So I'm new to Fastrack and I'm trying to figure out how to make a figure 8. Can somebody link me a diagram or website if you have it available? I have plenty of Curved sections and straights. I also have the 45 degree crossover. Will this work?
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Hi! I hope the attachment gives you some ideas. It was created by another forum member several years ago, using a freely downloadable Windows (only) program called SCARM. I could find nothing meeting your specifications (45 degree crossing), but the program is fairly easy to learn and use for your purposes. Just search for SCARM on this forum and you will find a thread started by the author (Mixy) where you can download the program.
Chuck
Thanks for the help PRR. I may use something like that for my Xmas tree layout. I got a big chunk of 048 curves for a steal of a price on Ebay. I now find out that it's the oddball in the fastrack World. Just my luck.
You'd use 10 full 048 curves plus one half 048 curve for each circle. Doing it with trigonometry, then you'd need 12 1-3/8" fitter straights, three on each leg of the 45° crossing (Lionel incorrectly calls it a crossover).
Since twelve fitters may get a bit pricey, you might want to see if there's enough give for a 4-1/2" fitter to take the place of the three 1-3/8" fitters. If my calculations are correct, what you need added to each of the four legs of the crossing is 4.184". The three 1-3/8" fitters give you 4.125" so you're only 0.059" (less than 6/100 of an inch) short of a "perfect" fit, whereas the 4-1/2" fitter is 0.316" too big. But on a 48" circle, that may not be a problem. If it were me, I think I would try the 4-1/2" fitters first (four 4-1/2" fitters versus twelve 1-3/8" fitters).
Good luck, I hope this helps.
There is a Fastrack fitter piece chart in the Lionel Track & Power Catalog available on their website. There are also some examples of different track arrangements, but I forget exactly which ones they had in there? The fitter chart is very handy to have.
You can get close enough to make it work just fine with 8 full curves, two 10" straights, two 5" straights, two 4.5" straights, two 1.37" straights for each side. Here's the track plan in AnyRail, you can do this with the free version.
Here's the AnyRail track plan file: Figure 8 Fastrack O48.
This is the amount of mismatch, you should be able to live with this.
The Figure 8 below was made with RR-Track. Take note of the curved sections coming off of each of the four legs of the 45 deg crossing.
The grid is 12 in. x 12 in.
GRJ - He said he has a 45° crossing. Your diagram shows a 90° crossing. Unless I misunderstood the OP's question, he has a Lionel 6-12051, not Lionel 6-12019.
Zeke - I get "Image Not Found" for the three images in your post but curved sections coming off the legs of the crossings sounds more complicated than necessary. Basically, the crossing and the straight fitters are just replacing the 048 full and half curve (one Lionel 6-12043 and one Lionel 6-16834) that would otherwise complete the circle if the crossing wasn't there.
FT O48 Figure 8 with 45º Crossover
Incorporating PRR1950's turnouts into my design
Zeke,
I hate to say this, but that last suggestion looks awful to run trains through the middle. Geometrically and operationally, you need to extend the space between the switches (east-west, top and bottom) so that the track leading to the crossing remains straight for smooth performance. I'm sure it can be done.
Chuck
Haven't heard from the OP but the key question here is, which way does he want to use the 45° crossing? Does he want an elongated figure 8 or a compact figure 8? My recommendations were based on the compact figure 8. And if track switches (or turnouts) are going to be used, that would also affect the track geometry.
This O-48 figure-8 uses O72 half sections as easements, and everything lines up. 4'4" X 10'.
Here it is as a connected Figure-8. The AnyRail file is attached.
And here is a more "perfect" version with tolerance set to 1/16". Uses O-96 for easements and more "fitter" track sections. The AnyRail file is attached.
Please read the test instructions in the original post:
"So I'm new to Fastrack and I'm trying to figure out how to make a figure 8. Can somebody link me a diagram or website if you have it available? I have plenty of Curved sections and straights. I also have the 45 degree crossover. Will this work?"
Using the 45 degree crossing, tolerance set to 7/64" (just less than 1/8"). This one went together efficiently, with few fitter pieces. Interesting. I have attached the AnyRail file. 41 track sections so the free version of AnyRail will do this track plan. 4'4" X 8'8".
Ken,
I was only teasing...although I don't leave 1/8" gaps, I use a .079" tolerance and an angle less than 2°
Carl, the tolerance is set to 7/64 (just less than 1/8) with 1 degree (though this plan is perfect in degrees). 7/64 is .109375, not much different than .079". There won't be any visible gaps, as Fastrack does give a little bit. Certainly no 1/8" gap anywhere. 
I took the layout apart and put it back together with 3/32 tolerance (.09375) and 0 degree tolerance.
Next experiment with 2.3mm tolerance and 0 degrees worked(0.905").
It seems that the center connected "X" section with turnouts goes together perfectly, at 0mm and 0 degree tolerance. The outside half-circles of O-48 need to "stretch" out by 1.8mm in order to connect. Fastrack easily does this and the stretch will not be visible as it will be spread across all the joints in the half-circle.
I was able to draft up the attached. Uses (20) 30-degree O48 curves, (2) 15-degree O48 curves, (4) 5-inch straights and the 45-degree crossing. Should fit in a 5'x9' layout. The pieces were modeled in AutoCAD based on the actual dimensions of the Fastrack items and made into blocks - I mess around with this to plan layouts. There shouldn't be any serious gaps - there is some wiggle room to make all the pieces fit - as Ken stated, imperfections can be distributed throughout the joints.
Great OC, that is the same configuration as I have above, but without the O48 turnouts. Good to have a confirmation that this works.
@Ken-Oscale posted:Here it is as a connected Figure-8. The AnyRail file is attached.
- Track
- 6-12014, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 10". 8
- 6-12025, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 4 1/2". 8
- 6-12026, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 1 3/4". 8
- 6-12073, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 1 3/8". 8
- 6-12043, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 24", angle 30º (O48) 12
- 6-16835, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 24", angle 7.5º (O48) 4
- 6-12055, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 36", angle 11.25º (O72) 4
- 6-12019, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Crossing 6". 90º 1
- 6-12065, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Left turnout 15". (O48) (remote) 2
- 6-81948, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Right turnout 15". (O48) Remote/Command 2
Very interesting. I assume the bend in the middle is not real?
As I look at each of those variations I can only suggest first laying it out on the floor for test runs. Where those curved sections connect directly to a turnout you will most likely have a derailment problem for some equipment. Easily solved by having a piece of straight in front of the turnout.
@Ken-Oscale posted:This O-48 figure-8 uses O72 half sections as easements, and everything lines up. 4'4" X 10'.
I really like this one. Do you have a track list for this? Thank you!
@gunrunnerjohn posted:You can get close enough to make it work just fine with 8 full curves, two 10" straights, two 5" straights, two 4.5" straights, two 1.37" straights for each side. Here's the track plan in AnyRail, you can do this with the free version.
Here's the AnyRail track plan file: Figure 8 Fastrack O48.
This is the amount of mismatch, you should be able to live with this.
John, This is a great plan and would like to build it in my layout. Thank you for the track list! I was wondering is it possible to to use O-48 Switches to bridge the gaps across the figure 8 so we have an oval? Thank you! Your buddy Madockawando
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