Cheers: Need some help Posted this 6 weeks ago on general forum with no answers

Trying to plan roundhouse.

Need to know the size of door clearances ---- width by height

Found a ATSF plan with actual dimension of 13 ft wide by 17'10" high above top of rail ---- but not sure this will work with three rail

I am not sure a Lionel 3751 will fit thru that opening

Can some one post the actual dimension of manufactured roundhouses

Those dimensions sound real close to me. They may even be too large. Height-wise you may have to adjust for the type of track you use and whether or not it is sunk into the floor (door opening). Depending on the track you use the rail height may be over exaggerated, so you need to compensate on the door opening.

And, welcome to the scenery section.

When we used to install overhead gates on RR tracks our minimum clearance was 18 feet above the rails. Perhaps that gave us a couple of inches for error.

IIRC we were supposed to maintain 9 feet clear to the center of the tracks (18' opening). RR cars are supposed to be limited to 10 feet wide so your 13' would allow 18" on each side. The doors may encroach on the opening reducing this clearance further.

I don't know what a Lionel 3751 is, but if it is over sized one stall might be allocated for it with wider/higher openings. I have seen examples where one stall was extended for longer engines like the Big Boy.

Rand

3.25"w x 4.5"h (18 ft) seems like the width would work but for some reason 5.25" sticks in my mind from when I was checking clearances.

Gene Anstine

The O scale NMRA clearances standard for structures is 15 ft wide by 22 ft high ---- seems excessive

I am going to measure some of the larger of my loco's

I thought this would be easy ---- someone would just measure the opening on manufactured roundhouses (they having done the work to check) and I would reap the benefit ---- no such luck

Don

Scale University roundhouse doors are 3-1/2 in wide X 4-3/4 inch high. The actual structure has a 4-1/2 inch high opening, but I have a 1/4 inch shim under it to raise the structure because the realtrax roadbed is so high and I need the shim or the engine will not fit.

Don if I was building a roundhouse the door height would be 4 3/4" above the railhead and 3 1/2 wide. The height would allow for any cab roof mounted horns. Additionally the railhead would be flush with the deck/floor. Hope this helps. Only you would know your height requirements so the measurements of an off the shelf roundhouse may be of little use. BTW your ATSF height of 17'10" scales out at 4 7/16".

Thanks for the input

I measured a few of the roundhouse dwellers heights (top of rail -- not including flanges)

LNL SF 4-8-4 #3751 4 1/8 with low stack
LNL SF S2 2337 4 1/8
MTH SF 2-8-2 3160 3 3/4
3RD SF 2-8-8-2 1792 4
MTH SF 0-4-0 2427 3 5/8

I was looking to see if anything I had out looked taller and was surprised to see a caboose with with a roof detail that topped out at 4 3/8 (kline)

This data shows that a roundhouse door of scale 18 feet would be OK (4 1/2")

Does anyone have a taller loco??

Thanks