Who is successfully running trains on 18" curves (HO) ?

[Anonymous]

As I posted in another topic I have recently gave up on 18" curves and rearranged everything to be 24". I am a newbie and now I wish I started larger radii to begin with.
This got me thinking - how many other modellers successfully use 18" on main lines. And by successfully I mean 50' cars, 20 of them and running for an hour without derailments ?

[Anonymous]

On two old layouts I was successful with running 18 inch radius curves. One was N scale lol. Seriously, the other one was a 4x8 using sectional track. Geeps and switchers were the only engines and although there were a few 50' cars, most were 40' box cars and 34' hoppers. The larger stuff just didn't look right.

[CP5415]

I have.
I never had a problem with 18" curves on my layout but I increased them to 22" so that I'd be able to run the Walthers passenger cars with little trouble.

Gordon

[MACKINACMAC]

I not only have 18" but I also have my mainline down to 15" at one point on my layout. I usually don't run trains longer than twelve cars plus engine & caboose but I do run 50' and a few 60' cars as well and pull my trains with an athearn gp40-2. I haven't had a derailment in over fifty hours of operation.

I owe my good running to very smooth track work. Making sure all track & cars meet NMRA standards. using kadee couplers. And slow running.

[cwclark]

I never thought that 18" was the way to go either....my last layout was a 15" and 18" mainline and could not run any engine over a GP (my SDs sat in a box for years because of this)...I did manage to run all the pasanger cars on my SP Daylight pulled by an F7 A & B black widow units...(Not really prototype but it really looked good!) but I had to go REAL slow....I don't do anything less than 24" from now on...Chuck[:D]

[Anonymous]

Some of us don't have much of a choice due to the space available. [:(] I'm sort-of compromising on my new layout, trying to keep the minimum radius to 20", with 22" and 24" curves where I can, but I may have to sneak at least one 18" half-circle in there in order to do all I want to do. Alas, the layout is in a spare room, and there's no other space available than what I have to expand into.

The REALLY BIG layout will have to wait 15 or so years until we retire away from the city area to a house with a decent size basement. [:D]

[jwmurrayjr]

I have a few 18" curves including an "S" curve. I tried to make the curves 20" or greater if possible. I don't have any problems with these curves but I run small steam (4-8-2 is the largest. Mostly 2-6-0 and 2-8-0.) and cars 45' or less. Also I tried to be very carefully when laying the track (mostly flex with a few sections.)

The mountain and 45' hoppers will run indefinitely without derailing but I'm not recommending 18" radii. But they can work if you need them.

[Anonymous]

Count me in as one using 18" with success. I planned on using 22" as a minimum but mis-calculated on one section. The long stuff seems to track smoothly through this area, including SD-45's and 50' cars.

[Don Gibson]

REAL railroads use many sharp curves serving Industrial Parks.
Their secret is using smaller engines.

There is nothing wrong with 18" (or 15") curves on a 'Indusrial Park' sized 4X8 board.
The PROBLEM is running too large an engine.

Do you think the Railroads know something we don't?

[dano99a]

I use em', mine is 18" and 22" but mostly 18" on the main. I usually run 25+ cars, some 50', some 40' and I also use Athearn RTR heavy weight passneger cars and I have never had anything derail when running it constantly for over an hour or so. I usually have problems with small switches (turnouts) No.4 so on the passenger stations I use No. 6's. I run mostly GP 7's & 9's I have one 2-8-2 but the pilot looks very NON-prototypical going around 18" curves. but if you can live with that.....

Here's my layout diagram:
http://www.crtraincrew.com/layouts/dan/layout.html

Red is the main line

Red dashed are grades (4%)
(yes that's right, FYI: C&O hualed coal up a few 4% grades, prolly why some of their Geep7's & 9's looked like beaters cuz they would lash-up 4-5 of em and run them up and down a 4% grade)

Yellow are sidings

Blue is Freight yards

Green is passenger yard/station

Brown/black is industry spurs

Layout is roughly (without getting down to the exact inch/half inch) in a
24 x 14 box.

