A 22 inch radius for a helix is awfully tight. You have to figure the friction of the train going around curves and compensate your grade percentage accordingly. Did you consider that? I think that's just way too tight a curve.

and the end shows it working just fine, over and over again.

HO - Western New York - 1987 era
"When your memories are greater than your dreams, joy will begin to fade."

That is a cool design, and it turned out great. I would fall into it and crush it completely flat within about twenty-four hours of completion. 

A man's gotta know his limitations. 

Randy

Another comedian.  We all know what a helix is about.  Get to the point.

I actually made 3 minutes in!   That's about as far as I'm able to go with most of these videos.

Your ideas may vary.

Mike.

I have always thought the prefab curved track available in larger radiuses would be nice. I think they could do longer sections as well.

I know people have used standard foam board with the clay paper veneers instead of gator board for modules wonder if that could be used for a helix as well.

I admit to not watching it all because that style of presentation isn't my thing but I did fast forward to the end and yes there was a decent length train running but it had an MU lash up at the front. Fact remains that 22 inch radius is tight for a helix. It just is and beginners and new folks might get the wrong idea. Ask Joe about too tight a radius helix. Everyone has to make compromises though and maybe that's a compromise you could live with. I have a 4% hidden switchback grade on my pike. I call it the "necessary grade".

"Fact remains that 22 inch radius is tight for a helix. It just is and beginners and new folks might get the wrong idea. Ask Joe about too tight a radius helix. Everyone has to make compromises though and maybe that's a compromise he could live with. I have a 4% hidden switchback grade on my pike. I call it the "necessary grade"."

  Yes, 22 inch falls between conventional(24 inch) and sharp(18 inch) on Armstrongs's curve radius  classification. The helix grade will make it appear even sharper to engines trying to pull long trains around it so I'd make sure I could reliably(100% of the time) run any planned trains up it. The "necessary grade" fits in well with the prototype naming places thread going on now....DaveB

Hi all,

Perhaps most people missed it - this future layout is planned for exhibition use - ie must be easily transportable. Both size and weight count. 

Most wagons/vans can't take stuff much wider than 4' through the back or side doors - 22" radius on track centre plus 2" clearance doubled = 48" = maximum size of stuff that can be easily transported in a vehicle without going to a dedicated trailer. 

Yes it's not "ideal", but the video shows it works. In terms of radius on helices, bigger is always better because it flattens the grade for the same rise each revolution of the spiral.

But when you are designing to fit constraints, you make your design choices and run with it.

Of interest in the middle of the video is the load-testing of the gatorboard supports and spans. That should clarify the suitability of that gatorboard for model railroad construction use.

Well, "the guy" and "he" is me! I'm right here. If you need my credentials feel free to Google Joey Ricard + model railroad to narrow it down.

We all have opinions and that's what forums are for. Good, bad or otherwise, it's always interesting and never a dull minute here for sure.

If you have a problem making a tight raduis helix work, I'd be glad to help you. I've built several with this radius helix and have never ever had stringline problems....I guess that's what you mean by "it's too tight. Otherwise I can't I imagine what you'd be talking about other than asethetics, but it's not something  that would be visible I. 

Any which way, it's nothing to debate, it works.

Joey Ricard

The point was that friction from tight curves effectively reduces the pulling power of a locomotive and therefore makes a difference in how many cars can be pulled vs. if the grade is on a tangent. Most people will come up with a compensated grade percentage based on the radius of the curve. The principle is as old as model railroading itself. I believe both John Armstrong and John Allen had rules of thumb about grades on curves and compensated grade percentages.

If it works for you, that's all that matters. As I said, everyone has to make compromises in this hobby. Very rarely can we do anything that is exactly what we want because of space, time, money, whatever. Generally speaking though, within practical limits, the larger the radius of a helix the better.

P.S. I mistakenly thought that the video was done by someone else and not you Joey. Or that the poster was different or whatever. I don't know how I got that impression but I did and obviously was wrong. That's why I said "he". I certainly do apologize and no offense was intended. I tried to edit my comments.