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 Trains / 18282
    Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Brian Kendig
   Are there any web pages which have a study of how to line up Lego train layouts with diagonal track? That is, I want a little more freedom in my layout than forcing it to always use ninety-degree curves and parallel/perpendicular tracks, but I've (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Jason J. Railton
     (...) It's pretty much impossible actually. I'd like to be able to just side-step a track in by one straight's length (16 studs) for a layout, but the only way to do it with correct geometry is to branch it in with a point and leave the straight-on (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Larry Pieniazek
     (...) See the resources in the header of the newsgroup, in particular the .tdl layouts available at the train depot. Doodle your design in Track Designer to see if it works first and you'll reduce your frustration. Now to your particular question, (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Paul S. D'Urbano
     Brian, (...) Couldn't agree more!!! (...) What Larry has done here works because of the fundamental idea described for the compact cross-over at the bottom of this page: (URL) you have two opposite curves joined together you can replace them with a (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Larry Pieniazek
      Thanks for the great follow up, Paul. (...) I wanted to comment on this one in particular because it's particularly devious! It REALLY stretches what's possible and shows a good understanding of the compact crossover geometry relationships. Nice (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
     
          Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Paul S. D'Urbano
      (...) Thanks Larry, I know I could have done something prettier with the spurs but I had to limit myself to the track that came with the MOT kit, plus the cross-track kit, plus one set of points. I've since found a slightly different arrangement of (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Brian Bacher
      (...) Really clever! I purchased an HO sample layout book, and spent some time with Track Designer trying to convert them into similar versions with Lego track. The 30-degree crossovers were the hardest to figure out how to emulate. These sorts of (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Paul S. D'Urbano
     (...) Since a couple people commented on this one I figured I'd mention that over the weekend I came up with a "folded-figure-eight" that avoids the use of points on the inner loop but still fits on my table: (URL) it requires one more curved track (...) (22 years ago, 11-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —James Brown
     (...) If you're trying to keep things squared up, the two magic numbers are 7 and 11. which is to say, a corner that keeps straights lined up with the normal Lego geometry can be one of 3 things: 4 curves 1 curve, 11 straights, 3 curves 2 curves, 7 (...) (22 years ago, 8-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —William R. Ward
      (...) This is very interesting... Is there a similar formula for a dog-leg? 1 curve, X straights, 1 curve the other way? What equations/formulae would you use to compute this? It's been way too many years since I studied trigonometry... --Bill. (22 years ago, 12-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
     
          Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Christopher Tracey
      (...) I don't have an equation, but I think one curve, 12 straights, one curve will do a dog-leg that is eight 32-stud baseplates long and 88 studs wide (3 baseplates minus 4 studs each side). -chris (22 years ago, 13-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
     
          Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —William R. Ward
      (...) THANK YOU!!! This works perfectly! I just tested it in Track Designer.... --Bill. (22 years ago, 13-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
     
          Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Christopher Tracey
      (...) Does it work perfectly or does it go over in length by at least a half a stud? I couldn't tell from Track Designer. -chris (22 years ago, 14-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
     
          Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —William R. Ward
      (...) It's close enough that TD considers it to be connected, and that's good enough for me. I used it for the yard design I just posted (q.v.) --Bill. (22 years ago, 14-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —William R. Ward
     (...) The 1-11-3 design isn't very close at all, according to Track Designer. Here's what I did: straight, curve right, 11 straights (5 switches and a straight, but that is equivalent), 3 curves right, cross-track. Then from the cross-track, a bunch (...) (22 years ago, 12-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —John Gramley
      (...) What does work is 1-13-3. It's close enough that Track Designer will consider it a closed loop. You can turn it into a triangle with a 5-13-7-12-4-5 pattern (starting with curves and alternating with straights). Then it's easy enough to see (...) (22 years ago, 12-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
     
          Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —John Gramley
      (...) Oops. That should be the long leg and the hypoteneuse. John (22 years ago, 12-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
    
         Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —James Brown
     (...) John is correct; it's 1-13-3 that works. Blame my faulty memory, it's been a bit since I played in TD. (...) The 2-7-2 is close enough that it connects physically very soundly. The offset is roughly 1 stud. Easy enough to cover with slop, with (...) (22 years ago, 13-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Tim Strutt
     (...) Here's some examples of non-standard connections I have played around with. All of these line up in Track Designer: (URL) if these links line-wrap. Folder is here when moderated, with TDL files: (URL) well. Tim Strutt (22 years ago, 13-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Larry Pieniazek
     This has been an absolutely great thread, just packed with helpful ideas and findings (even some good track designs to get people thinking! Anyone want to volunteer to write up a summation and share it with Cary so it might get into the FAQ? Thanks (...) (22 years ago, 14-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.faq)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Mike Gallagher
   (...) I now this is an old thread but I was doing a search on attaching curved track to base plates and had something to add to this thread. I have a Brickshelf folder that I have not updated with current studies and layouts recently. But I have (...) (19 years ago, 2-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Joe Strout
   OK, I'll add to an old thread too... Is there any software available for doing LEGO train layouts? I don't think this would have to be very complex -- just your several different kinds of track pieces, which you can drag around and arrange to see (...) (19 years ago, 2-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Mike Gallagher
   (...) Joe, This is a liitle off this threads origianl topic but. I use Train Depot Track Designer (by Matthew Bates) and there are other programs to use. But I like this one. Here is the link (URL) Gallagher (19 years ago, 2-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Larry Pieniazek
   (...) now. If you're a long time user, it works fine, although it's not extensible. New users would be well advised to look into TrackDraw instead... way more features, extensible menus, and the format is XML rather than obscure opaque object dumps (...) (19 years ago, 3-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Joe Strout
   (...) Both seem to work only on Windows though. Pity it wasn't written in REALbasic; then I could just bug the author to click the "Mac OS" and "Linux" checkboxes. :) Does anyone happen to know of anything available for the Mac? Thanks, - Joe P.S. (...) (19 years ago, 3-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Mike Gallagher
   (...) The link I sent is the program I used to work out the diagonal and other layout designs. I have not used the one LAR recommended but will try it out now. As far as other programs I could not say, but you can all ways search Lugnet's newgroups (...) (19 years ago, 3-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
   
        Re: Getting diagonal track to line up properly? —Mark Bellis
   (...) Having done a few experiments with real track, I used Excel to tell me whether particular combinations of track pieces would line up. Since the spreadsheet can do it, I used accurate figures for the track geometry. I then made tables of each (...) (19 years ago, 4-Mar-05, to lugnet.trains)
 

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