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Patrick Lavoie posted:

Moonman what do you mean by 
“ You to need isolate the up spiral center rail and the down spiral center rail and use two CW-80's “

how do I do that? 

 

Patrick lavoie

It is the term used to describe electrically isolating sections of track. 

You can accomplish this with the FasTrack piece 6-12073. It is a 1 3/8" track that has a jumper wire for the two pins of the center rail. Pull the wire and place one in between the start and end of the up and down spirals.

Now, you can connect the up and down transformer at any point on each spiral.

If you plan on using different track , we can help with that. Just let us know which track that you choose.

Hmmmm, this is pretty goofy.  I have three of these sections and two more on a xmas layout.  Can’t find a product number on them.  Don’t remember where I got them. Looked up the FasTrack listing and the closest I could get was the block section piece; 6-12060.  I’ll let others advise if that piece will work the same way, but my guess is that it would.  I included a screen shot of that one.  It breaks all three rails.  If there’s a problem, hit me up with an email in my profile and we’ll work out getting you one of these.  Just thought about this block control, and figured you’ll actually need two, one at each end of the block.

141FEE6D-96F5-45FE-A94A-0C5689111EBA 

9ACB911E-ADCC-4523-B04B-FB0340AA8FC9

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Last edited by TedW
Moonman posted:
Patrick Lavoie posted:

TEDW where would I purchase such a piece of track? I looked up ,Lionel fastrack isolation track and nothing comes up. Or do I mod out myself. If that’s the case I feel bad for asking. 

patrick ( brass the barber) lavoie

see my post above - Lionel 6-12073 -

Patrick,  

Pat's has this in stock as well.  No third party required 

I hope this is helping. 

Just for fun, here is a spiral polar plan that has reasonable grades.

SpiralPolar

About 120" from the exposed switch at the bottom to the outside loop cross over the hidden track in the mountain.   If you do 4% (4" in 8') that gives you 6" in clearance.   If you need more clearance, you can add another outside loop, which would be longer.

6" would be adequate for the Polar Express and figures on top.

This one is 100" by 62".  O36 minimum, O63 maximum.  Two O36 turnouts.

The rest of the grade can be easier if you like.  If you stay with 4%, that adds another 16" of height, for a total of 22" to the top plateau.

This happens to be Atlas-O, which fits on a single width of Woodland Scenics inclines.   Which are not that expensive, if you add up the inclines and risers, maybe $200?   Would have to work it out for a precise figure.   Then fill in the spaces with whatever you prefer.

Put a lift-out Christmas town inside the top plateau loop.   And a taller mountain peak outside of it, perhaps another 8", to top out at 30".

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Last edited by Ken-Oscale
Ken-Oscale posted:

Just for fun, here is a spiral polar plan that has reasonable grades.

SpiralPolar

About 120" from the exposed switch at the bottom to the outside loop cross over the hidden track in the mountain.   If you do 4% (4" in 8') that gives you 6" in clearance.   If you need more clearance, you can add another outside loop, which would be longer.

6" would be adequate for the Polar Express and figures on top.

This one is 100" by 62".  O36 minimum, O63 maximum.  Two O36 turnouts.

The rest of the grade can be easier if you like.  If you stay with 4%, that adds another 16" of height, for a total of 22" to the top plateau.

This happens to be Atlas-O, which fits on a single width of Woodland Scenics inclines.   Which are not that expensive, if you add up the inclines and risers, maybe $200?   Would have to work it out for a precise figure.   Then fill in the spaces with whatever you prefer.

Put a lift-out Christmas town inside the top plateau loop.   And a taller mountain peak outside of it, perhaps another 8", to top out at 30".

Ken, I love this!!  Could be used for anything,  though would look great with the Polar Express.  Can you provide any more detail?  I may want to build this just for the fun of it. 

To do this same idea with FasTrack would be harder:  4 diameters

  • O36
  • O44 (compound of O36 and O48, I have done O44 compound) 
  • O52 (compound of O48 and O60, I have not done O52 compound, the O60 sections don't have 1/2 or 1/4 sections)
  • O60

The layout would be a bit smaller, and the clearances tighter (polar is compressed, but would have to check the passenger car overhang).

Turns out there is an O54 about with FasTrack compound, but not a good O52.  I would rather have the larger clearances anyway.   So I think I could do:

  • O36
  • O45 Compound O36&O48
  • O54 Compound O48&O60
  • O63 Compound with O60& O72 1/2

Perhaps when I have a bit of time.

Last edited by Ken-Oscale
Ken-Oscale posted:

More info on track diameter:

SpiralPolar-1b

One can see how the diameters were carefully chose to nest within each other.   This also shows how one could add O72 and another turn around the mountain following the same pattern.

Ken,

Can you supply a "track list" inventory for this layout?

I know somebody that would love to build this.

 

Thanks

 

 

SantaFeJim posted:
Ken-Oscale posted:

More info on track diameter:

SpiralPolar-1b

One can see how the diameters were carefully chose to nest within each other.   This also shows how one could add O72 and another turn around the mountain following the same pattern.

Ken,

Can you supply a "track list" inventory for this layout?

I know somebody that would love to build this.

 

Thanks

 

 

6045, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Curve radius 22.5" (O-45), angle 30º      12
6056, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Flex 40".                                                      8 
6060, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Curve radius 27" (O-54), angle 22.5º      16
6064, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Curve radius 31.5" (O-63), angle 22.5º    8
6066, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Curve radius 18" (O-36), angle 30º         18
6068, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Curve radius 18" (O-36), angle 7.5º         4
6075, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Left turnout 10". O-36                               1
6076, 0 Atlas 3-Rail Nickel Silver Track, Right turnout 10". O-36                             1

Jim, glad to hear someone might build this.  -Ken

Well a day after my big day! She said yes!!!! It has been an amazing journey these last 5 weeks. A couple sleepless nights a lot of help!!! It took a village to make this project happen. Thank you to a few of you on here that shared the knowledge I needed to learn to make this special woman in my life feel , just how much love I have for her! Mission accomplished !!!

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Congratulations!

I like the lighting that you had under the snow blanket. 

It sure would look nice in the front window of your barber shop. You could even get one of these George HW Bush trains to run on it as a way to tell that incredible story of yours. 


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https://www.ebay.com/p/2603431...mkgroupid=79220283082&rlsatarget=pla-475515095741&abcId=1141176&merchantid=8386144&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3O7mnJKT5gIV-SCtBh0hTgtmEAQYAyABEgKt8fD_BwE

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Last edited by JD2035RR

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