narrow gauge overview

... as a result of the thread by euromodeller about his module, i was inspired to make finally a narrow gauge diorama ...
i was already taking stock of all my installed NG stuff (locs, wagons, tracks, buildings ..), so his expansion was very welcome and my collection was expanded with his 750(mm) fund ...
when i started inventorying, some years ago, i was confused by the used names, like :
- NG2 trk (2,44m)
- NG2 trk (1m)
- NG30 rails only 2m
- NG36 track 56lb grey milled
- NG42 60lb treated, milled, ...
... i just started laying the different tracks, collected my rolling stock and looked at what fit ... because there were no (or too few) similarities in the names of gauge tracks and rolling stock...
i didn't understand that the notation NG24 is the same as NG2 ... or NG30 is also 750/760 ....... and what about just NG .... (see for example here) ..
in this way it took a lot of time and i lost interest ...

till euromodeller shook me up ...
... so, i started googlin' and found in wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow-gauge_railway ...
and finally i know now that the 2 is for foot and the 30/36/42 is for inches .. as a metric man i'm narrow minded (!) ...
but i still don't understand the additions in the name, like (2,44m) and (1m) behind NG2 trk ... or 2m behind NG30 ... ??? ...

... in my lack of technical gauge knowledge i made an overview in excel using that wiki ... any addition or modification is welcome ..
remember : it's a "cheat sheet" : every detail i can and will find in aforementioned encyclopedia ... and the dimensions used for inches and foot have been rounded to gain insight into the designations in trainz ...
... in the meantime i'll go on with my inventory ...

have a nice time and stay healthy ..
daveric

Hi Daveric,

I can reply on the part of naming - NG2 trk (2,44m) & - NG2 trk (1m)

The part inside the () is the base length of the spline model mesh, as given in meters.
So the one with the (1m) will mean more polygons in a scene but give smoother curves and not so angled when making sharp curves, while the one that is 2,44 meter long before it repeats itself will make less smooth looking curve.
On my models there is also a little bit cheating in that I have more segments inside the rail part so it is bending/curving better, while the ballast part is a longer single piece so to speak.

The two last names you mention gives the rail weight in the naming, the 56lb & the 60lb is the weight, I think it is called ounces, but written lb in short. Making the height of the rail part being different.

Hope this helps some?

Linda

Neat idea daveric.

The lb = pounds weight, there are 16 ounces in a pound.
Yes we Brits had some really odd weights and measures pre-metrication.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_units

@ Shortline2 : thankz Linda for the clear explanation ... your help is very useful ... it is confusingly, having 2 different units of measure side by side .. but with this explanation i can handle it now .. about the weight : most important is the final quote : height of rail part is different .. and with that my question about the "weight" (56 or 60) ounces is per inch (?), doesn't matter ...
@ euromodeller : thankz Graham for your "bonus" .. besides the odd mind-boggling discrepancies (1 foot = 12 inches and 1 pound = 16 ounces ...), i needed different sets of tools for my dutch daf(fodil) or french citroën (ds) versus my british bedford or yankee harley / indian ...

my inventory will now be expanded much sooner than a few years ago ... thankz for the motivation ..
grtz
daveric

Your welcome.

I have help make confusing my self earlier on, as I used to use ng2 in the name as to mean 2-foot narrow gauge, but later I used ng24 as in 24-inch narrow gauge... I am a metric person so I maybe should have used the metric naming but then I have those pesky numbers that is not nice and short, so I ended up using the inches as it was better for my use making both 18, 24 and 36 inch at one time in life.
The use of the metric length was really for my own usefulness, in today's world of procedural track I think at least the length part is not that needed any more, but I have not worked with that track system except a little bit dabble a few years back. When I learned it was not suited for narrow gauge as the switches/turnouts had to be way to big, I was not inspired to continue and I sort of left the whole creating scene.

Linda

zsuda - Pounds per Yard (36 inches) or approximately a metre.

Hello daveric

I don't know anything of a 1200 mm track in Switzerland, where have you found it? The ordinary NG-track in Switzerland is 1000 mm. Some touristic trains may be smaller than 1000 mm.

Regards from Switzerland
Swordfish

@ Shortline2 : thankz again Linda ... so that is also the 2 in your username : narrow gauge shortliner ... i like that .. i think i will use that in a new diorama ... as well a lot of your narrow stuff you created ... many, many thankz for that .. as i'm born in indonesia (former dutch colony) 24 or 2 could be used for a sugarcane ng shortline ... nice inspiration ..
@ PC_Ace : thankz for answering that piece of the question ... so, "NG36 track 56lb grey milled" is a narrow gauge track with a width of 36 inches or 3 foot or circa 900 mm, what i can use for europe, sweden (891) and ireland, isle of man and the americas (914) .. and the add info is a weight of 25,4 kg per metre (circa) and "grey, milled" ... nice to know ...
@ Swordfish : thankz for checking ... i found the info in the link in #1 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow-gauge_railway ... there i found the sublinks ad 1200 :
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheineck%E2%80%93Walzenhausen_mountain_railway
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appenzell_Railways#Operation
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoosbahn

grtz
daveric