Since I've gotten back in to model railroading it occurs to me I haven't seen any land surveyors in any of the cool layouts I've seen.
So I asked about it in the scenery dept. Apparently some fellers have incorporated some of us field jocks in their layouts and one supplier even makes some.
Now I'm chomping at the bit to build a mountain and put a survey crew or 2 in, on or around it.
Only one time was I setup by an active rail line. Every time the train came by, liquefaction kicked in and messed me all up and I had to re-setup.
I just felt it would be poignant to tie my worlds together.
E.
What are you using for curves?
I'm not into that world myself, but from talking to people who are, I understand the common curve radii on HO are 28" main lines, 26" where they need to be sharper, and 24" for yards. These have smaller radii than real-world curve scaled down, perhaps by a factor of 5 to 10.
> What are you using for curves?
>
> I'm not into that world myself, but from talking to people who are, I understand the common curve radii on HO are 28" main lines, 26" where they need to be sharper, and 24" for yards. These have smaller radii than real-world curve scaled down, perhaps by a factor of 5 to 10.
28" is a big sweeping curve! Mine are 18". 22" is farily common but I didn't get any of that. This was all stuff sent to me that I left behind nearly 40 years ago.
My yard lines are using flex-track so I can make them what I want.
HO scale is 1:87
I could post an image of my layout as-built (almost to scale) but forget how to post an image.
E
Since Most Model Railroads Are Of An Earlier Era
I suggest a Bilby Tower, very good justification for being in one place so long. Also add a lamp for night surveying. I suggest the surveyor should be observing the Church Tower. Also do not put it too close to the tracks.
Paul in PA
Since Most Model Railroads Are Of An Earlier Era
How about a survey crew coming from the east, and then have a survey crew from a different company coming from the west. Where the tracks are suppose to meet have them about a foot off.
Since Most Model Railroads Are Of An Earlier Era
> I suggest a Bilby Tower, very good justification for being in one place so long. Also add a lamp for night surveying. I suggest the surveyor should be observing the Church Tower. Also do not put it too close to the tracks.
>
> Paul in PA
A Bilby tower might be a cool touch. I'll have to scratch build one of those - no problem. I'll just have to find some plans.
I did find these characters
Since Most Model Railroads Are Of An Earlier Era
A Bilby tower could be on a hill within the layout, but would be very unlikely to be near railroad tracks in real life.
Before GPS, elevation bench marks were placed along road s and railroads where the leveling path had the most gentle grades and sight lines of hundreds of yards.
Triangulation stations were placed in high spots where they had the best available sight lines for several-mile-long sights, and Bilby towers were used as needed to see over trees and other obstacles. Tri-stations were rarely leveled through.
Forum thread about the Bilby tower [msg=260784]Dedication[/msg], with close-up images.
Thread with pictures of the [msg=227247]salvage and reassembly[/msg] with better detail of top.
Since Most Model Railroads Are Of An Earlier Era
:good:
you would think, by now, they would design an instrument man that knows HOW to SET UP HIS INSTURMENT!
You're right - that guy's back must be hurting by the end of the day.
> I could post an image of my layout as-built (almost to scale) but forget how to post an image.
> E
Someone must have hijacked Eric's account. Will the real BigE please step forward?
Since Most Model Railroads Are Of An Earlier Era
Page 9 in this PDF (not page 9 in the book) has a detailed dimensioned drawing of a Bilby tower that would give you enough information to construct a scale model.
I’m afraid an accurate HO scale model (1:87.1) would be pretty flimsy. For example, the 1 3/4” x 1 3/4” angle iron that makes up the bulk of the outer tower would only be 20 thousandths in HO scale. I don’t know if you can even buy material that small. And it sure wouldn’t survive the first time the cat decided the layout was a good place for a nap.
