I was just wondering what the minimum turnout a 2-10-4 can go through without any problems? I have lots of space on the mainline to use high #s, but for those yard turnouts I don’t want to go to small. Thanks.
Brent
try reading the paperwork that came with it.
Brent–
Do you have a BLI plastic 2-10-4 or a brass one, with more prototypical tolerances? A BLI should be able to take either a #6 or a #5 with little or no problems (although if it’s a J-1, the trailing truck can give you fits backing through the turnout points unless youre track is absolutely perfect) because the drivers have more built-in tolerance on curves. If it’s a brass loco, I wouldn’t recommend anything under a #6, simply because the drivers have less tolerance on curves. The BLI’s are built to operate on 22-24" minimum radius, most brass 2-10-4’s need around a 30" minimum radius curve for optimum performance. In which case, a #6 would be an absolute minimum for yard trackage.
I’ve found that longer, heavier Articulateds can actually do tighter radii than a long-wheelbased non-articulated locomotive. A scale 4-8-8-4 can weave around #5 turnouts that would give a 2-10-4 fits. It’s the nature of the beast.
Tom
Thanks Tom. I’m just thinking about the Sunset Selkirk I’ve ordered. It probably won’t be here til the end of the year but I am just at the track laying stage and it had me wondering. #6s for a minimum shouldn’t be a problem.
Bren
Bren–
Ah, a SELKIRK! Boy, those are handsome locos. And if Sunset is any indication, you should have an absolutely beautifully detailed loco that will run like a Swiss watch! I have several Sunset brass, and they’re lovely–even right out of the box.
If I remember correctly–and let me know if I’m wrong–the Selkirks were a little smaller than most of the United States 2-10-4’s, if no less powerful–so you might have a shorter wheelbase then, say a Pennsy or a C&O type of the same locomotive. I should think that it would run VERY smoothly through a #6 turnout. Have you planned out your minimum mainline radius, yet? I should think that a 30" would offer no problems for you.
Tom [:D]
AS LONG as they can get more sales, manufacturers will remove detail parts, use smaller wheels, and design fake pivots to get equipment to fit on a 4’X8’ board.
LIONEL even used pivoting FA pilots (O-27). (They were selling TOY trains to children).
MY PFM brass 4-8-4’s just ‘squeezed’ through #6’s, and 4-6-4’s derailed on #4’s. 80" coupled drivers with 76" wheels isn’t a problem.
I visited Bruce’s in Sacramento the weekend before last for the first time. I got to see one of those articulated FA Lionels go lickity-split on the train sh0p’s layout. I was negatively impressed. But then, that’s a toy-toy train as opposed to my model-toy interest.
As a rule, steam locomotives with four trailing axles need lots of radius to look decent to avoid a disturbingly acute angle between locomotive and tender.
Mark
I’ve suddenly realized why cab-forward articulateds look gooood. The tender is attached to the articulated end of the locomotive resulting in a locomotive-tender angle more obtuse than a similar cab-backward articulated locomotive.
Mark
Batman, I believe that Tom’s answer is going to be spot on. Sunset says 30" minimums, which is well under the substitution radius for your typical #6 turnouts. I use Peco Streamline Code 83 insulfrog #6 turnouts throughout my yard, and I have absolutely no issues with strings of Walthers heavyweight passenger cars, 2-10-4 PRR J1 from BLI, or my 4-8-4 Niagara from BLI. I am quite confident a quality #6 will be fine for you.
I ordered a Selkirk myself. Apart from a lonely P2K SW8, it will be my only CPR engine.
-Crandell
DG:
Of course, there was 1:1 cheating,too. The PRR wasn’t averse to using blind drivers, lots of RRs used lateral motion devices, and the CP widened the gauge on curves more than usual for the Selkirks. Granted, their sharp curves would be broad by our standards, but to be fair there’s a lot more room out there.
Widening the gauge can be done if you handlay track. In fact, it happens automagically with 3-point gauges, if you use the single point on the inside rail. I haven’t handlaid much track, especially not now, but it can be done.
I’m not too surprised about the 4-6-4 on a no. 4, if it was a legitimate no. 4 and not a no 4 1/2 like Atlas’ Custom-Line. The Northern should have been fine on a no.6 switch - the included radius is about 48"R - but was this a crossover? Maybe the seesawing pinched its toes a bit, or maybe it was just trapped by detailing.
Compromises don’t bother me a whole lot if they’re done for a good reason and with good results, and aren’t too obviously ugly. Kadees are big, sure, but they work great. Duplexes with pivoted trucks are fine with me; swiveling diesel pilots, not so much. 
Not intending to hijack this thread, but is that really true about the Custom-Line #4’s? That would certainly explain why tracks that aligned well when I drew them as #4’s using CAD on the computer didn’t quite line up when I actually built the fool things!
True - The Atlas CL #4 is really a #4.5 turnout - Always has been that way.
Jim
I would suggest that you needn’t worry about the actual yard ladder and tracks as the road engine only has to go from the main to the A/D track(s) and cutogg for servicing. I would suggest using #8’s anywhere the loco is liable to go and larger say #9 or 10’s for mainline crossovers. The reason is they will look and track so much better in both directions, you won’t regret sacrificing the extra lengths. Better now in the planning stage than to forever hate the constant tripping that results from going too small, eh? jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
Thanks for all your replies gentlemen. Tom ,according to this website (http://www.trainweb.org/cprmodeling/proto/col1.jpg )
the Selkirk had 63" drivers. Now, will the smaller drivers help or hinder in a tight curve? I would think it would help, but then again I am still pretty new to all this. It sure makes me happy to hear that Sunset models are good runners. As far as comparing it to a Swiss watch you brought back the memory of our Swiss coo coo clock. One night while eating dinner the clock struck six. The bird popped out to do its thing and promptly fell off its perch. It fell six feet into our Golden Retrievers water bowel. Seeing the whole thing unfold the dog got up and fished the little bird out of her dish and brought it right over to me at the dinner table. A bird dog to the end.
Crandell. Glad to hear you also ordered one. I knew you would as I could sense your excitement and your should I or shouldn’t I all the way over here across the pond!
Batman–
I’ve got 4 brass 2-10-2’s with 63-inch drivers, three of which (a Rio Grande F-81 and 2 Burlington USRA’s) have very close tolerances, and a 30" minimum radius and both my #5 and #6 turnouts give them no trouble at all. The only thing that a #5 would cause me to possibly be concerned about would be the 4-wheel trailing truck on the Selkirk. But I think a #6 yard turnout should be no problem for you.
Wow, BOTH you and Crandell, huh? You do realize that the rest of us DEMAND photos when you guys get them, LOL![:P]. Myself, I think that those Selkirks are incredibly beautiful locos.
Tom [:D]