[Anonymous]

I have used 18" very reliably through the years. The problem I am having on my current laout, Which is second hand (Every discarded layout needs a good home right?) the preveous builder layed the track on some crazy superelevation. At the apex of the longest curve the bank of the track measuers about 15*. and it is causing derailment problems with alot of my stuff as I do not my my locos and cars set up for this kind of running. I havn't had the time to fix it yes as doing so would mean removing the ballast, Taking up the track. Taking up the road bed without damaging it, and removing the banking shims and relaying everything back down again.

Just havn't had time to do this. In the meantime I have to operate my trains reverse from the intended direction of travel as immediately exiting the curve is a switch and everytime I run the right direction the loco pics the switch and derails. So Until I get the superelevation fixed I have to operate my layout "Backwards". I am still trying to figure out what he was doing he banked the tracks so hard. Running the Morning Hiawatha at full scale speed on 18" Radius?

James

[Anonymous]

I have 18'' curves. If I can get a 4-8-4 around it, I figure anything will go around it.

[Jetrock]

I suppose that "successfully" is a matter of degree. My mainline uses 12" curves, although the largest engine I'll ever run over it is a GP-9 (and more typically they'll be things like S-1, SW-1, GE 44 and 70 tonners, and steeplecabs & box motors), the longest car maybe 50' long, and typically trains were no longer than 8-10 cars.

My first layout setup, using Atlas Code 100 flextrack, was a simple loop on a 3x6 foot table. Radius on one side was 15", on the other side 12". I ran trains of 6-8 40-50' cars pretty regularly, hauled by a 44-tonner or a Geep, for an hour or more, using plastic wheelsets and Kadee or Kadee-clone couplers. Speeds were as slow as I could manage, and number of cars was limited because a 20-car train wouldn't FIT on the amount of track I had.

Minimum radius is necessarily going to depend on other factors, the most important being the size of the equipment you want to run. If you want to run 80+ foot passenger cars and modern car-carriers and big monster engines, you're going to need a bigger minimum radius than someone pulling ore jennies with a four-wheel critter.

[Anonymous]

I have 18" curves using flex track . My compromises are GP and smaller, 53' or less for body mount, longer stuff is talgo. Some stuff does not work out of the box like IM grain hoppers so no brewery on my layout. At certain sizes artful compression gets a little tighter.

[railman]

18 is fine, thought I've been trying to upgrade to 22" for the sake of my model railroad passenger service. The largest engine that runs (usually) is a Athearn FP-45, and it's had no trouble. Did try a U-Boat with the freight runs, however, like the prototype, it didn't ride too well and has been moved back to helper service.

[Anonymous]

i have built several layouts with 18" radius curves. I have run 20 car freights and rivarossi smoothside passenger trains without derailment. Sure, from above, it looks rediculously fake. But thats why you should build up the scene so that the train going over a tight curve is not the focus of attention.

[CBQ_Guy]

I may possibly use a couple on spurs in the crowded "warehouse district" on the new layout where s-l-o-w speed, relatively shorter cars, and small locos will be the norm.

Succesfully?...I'll let you know![^]

[Anonymous]

All curves on my layout are 18" radius with the lone exception of the outside bend in the middle (the trackplan is a bent dogbone), which is 22". I've run a BL2 with up to 18 cars, with no derailments except at one place at the west loop, and that's due to a very pesky turnout and a high spot in the track section before it. Both problems have been solved and I no longer have any derailments. Most of my cars are in the 30-50 ft. range, transition era, so granted, I'm not running anything really long, and I don't run passenger cars either.
Personally, I don't understand why 18" radius is such an object of scorn in MRRing. If your layout is based on an era and industrial base that uses shorter locos and rolling stock, then the operational aspect of it is fine. As far as realism is concerned, I can see the point, but like an earlier post pointed out, if you're using it, say in an urban scene or tunnel, and you dont hang from the ceiling while you observe your layout [:p], then so what?

[Anonymous]

All my curve track is 18" and I have never had a problem.