Turning life around

[Anonymous]

Slow is smooth and smooth is slow. Such large trains require care on any curve.

I think of 50+ foot long cars is a massive train indeed. You might want to split that train up into two sections of 25+ cars and run em as two seperate trains. The first section should show green markers to show that there is a second section following.

Put your lightest cars on the rear half of the train, put the heaviest ones near the engines up front.

If you are increasing your power to pull faster out of the curve, your train will tip to the inside if things get too tight with it. You might want to consider maintaining a steady speed through the entire curve.

I dont know, 36" is massive in HO scale and should not stringline.

[modelmaker51]

Assuming your track work is good and smooth and the cars roll freely and stable, the next thing to consider is the weight of the cars, or rather consistency. If the cars are weighted in accordance with NMRA standards you really shouldn't have any problems, also keep lighter cars to the rear of the train. I have several 30-32" curves and run 60 to 70 car trains routinely. Run at appropriate speeds (no racing), no jackrabbit starts.

[bogp40]

You really need to clarify your question. A 53 ft long train is 75-90 cars pending the car length. Are you talking about superelevation? If your cars are "tipping", tilting outwards on these turns, the trucks are way too loose or you are running at some extreme speeds.

[loathar]

You shouldn't have a problem with cars tipping in on curves that big. What are you talking about running 40-60 car trains?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure I know what you mean. Are you worried about losing your circus trains to the great concrete abyss? (Read floor)

Or did you mean something else? 

[Flashwave]

Gots one more question. In desinging my HO layout, I had a question on straightlining. Or a train tipping in a curve. I did some measuring and some figuring, and my longest train is ~53 feet long. On radius turns around the 30-36  inch radius possibly bigger, is there anything else I would need to do to to help the radius so i'm not picking up 56 circus cars?