hello, im sorta new to the board. been browsing for a while. Im looking to get back into n scale. been away for a while due to limited space. i think i have come up with a decent design for the limited spacei have available. the layout will actually run around 2 walls and over the backboard of my bed....lol. I do have a few questions. My plan is to have a small yard and 2 towns, one on either side of the bed. now i was thinking about putting a turntable at both ends of the layout but scrapped the idea. The parts at either side of the bed max width would be 4ft on one side and 2.5ft on the other due to space restrictions. My question is what is the safest size radius i can go with running a double track mainline without causing derailment issues. The line will be 90% frieght and im looking for 1 or 2 passenger trains. Thanks TJ
Hi, soup, The safest minimum radius will depend on the length of your engines and cars. Short B-B diesels and 40' cars will go fine around 9.75" curves. Older era C-C diesels (i.e. SD9, SD35) and 50' cars probably 12". Modern era C-C diesels (C44-9W, SD90's) and most steam (Concor 4-8-4, for example), 85' passenger cars , all definitely need 15" at a minimum. These are all guesses (just my opinions, nothing is set hard in stone) and really what determines your minimum is how you prioritize appearance vs. amount of track vs. design vs. switching/operations vs. scenery. What John Armstrong calls: 'givens and druthers'. Hope this helps out!
Since your maximum space on the one side is 30 inches, I would use that as your determiner, so I would go about 14 1/2 inch radius.... welcome to trainboard.
thanks, i still havent determined if i want to get rid of my tv stand and just use my dresser for that....lol if i do i can squeeze another foot outta the short side. The reason i decided to do 90% freight was due to the fact the turns would be restricted and i would have a better chance with the smaller frieght than i would with the longer passenger cars. I am planning to model the late steam early diesel age and the road name is gonna be the PRR. I do not have any long locos at this time. Actually i only really have a 0-6-0 switcher at the moment...lol I have to replenish my stock. If i did decide to run a passenger train i would use the smaller cars rather than the longer streamlined ones. althought it wouldnt really go with the time period it would work for now.
