Any insight appreciated

[Hayashi]

I'm narrowing down my Unitrack layout. The design is approximately 5.5' x 11.5'. Comments from forum members on past questions have helped a lot in the refinement

 

I'd appreciate any comments on fatal flaws anyone sees in this design.

 

To help explain the layout...

 

• Freight Yard A is at ground level.
• Commuter Station, Commuter Yard, and Freight Yard B are at 52mm height.
• The top end of the Commuter line dips down to ground level to meet up with Freight Yard A and also to clear shinkansen yard.
• Shinkansen line is at 104mm height for the whole loop.
• Shinkansen yard dips down to 62mm height (not 52mm).
• Shinkansen will pass over a Commuter main line and siding at the Commuter Station.
• The small gray track pieces in the freight yards are magnetic uncouplers.
• Most grades are very slight. The greatest is from the shinkansen viaduct down to the shinkansen yard at approx 3.5%.
• The short magenta colored track in Freight Yard A is Tomix track (with a Unitrack adapter) because I plan to use a single stall Tomytec loco shed there.
• I'll kitbash the turnout viaduct leading from the shinkansen line to the shinkansen yard, as well as any special viaduct piers around the Commuter Station area.

 

 

[JR 500系]

Looks good! I just have a query, can I know what is the grey piece at the turnouts in front of the Shinkansen yard? It looks like its going straight through the green commuter lines... Unless of course the shinkansen yard is overhead or the Green commuter line is overhead spanning over the ground level shinkansen yard line? 

[Yavianice]

1 minute ago, JR 500系 said:

Looks good! I just have a query, can I know what is the grey piece at the turnouts in front of the Shinkansen yard?

 

Pretty sure that's a bridge. because the shinkansen line goes over the commuter line on the bottom, and the yard is connected with a 1 track branch.

 

The design is pretty nice. However you should know that a double crossover -cannot- be used within the station area for the shinkansens, because the shinkansens will then scrape on the platforms, damaging them.

[Hayashi]

JR500: Yes, it's a bridge. The Freight Yard A is at ground level and the Commuter line at that point is also at ground level.

 

Yavianice: I've had confirmation that the shinkansens should not have any clearance problems with the double crossover within the shinkansen station. I won't ever be taking the crossover at speed, so there shouldn't be any train wobble that might cause a scraping issue. I could move it inside the tunnel, but then I run into S-curves. I could also put it in the viaduct track at the bottom of the diagram, but I like the idea of putting rerailers on either side of the double crossover to provide some additional anti-derailing insurance. The downside to that location is: (1) a crossover on a viaduct is probably very unrealistic looking and (2) having rerailers there is a bit of an eyesore. Keeping the double crossover in the shinkansen station hides the rerailers.

 

I've also added rerailers at the entrance to the shinkansen station because I'm coming out of a curve into the station where there are turnouts. I only have 124mm straights there so I want the cars lined up nicely when hitting the points. Once we purchase our house, if I have some additional length I increase the lead in to the station to 186mm and eliminate the rerailers there.

[Yavianice]

I have a 64 mm straight in between the points and the curves, and have no problems even at full speed, I don’t have rerailers anywhere on my track. The only train that had a problem was the KATO H5, but that was solved after weighing it down with interior lights.

 

you might want to check the double crossover and platforms clearance. Because for me they scraped no matter what.

[Hayashi]

Thanks Yavianice. I'll test it once I start laying things out. I can always move the crossover to the viaduct side if it causes problems.