My friend got a Bachmann 4-8-4 Northern, but it is unable to run on his layout because the curve radius is too tight. Is there any way to get the loco to navigate tighter turns without replacing the track? Thanks!
There are all kinds of options.
.
I think the Bachmann 4-8-4 already has a pretty wide swing rear truck.
I would start by removing the flange from the rear drivers.
How tight are these curves?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
You examine the loco real carefully when it is in that tight turn. You find out what's "hitting" and do what it takes so it doesn't "hit". That usually involves removing plastic or metal. Which is very difficult to replace. So care and thought is/are in order.
I would recommend "replacing the track". Then he can run OTHER big engines, too. And he won't possibly mess up the ones he's working on.
Ed
grind the flanges down on the inner two drivers
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
If it almost goes through the curves, i.e. the radius isn't too far from what the mfg indicated was the minimum radius, then possibly. But don't get your hopes up. It's a lot of fuzzy work to allow the drivers and drive rods more horizontal movement
Mostly, people would like to run a 32" min R loco on 16" R curves. Just not going to work.
As for flangeless or "blind" drivers, maybe. Gotta remember that if there's enough sideways movement, a driver that is merely deflanged will eventually drop off the rail. Not too sure about standard gauge practice, but n the narrwgauge, a special wider tired driver was used in such cases. That way it wouldn't drop but be supported even if most of it was hanging in the air on sharp curves. Narrowgauge models of such locos are tyically built with wider drivers for the very same reason. It will likely require more than just grinding off the flanges fr this to be a success.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
the radius is 18"
MEC guy,
Not really. It's kinda like asking if you can park your Ford F250 truck in my attached one-car garage. It may fit length-wise (barely) but you probably won't be able to open the doors - either to your truck or to my house.
I'm assuming your friend's layout has R18" curves? I think he'll need to be content with running 2-8-2 and smaller. If he wants to run larger locomotives, he needs to rebuild with larger (R22" & >) curves.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Maine_Central_guy the radius is 18"
Going to be a problem there.
It's not just getting the loco around. The next question is can a train get around it? Because equipment designed for wide curves typically has a very wide coupler swing off-center. Couplers do swing in their draft gear to varying degress to accomodate curves, but if you go far enough, things will start tipping off the track.
The only solution there is to take out some length, but then you've got a smaller steamer that you should have bought to start with. It's just makes more sense to do what the railroads did. Buy locos suited to the track and operational requirements.
That's going to be real tough...
Either get a smaller steamer, or a larger radii curve here.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
You can widen the gauge on the curves a small amount. The NMRA standard is .649" to .672". Adjust your track to be .672". Assuming all your wheels are code 110 you might be able to go a little more.
Paul