Lionel 6-51007 Century Club II Union Pacific 3 Piece Train Set M-10000 Minimum Curve

[GalacticVoyager]

I am interested in obtaining one of these sets but I see that it is listed as O-72 minimum radius. 

Is this because of the length of the cars? It appears that the drive unit and the trucks are small. Would it be possible to operate it on a smaller radius if there were no obstruction on the curve? 

Any experience info would be greatly appreciated. 

[Firelock76]

As far as I know it's got to have that 72 inch radius, just like the original did in the 30's.  Maybe someone's run it on a smaller radius successfully?  We'd have to hear from them.

The thing is though, if a manufacturer specifies a certain minimum curve radius it's best to take him at his word.  Sometimes you can get away with a tighter radius, say like running a 031 radius locomotive on an 027 curve, but not always.

[lionelsoni]

I have a lot of equipment that MTH claimed only O31 for, that runs just fine on O27.  It seems that O27 just doesn't exist for that company.

I get a kick out of modifying equipment (Big Boy, Superliners, 16-wheel flatcars, etc.) to run on my O27 layout that shouldn't be able to.  But I have usually been careful to examine the model in person before buying, whether ready-to-run or for modification.

[GalacticVoyager]

I was hoping to run it on a O-36 radius as I don't have enough space to accommodate O-72 without a major layout re-vamp.

[Firelock76]

Worst-case scenario, run it once a year under the Christmas tree.

I'm sure there's a lot of vintage Standard Gauge (which takes up a lot of room) that only make Yuletide appearances.

That's not much help, I know.

Of course, there's nothing that says you can't TRY running it on an 036 curve.  You won't hurt it, the worst that can happen is it'll bind on the curves and just won't go through them.

[Dave45681]

I don't have mine out to try anything smaller for you, but I suspect the key here is the vestibules. 

If the cars are too angled, they may not even properly hinge around the vestibule without the ends of each car hitting one another and interfering.

I can't imagine there is anyway this set is going to do O36.

[GalacticVoyager]

Thanks for the feedback. I had not thought about the vestibules and that is most likely the restriction. Looking at them now, I doubt they will turn enough for an O-36 curve.