's book for a thoughtful discussion of the trade-offs between operation, space, aisle width, and visual appeal. On my walk around railroad I use broad curves for visual effect in most areas and tight curves in hidden areas to pack as much prototype based operation in my available space. My minimum radius is 58" on the innermost of five hidden 40' long staging tracks and have no issues with running scale length passenger cars and fully flanged 2-10-4's and 4-4-4-4. Out on the visible main the curves are quite a bit larger. Also consider that how curves are perceived is significantly influenced by how they are viewed. Equipment viewed on curves viewed from the inside of a curve appear more prototypical that the same equipment viewed from the outside of the same radius curve. The same is true if viewed from near eye level rather than from above. With space at a premium even in a very large basement, (2600 sq ft) I found it well worth while to invest in layout design CAD software to facilitate iterative design trading off the many variables factored into a track plan.
Ed Rappe
