a person who designs railways is a ____?

JonMyrlennBailey

Active member
a person who designs railways is a ____?
a person who plans the construction of railways is a ____?
a person who who drafts plans for railways is a ____?
 
It sounds like we play civil engineer when we build layouts in Surveyor. We play god (creator) when when build all the terrain for the route as well. One thing I have not mastered is creating easement curves for tracks. The curves gradually get tighter as the train enters them then loosen back up as the train exits them. This is for the comfort of people on board. We don't want hot cups of coffee spilling all over dining car tables. I would think grades would have to gradually change their slopes too and the bevel angle of super-elevation would also have to change gradually. These things regarding geometry are more obvious when you look at a roller coaster track. The devil is in the detail in the art of deviating from the straight and the level in a controlled fashion. I think motor highways have to have a similar degree of sophistication in geometry for safe and comfortable motoring.
 
It sounds like we play civil engineer when we build layouts in Surveyor. We play god (creator) when when build all the terrain for the route as well. One thing I have not mastered is creating easement curves for tracks. The curves gradually get tighter as the train enters them then loosen back up as the train exits them. This is for the comfort of people on board. We don't want hot cups of coffee spilling all over dining car tables. I would think grades would have to gradually change their slopes too and the bevel angle of super-elevation would also have to change gradually. These things regarding geometry are more obvious when you look at a roller coaster track. The devil is in the detail in the art of deviating from the straight and the level in a controlled fashion. I think motor highways have to have a similar degree of sophistication in geometry for safe and comfortable motoring.


Yes, on both roadways and railways, spiral curves get used quite extensively, for both horizontal and vertical curves. On longer curves, the curve spirals in from straight, then has a section at a constant radius, then spirals back out to straight. Shorter curves often just spiral in, and then spiral back out. This is often most obvious on highway ramps.
 
Before Bob Ross, there was a painting instructor on PBS with a German accent. And when he would paint, he would comment things like "If you like, you could put a tree here, or you could put a bird in the sky; YOU ARE THE CREATOR! I always thought it was great he would remind his students they were free to create whatever they wanted!
 
Most model railways including electric train sets have straight track sections and curved sections of fixed radius. Is there a method for creating a precise spiral curve for Trainz track?

I'm considering standard American gauge track. Are there spiral curve templates for Trainz building which are prototypical for various train speeds on American standard gauge lines? How would I design a right-hand turn in a 50 mph zone so that a cup of coffee would not slide off an Amtrak dining table at that speed? The real turn would also have a certain degree of bevel also.
 
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Most model railways including electric train sets have straight track sections and curved sections of fixed radius. Is there a method for creating a precise spiral curve for Trainz track?

I'm considering standard American gauge track. Are there spiral curve templates for Trainz building which are prototypical for various train speeds on American standard gauge lines? How would I design a right-hand turn in a 50 mph zone so that a cup of coffee would not slide off an Amtrak dining table at that speed? The real turn would also have a certain degree of bevel also.

If there are such templates they should be on the DLS. However, if laid out right, Trainz track will tend to provide the easement. On model railroads one can create an easement horizontally by first drawing the fixed-radius curve (if any) and then offsetting the line of tangent (straight) track half an inch or so (for HO). Easy enough to do the same in Trainz. There is a rule of thumb for the distance from apex to tangent but I don't remember it off hand.

:B~)
 
You might find these useful.

<kuid:382628:1> MM parametrizable track transition curve template
<kuid2:263713:1100:1> Configurable curve template v2.0
 
<kuid:382628:1> MM parametrizable track transition curve template is not downloadable in TS12


<kuid2:263713:1100:1> Configurable curve template v2.0 doesn't have easy-to-understand instructions in the description
 
I did some playing around in Surveyor on a blank canvas. I found that the grid squares and the rulers can help me get a natural-feeling curve as shown in this diagram.
4YssFf5.jpeg

UlPHmMM
UlPHmMM
 
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