i have to agree with mark on this one. by my own standards, 30" curves are pretty sharp and i will not even try to lay out a curve without an easement.
today's locomotives are able to negotiate much sharper curves than the same size engines from years gone by. i have several older brass imports with 8 and 10 large drivers and that long, rigid wheelbase causes them to bind noticably on 36" curves. they make it through but you can tell they are laboring from the added rolling resistance.
not to preach but instead of trying to find out what you can get away with, you might consider how broad can i make my curnves?
even a big 4-8-2 has a lot of overhang on a 36" curve when compared to the prototype. it looks like a stiff snake trying to peek around a corner. not to mention, if i couple the tenders close to the locomotives like they should be, the cab roof corners can foul on the coal bin of the tender.
i read somewhere that the prototype big boys could handle the equivalent of a 48" radius in HO but that would be at walking speed probably in a terminal or somewhere like that. that was their designed limitation, not their normal, routine operation.
grizlump
What are your priorities? Is it to enjoy the engines you develop a hankering for, or to have a railroad, or what? I am not being facetious....for me it is being able to enjoy large steamers. And long passenger cars. They just don't look right, to me, on curves under 28". So, if curves that small would help you, maybe it's a good compromise over the common standard of 22"....seems to have crept up from 18" some time in the past three or four years.
But why not use the outer dimensions you have with the 30" curves for your looped main so that you can watch the trains run? You can always use a diverging curve turnout to afford your trains access to a more complicated track system inboard of an outer loop. Retain the larger curves for their obvious benefits, and run a different type of operation inside that loop...a passenger terminal, loading docks, coal production with chutes filling hoppers, a cattle ranch and corral with chutes.....
So, I'm with Mark on this one, and don't disagree at all. I would not abandon my strong druthers about running the types of trains I like if it was as easy as figuring out what else to put inside those nice generous curves.
Crandell
Actually, for my money I'd say that the 30" radius curves yu have right now would be considered a bare minimum if you want the Big Boy and those 85' passenger cars to not look "to big for your layout".
The bigger the radius the better they're going to look. I would stay with the bigger radius and go even larger if you can, or plan on running smaller equipment.
But that's just my opinion, I'm sure others will disagree as they so often do.
Mark
NMRC
Hey Everyone,
I have just about finished up the bench work and now I am trying to work out track plans. My initial planning was to have a mainline with big 30" curves so that I could run atleast one big steam engine probably a 4-8-8-4 bigboy and some long passenger cars. I am now seeing how much real estate these big curves are taking out of my layout design.
I am not ready to write off having this one train just yet. My question is how small of a radius can this engine run with out derailments and not look to bad on?
Thank You I am looking forward to hear some thoughts on this.
Ron
I refuse to grow up!!!