Placing curved track on baseplate all the way to the edge

[TrustYourSenses]

Hello,

I apologize if this has been asked or answered before but is there an easy way for me to determine where to place the stud connections to connect curved track to a baseplate when I am placing it all the way at the edge of the baseplate? I have found guides to show how to connect it when using MILS, or placed two studs in from the edge, but I am right at the edge to maximize space. Please see the attached photos. I figured this out using trial and error on the baseplate at the top of the second photo, but I believe the same connection points are not working on the lower baseplate because I used a 16 wide baseplate in between the two. Any guidance is much appreciated.

 

Thank you!    

 

Edited January 21, 2024 by TrustYourSenses

[zephyr1934]

In general, if you shift the track 2 studs relative to the baseplate in one spot, everywhere else on the layout will also be shifted 2 studs.

You can fit 1/4 turn on a 48x48 baseplate. The 8 stud wide ties of the track will fall between studs 36 and 44. If you shift that to be between studs 40 and 48 you have shifted the origin of the curve to stud 4. If you do that on one end, you wind up pulling the origin of the curve on the other end to stud -4, i.e., the layout will want an 8 stud gap on the opposite side. You can use 8 stud baseplates to bring the other end in line, or half length track segments.

But the easiest solution is to just take your track and build whatever fits your space. When fitting an unusual space that's not a problem if the baseplates do not perfectly fill the space.

One thing to keep in mind though, trains need a little space to swing out on curves. So if you build your track with 8 wide ties all the way to the wall, you are probably limiting yourself to relatively short 6 wide train equipment. So before committing to the curve on the wall, test all of the trains you want to run on that track to make sure they fit okay.

 

 

[TrustYourSenses]

zephyr1934: Thank you very much for your helpful and thoughtful reply. I will try to reverse engineer a known stud placement. Also, thank you for the tip about being close to the wall. I will review what trains I want to run on this and see if any of them are 8 wide. If worse comes to worse I can pull the entire city a couple studs away from the wall.