I'm at the stage (finally!) of thinking about laying track but what's currently doing my head in is working out how wide my track spacing needs to be so that trains can pass each other and not collide.
The Peco N scale track gauge isn't much help as having the track at N scale spacing looks wrong for one thing and is just asking for trouble.
Any ideas or suggestions?
There is no fixed distance for 009 track spacing it depends on the type of line you are modelling and the size of the locos and rolling stock you are using.
The same goes for the real narrow-gauge lines the minimum clearance is different depending on the individual line. For example, a brickworks industrial line with small locos and V skips would have closer track spacing than the Leak and Manifold that used transporter wagons.
My advise is to look at the type of NG railway you are aiming to emulate and make the track spacing on your layout look about the same.
At the end of the day if it looks ok to you and none of your locos or stock hit each other then that is all that matters.
I don't think there is a single answer. Possibly there is a formula but I bet it is horribly complicated.
A key problem is that (like prototype NG) there is no one single loading gauge. Things to watch out for are overhang at the buffers of locomotives with leading and trailing bogies / pony trucks and long bogie carriages and wagons.
I think a fair bit of compromise is needed and that tracks will we much further apart than on the prototype because curves on a model are generally so much tighter. This can make the layout look shorter and more toy-like. A thing I always underestimate is just how much space is needed for tracks to diverge in sidings meaning the useful length is shorter than hoped for.
As a rule of thumb, for parallel straight track, decide the width of the largest vehicle you have (or plan to use) and add 12mm (=3ft) as the minimum centre line spacing. I think that the distance provided by PECO 009 points in crossover formation is 44mm for the "crazy" track and around 46mm for mainline. As already stated, for curves, end overhang, and centre underhang of long bogie vehicles come into play. These effects are best determined by experiment.
Tim
Thanks chaps. That gives me something to think about. Having modeled standard gauge for so long it takes a bit of getting used to, to thinking narrow gauge! :D