OPERATIONS: O Scale REVERSING: Super tight 12 radius reverse loop. You've never seen this before!
OPERATIONS on 12 Radius! The Glacier Line. Please subscribe.
Have you EVER seen an O scale train on a 12 radius curve? No!
For 99.9% of all cases you would never in a million years design an O scale railroad with 12 radius curves. However, sometimes circumstances and need dictate that conventional wisdom be tossed out the window!
An alternative was needed on the Glacier Line to eliminate the need to run the snowblower and future snowplow the length of the entire main-line to be reversed. After all the logical alternatives were exhausted, the crazy ideas came out! Here is as crazy as it gets: using 12 radius curves in a reverse loop to "turn" the snowplow/dozer.
As you can see in the video, there was only a very limited space over my sump pump for this reverse.
This tight loop literally cut the run in half to a reverse and kept the snow equipment where it belongs and that is in the mountains.
The use of this super tight unconventional solution is a really unique yet practical alternative given the circumstances. Real railroads actually design specific tracks for specific purposes. It is demonstrated here in model. This was a prime example of thinking outside the box. And it works beautifully!