N scale Curves and radius

Bill Oleneack Jan 12, 2020

  1. Bill Oleneack

    Bill Oleneack TrainBoard Member

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    Hello everyone, Is there a web site that tells you what radius works well with 89' auto racks?. I'm getting started on building a layout with two main lines. I want to make the curves big enough to handle 89' auto racks to pass one another, without hitting. I tried a 13-1/2" radius but the cars hang over the rails. This don't look real. Also on a double track, how far apart should the center of each track be from one another. Thank you.
     
  2. DFW Bill

    DFW Bill TrainBoard Member

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    Buy a Radius Compass from Amazon, lots to choose from, not expensive. Get a few 36” sections of flex track. Create your own radius combinations and you can see for yourself how it will look and how close the tracks can be. 15” on the inside radius still doesn’t look good to me. I use Kato Unitrack with 19” and 28.25” radius, all number 6 turnouts. Between the the space available and what looks best to you can be a compromise. Buy a John Armstrong track planning book, great information on layout building. It’s a Kalmbach paperback and about $20. He was the ultimate guru on everything related to track, has information on all scales.

    Good luck, always use as large a radius as possible.
     
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  3. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    Yes, there is. A You Tube Search or oogle Google search will help you.

    On BarstowRick.com I used to have a discussion with illustrations. It's harder to negotiate now but if you feel lucky you might find it.

    Here's the simple rule of thumb I came up with. A 24 inch radius curve will give you what you are looking for. Anything tighter will be just that...
    tighter. I use a 18 inch radius as my minimum on the main line. That's Okay but just OK. I use a minimum of 15 inch radius curves in my yards. I use a minimum #6 switches (not turnouts) in my yards.

    I really like the three, 24 inch radius curves I have on my mainline. Trains look real good as they pass through them.

    The best of luck.
     
  4. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    One rule of thumb I like to use.

    When I started out, seriously as a Model Railroader, in HO. I was using the then recommended 15", 18", 22" and 24" radius curves. In HO that's way to tight and trains looked bunched up as they ran around the layout.

    I spotted N Scale and it hit me. If I use the same radius it would almost double my radius. A very loose rule as N scale is not half of HO. Almost but not quite. But it worked.

    A close friend of mine observed. He could run anything he run in HO scale on my layouts. That is if we were to put in HO track. He had built and HO scale railroad in a back bedroom. The key to his success was everything including the locomotives have a short wheel base.

    I hope that helps.
     
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  5. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    "Atlas uses 1.25 inches for its N Scale Code 55 sectional track spacing on center. So, you might consider this to be a kind of minimum guideline, especially on curves, since Atlas sectional track is designed to be plug & play and user-friendly."
     
  6. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    I made up the following from a couple different NMRA standards and is what I'm going by...

    [​IMG]
    Sumner
     
  7. bill pearce

    bill pearce TrainBoard Member

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    First to answer I would have to know what you want. Are you interested in reliable operation or do you want prototypical appearance?

    I've always thought about it this way: For reliable operation, anything above 14 inches or so will do with recent production cars, as the manufacturers have com up with clever ways to fix the problem. For appearance, anything smaller that at least three feet will look strange from a prototype view, but with appearance you are stepping off the abyss. Some would prefer a six foot radius, but good luck. Curve radius and straight track spacing is rarely modeled to scale. When David Haines and I were building our layouts, we pushed things to the very edge of curves as wide as possible and spacing as accurate as possible.
     
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