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Space Requirements For HO Track
John wants to hear from HO model railroaders about space requirements:
“Can someone tell me how wide must a table be to allow an HO train to make a turnaround? How much room do I need? I plan to put my layout on a banquet type table and the question is will the HO train make a turnaround on a 30″ or a 36″ table? Thank you so much for letting me post my question. I really appreciate it.”
Post your replies to John’s HO question using the comments link below.
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John, the general rule is that the radius of the widest curve on a layout will be half the width of the table. Thus a 36″ table will support an 18″ radius curve, etc. The only caveat is that the tangent (straight) track leading to and from the curve will be at the very edge of the table.So for safety, a 36″ table will yield an 15″ radius curve. That is a very tight radius curve for HO. Gerry