Quote from: lmackattack on January 05, 2009, 10:25:53 PM
no just use the center of the rails at the center point for the measurement. if you had a full circle of track it would be 36" from the center of the rails n once side to the center of the rails on the other. 18" is the halfway point. 22" will work around the 18" I think you need 5-6 sections of the 22" to make a1/4 circle?

That explains it all. It's certainly 18" when I measure from the center of the track. Thanks again for your help.

Quote from: lmackattack on January 05, 2009, 10:09:12 PM
track radius is measured from the center of the track. it sounds like you have 18" is this the EZ track ? If so how many sections makes a 1/4 circle? if its 4 sections I believe thats 18"

Trent

Yes, this is EZ track and I think you're right about it being 18". Four pieces make up 1/4 of the circle. I think my measuring must be off somewhere but I tried it several times and never get exactly 18" (usually between 18.5 and 19). Perhaps I'm not supposed to include the outer part of the roadbed in the measurement?

Also, will a 22" radius work around this?

Thanks for your help.

Quote from: modelrailroadrookie on January 05, 2009, 09:58:49 PM
Hi All,

I'm trying to purchase track for my first layout and I'm having some difficulty determining what track radius I should use. I'd like to lay a second track on the outside of the oval track that came with the train set I bought, the Bachmann DCC Digital Commander, however I'm not sure what radius will fit around it.

I tried determining the radius of the track I currently have by building a circle and then measuring across but it doesn't seem to measure out to any radius that is currently sold by Bachmann. The radius turns out to be 19" (my initial estimate without measuring was 18" but I measured several times both halfway across as well as across the entire circle and always get 19" for the radius and 38" for the diameter).

Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

I forgot to mention (although it's probably obvious since I bought a set) that I'm using EZ Track. From some rough measurements, I believe a 22" radius will be able to wrap around my current track but I figured I'd check with the experts before buying anything.

By the way, I'm still confused over why the radius on my current track measured out to 19". Seems odd.

Hi All,

I'm trying to purchase track for my first layout and I'm having some difficulty determining what track radius I should use. I'd like to lay a second track on the outside of the oval track that came with the train set I bought, the Bachmann DCC Digital Commander, however I'm not sure what radius will fit around it.

I tried determining the radius of the track I currently have by building a circle and then measuring across but it doesn't seem to measure out to any radius that is currently sold by Bachmann. The radius turns out to be 19" (my initial estimate without measuring was 18" but I measured several times both halfway across as well as across the entire circle and always get 19" for the radius and 38" for the diameter).

Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

Quote from: westsidelumber12 on January 04, 2009, 11:25:08 PM
HA, now wonder you wouldn't tell me if SD-40x's existed  thats a SD-40x

Please forgive my ignorance, but how do you guys know all of these? Is there a website or book that shows all engine/locomotive models ever produced? I'd love to learn more about this all.

Also, I'm creating my first layout and would love the engines and rolling stock to be as realistic as possible. How do I know if the engines and rolling stock I use are prototypes of the real thing?

Quote from: Hunt on December 30, 2008, 08:52:38 PM
You are welcome. Sorry I was not able to help you. Troubleshooting is limited without hands on the equipment.

Just an update on what was wrong with the train set: I brought the set back to Train World yesterday and the owner there was very helpful in figuring out the problem. He had me come behind the counter to test out both engines as well as the DCC controller. It turns out one of the engines was not working at all. The reason I couldn't get the other good engine to work was because the controller wasn't working either. The owner swapped out both the engine and DCC and everything worked fine after that.

Thanks again for your help. It has certainly helped me in figuring out how to program engines to new addresses on the DCC.

Happy New Year!

Sorry about the double posting. For a moment I thought my first posting disappeared. I just removed it.

I tried everything you said a few times but the locomotives still won't move. They do move when I assign them numbers but don't move after that.

Looks like I'll be heading back to Train World tomorrow. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

I've spent the past 3 hours trying to get my new DCC Digital Commander set to work but have not had any luck.

I am able to program new addresses for the two locomotives that come with the set (I set them to addresses 1 and 2) and got the typical slight movement on the track when doing so. However, they will not run on their current programmed addresses or any other addresses that I program them to. I've tried changing the addresses for both several times, unplugged the DCC several times, and have checked all of the track several times, but they still won't run.

It seems power is being sent to them since I'm able to program their addresses and they respond when I do so, but they won't budge after that.

Please help!

Aha, now I get it! Thanks a lot for the explanations.

I was just wondering what the 3 digits associated with locomotives mean (for example, 4-4-2. I just made this one up to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Please forgive me if this is obvious. I'm a newbie.