What switch number is best for 4-8-8-4? And manufacturer?
1arfarf3best
Best: If I only knew what was best, life would have been so much easier and there would have been one less divorce.
A Big Boy is a big honkin' engine. Pretty sure #4 or #5's and probably #6's aren't in the running.
Best is going to be a compromise between space available and the turnout. Fast Tracks has templates for #10 and #12 turnouts. I imagine a #12 makes for a "Presidential" size frog.
Our forum friends have Big Boys, so they will weigh in with what works.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I had a bunch of Bigboys(by BLI,MTH,and Athearn) - and one Challenger(Athearn) - on my previous layout. At low speed they would go through #6 turnouts in the yard just fine(even worked on #5s in the wye),but they looked much better on#8s or #10s. All my turnouts were by Walthers - never had any trouble with them.Hope this helps.
Mike
ROT: (rool of fum) turnout spped = 2x da frog.
#6 frog = 12 mph max.
#4 frog = 8 mph max
A 20 mph turnout would knead a #10 Frog
A 40 mph turnout woo knead a # 20 Frog.
I don't know how much faster yuou can go over a turnout without going to movable frog points as well as movable point points. : )
ROARING
(PS... is -14 grees of fairy height today.)
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I doubt there are (or have ever been) any mass-produced HO engines that wouldn't go through a #6 turnout. The largest minimum radius recommendation I've ever seen was a brass CP 2-10-4 that had a 30" minimum radius (although the reviewer ran it through a 28" R curve with no problems), and 30" R curves are sharper than a #6 turnout.
Remember, the reason the engines are articulated is to allow them to go around curves.
wjstix I doubt there are (or have ever been) any mass-produced HO engines that wouldn't go through a #6 turnout. The largest minimum radius recommendation I've ever seen was a brass CP 2-10-4 that had a 30" minimum radius (although the reviewer ran it through a 28" R curve with no problems), and 30" R curves are sharper than a #6 turnout. Remember, the reason the engines are articulated is to allow them to go around curves.
Yup-per! The Trix (Marklin) HO Big Boy, just as an example, was specifically designed to negotiate 18" curvature radii, and I read one site that it is actually good down to a skinny 14"....!!!!!
I don't think there's a non-brass 4-8-8-4 that won't go through a #5 turnout rather easily. Maybe not at a scale 60 mph, but if the turnout is properly supported and aligned at all exits, I don't see why it shouldn't work. A #6 turnout has a curvature radius to the frog from the points, with some minor variances from unit-to-unit of one particular manufacturer, of about 36". That's rather generous, even by today's larger 'standards'. I use them, the Peco N. American versions they call Streamline, all throughout my layout, and haven't a single locomotive, including that very CPR Selkirk (that's it in my avatar photo), that won't run through them.
I understand your question, and it's a resonable one because it's pretty specific, but sometimes web forums have people asking, "What's the best (whatever)?"
Having been an engineer, I don't think there's ever been a "best of" anything. Items are suitable for purpose or not, items are cost-effective or not, items meet the user's requirements or not...
Sorry, I guess I hijacked the thread, but I feel better having that off my chest. :-)
Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority, run through Amtrak and CSX Intermodal
CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield
selectorThe Trix (Marklin) HO Big Boy, just as an example, was specifically designed to negotiate 18" curvature radii, and I read one site that it is actually good down to a skinny 14"....!!!!!
All Trix and their 3-rail AC counterpart Marklin locos are designed to negotiate trouble free the "standard" radius of 360mm, which translates into 14.18". They also negotiate those toylike switches with that radius and can go through an S-curve as well.
All of it looks rather silly, though!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Note too that most mass-produced articulated engines in the last 20 or more years are built with both the front and rear drivers able to bend (unlike real engines, where only the front drivers articulate) specifically to allow them to go around model railroad curves. Both my HO Spectrum 2-6-6-2 and old Life-Like Proto 2-8-8-2 have this feature, and both can run on 22"R curves with no problem.
My weird un-prototype double articulated Bachman EM-1 2-8-8-4 goes through a #6 Kato Unitrack turnout looking just fine.
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It also negotiates 22 inch radius curves without any concern.
Magnificent.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I don't know about the other brands since I haven't tried them, but the old AHM/Rivarossi model can go through practically any switch with Code 100 track. Code 83 and smaller would be a problem though. The newer Rivarossi models with RP-25 flanges should handle about anything without any trouble.
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