min radius - 86 foot hy cubes

[3railguy]

OK, I'm doing this backwards but today I bought some Athearn 86 foot hy cubes and I'm wondering what mininum radius curves they are comfortable with.

[Anonymous]

22" would probably be the minimum. Of course, they will look and perform better on 24"+ radii.

[jfugate]

John:

You have two issues with long railcars.

1. What curve radius will they negotiate?
2. What curve radius will they easily couple on?

Your 86 footers will probably negotiate an 18" radius curve, but they will look like crap.

The more appropriate issue will be what curve radius will they easily couple on? Somewhere along the line in my nearly 40 years in the hobby I ran across a rule of thumb for good coupling of a radius that's 5 times the length of the railcar.

An 86 footer in HO is about 13" long, so 5 times 13" means a 65" radius curve will be needed for reliable coupling with cars this long. Just for reference, a 50 footer needs a 37.5" radius curve (36" is close enough, and that's what I use, since I model the 1980s and 50 footers are the most common car I use.)

You can get away with less of a curve radius if you are coupling an 86 footer to a shorter car, but to couple two 86 footers, the larger the curve the better.

As a practical matter, the 86 footers will look okay on a 36" radius curve, and while they may negotiate a smaller radius curve, they will look prettty bad.

[3railguy]

Joe, I agree on looks. I couldn't resist these cars. Even if just for display. These suckers are longer than Lionel boxcars. LOL..Guilfords suggestion on 24" is about all I have room for at this time. I haven't bult them yet but the couplers appear to swing.

[chicirjs]

John,

Walthers makes a part that screws to the the Athearn underbody that still swings, but is somewhat self-centering and it does not foul the trucks. It is similar in design to the coupler pocket on their 86' boxcars and centerbeam cars. The part comes packaged for two cars per pack. This may not reduce the radius, but the cars will operate a little better and still allow for a little extra coupler swing.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-997

[BRAKIE]

Those 86 foot cars will go around a 18" curve.Looks awful and I highly suggest larger curves for better operation and looks.

[Junctionfan]

Should be treated like the Walther's autorack minimum radius which is 24.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by 3railguy

OK, I'm doing this backwards but today I bought some Athearn 86 foot hy cubes and I'm wondering what mininum radius curves they are comfortable.
Try using 33' curves or larger , they will track better. I also use the walthers adapter
kits ,because they stay together better. I have 40+ of these long cars.

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