Short Locos and Cars

[Anonymous]

I'm building a glorified Turtle Creek with a 'Skyway Express" on an upper level, most of my turns are 18"radius with some 22" but there will be some 15" radius turns involved...

I want to stay with short wheel-base locos and cars to better nogotiate the tighter turns but don't know that much about the different selections available...

Is there a site that list the length of wheel base for the different makes?

I like the looks of something like the new Bachmann GE 44 ton Switcher, not a shay...

TIA
scada

[Jetrock]

The GE switcher can round 8-10" radius curves in HO. Any half-decent two-truck locomotive should be able to handle 15" curves in HO--F-units and Geeps will work fine. Alco S-series switchers are great for small lines, as are SW-type switchers. The Bachmann 44-tonners are fine but they aren't really as good as a decent Proto 2000 or Athearn Genesis engine.

Steer clear of the cheap "Hustler" and "Plymouth" four-wheel locomotives. I have heard a good thing or two about the new Roundhouse four-wheel critter, but it might be a bit TOO small--it is suitable for an industrial switcher based at an industry that needs on-site switching, but is a little too dinky for actually pulling mainline trains.

40 or 50 foot freight cars will work fine too--even with body-mounted couplers. You could even go 60' if you're careful with your trackwork and don't speed-demon around the 15" curves.

Some folks tend to be overly timid about minimum-radius equipment. While I too cringe when someone wants to run their Big Boy or Cab-Forward on 15" radius track and complains when it doesn't work right, there is plenty of comfortable margin for operation with any two-truck diesel-electric.

[dragenrider]

My branch line has two 15 inch curves. All my Athearn GP's and switchers handle them just fine. The engines that work BEST right out of the box are my two Proto 2000 switchers. They have excellent low speed and pulling power for keeping the train going on tight curves with a grade. See my pics on the web site below for an idea of what they look like. [tup]

I also use older short cars such as 40 foot boxcars and older tankers, flats, passenger cars, etc.

Good luck!

[sailor38]

scadaman:
I model the early transitiion era and am stuck, owing to space or lack thereof, with 18" radius. The period I model allows me to get by with limiting all my rolling stock to 42' or less. Most of it is in the 34' to 40' range. I have a Proto 2000 SW9 that handles the 18" with absolutely no problems. You didn't say if you have or will have any steam locos, but I have a Spectrum 2-8-0 and an IHC 2-6-0 (no blind drivers on either) that also handle the 18" just fine. One word of caution: If you're using steamers and Atlas #4 turnouts, be careful you don't get too short a wheelbase.
I have a beautiful Spectrum ten wheeler that I can't use for that reason. The pickups are too close together to span the insulated part of the turnouts.
Hope this is a little bit helpful. Have fun!
Chuck

[Anonymous]

While we're on the subject, how about the Spectrum 0-6-0T, will that negotiate a 12" to 15" radius?

Many Thanks,
smyers

[jkeaton]

Due to tight space for the layout, and a desire (for now) to stick to HO, I have a mainline loop with a 22" minimum radius, but the rest (bulk!) of the line will be a mountain-climbing mining branch with 18" and 15" radius curves, plus a snug port scene. I have two 44 tonners and three 70 tonners for the branch - and SWx and RSs for the mainline. Glad to read of how well these engines work for others on tight curves. Clearly sticking to the shorter cars will help too. I hope to run RDCs on the mainline, but don't think I'll try bending them around the branch - my mining operator is planning a tourist train with some very short (about 35') passenger cars of German protoype. (There is a prototype for this - there's a tourist railway near me that runs a Swedish 2-8-0 and a Swedish diesel pulling 65' Swedish passenger cars - all imported as a block about 15 years ago.)

Jim

Jim

[Anonymous]

I've had most of my trouble when 'backing' into a spur that has a 15"r turn. Since this layout will have several of those, I was thinking that staying 'short' would be of great benefit.

Am I being too cautious?

scada

[BRVRR]

scadaman,
I don't think you will have any trouble with 40-50' rolling stock and virtually any 8-wheeled diesel. Steamers are a bit trickier but most 0-6-0s or 2-6-2 should work okay. Short tank engines may have problems at turnouts because of electrical pick-up problems.
My BRVRR doesn't have any 15" radius curves, but I do have quite a few 18" curves. I run a flock of F7s, a couple of PAs, a few Geeps, SD40s and numerous steamers from a Niagara and Daylight down to 0-4-0s. Except for an occasional 0-4-0 stopping on a switch, I don't have problems with any of them.
My rolling stock varies from 40-63'. From simple box cars to 12-wheeled heavyweight passenger cars. I have very little trouble with any of them. Smooth track work and proper car weighting are the keys. I can back virtually any train through my reverse loop, which has 18" radius curves, even 6-8, 63' Athearn passenger cars, without problems.
With attention to detail, ie., track work, weighting and couplers, you should have no problem operating 40-50' rolling stock and 8-wheeled diesels on you layout.