I’m modeling the Illinois Central 40’s-50’s in HO. I’d like to have a passenger train if possible but need to know some of my options. I’d like to know what models I can run that require the smallest radius. In other words are there any passenger car models that have a recommended minimum radius of 22", 24", 26" etc etc? If there is a website somewhere that might list min. radius for each brand that would be great! Another question I have is would any passenger cars have troubles with no 6 turnouts?
Walther’s heavyweights require 24" mins, but they may be modified to get down to about 20-ish". For such a nice and relatively costly car, I would be loath to slash and hack just to get them around 20".
Another option (there are others, but this is my only other experience) is the MDC Harriman cars, but they seem to need some truck work and weight in order to track nicely. They can be had for less than half the price of the Walther’s heavyweights. Of course, they don’t have quite the fine detail, although you must assemble them, and they do have brake cylinders and tanks, etc., to glue to the underside.
I do not know if your road ever ran either car, but you can check their historical society website and there is usually some sort of photo archive or a roster.
Hopefully, Hornby will re-release the Rivarossi 60 footers, and Walthers may have some of the previous ones left over. I use IHC heavyweights to model the IC 1940’s-1950’s passenger trains that ran on branch lines, and their smooth side cars for the streamliners. By replacing the stock wheels with Intermountain 36" metal wheelsets and changing to body-mounted Kadee couplers using the Jay-Bee coupler mounting pads, the IHC cars will go around a 20-22 inch radius, but they don’t look very good at that tight a curve. A 22 or larger radius would be best if you can do it.
A few years ago, the Illinois Central Historical Society had some Athearn custom decorated heavyweight passenger cars that were very good. You could contact them and see if they have any leftovers. They had body-mounted Kadee couplers.
There’s another thread about this…so you might want to see the discusions there too!
The basic thing with length depends on what you prefer…most modern cars were 85’. They look better than the shorty cars (72’) sitting on straight track, but some prefer the shorties for their appearance on curves. If you have E-units to pull the cars, are you okay with the shorties being the same length as the engines when they’re supposed to be noticably longer? What degree of accuracy would you like your cars to have?
Here are some manufacturers:
IHC: 85’ smooth and heavyweights
Rivarossi: same as IHC (actually the same molds on the cars I have)
Athearn: 70’ heavyweights and 72’ lightweights
Con-Cor: 85’ corrugated and 72’ lightweights
Bachmann/Spectrum: 85’ heavyweights (prior to 1938, most of these cars would have been pullman green)
Eastern Car Works: variety of kits, including 85’ lightweights and core kits for adding your own sides cut to match IC prototypes.
Several other more expensive options: Walthers, Furnamo & Camerlo (spelling?), Branchline, and Brass. You can assemble nearly a full train of the cheaper options for the price of one of the expensive ones.
MDC made some nice cars, but they wouldn’t be appropriate for 1940s and 50s IC.
Btw, the Spectrum 2-8-0 was based off of an IC prototype if I recall correctly.
I recently bought two Walthers Trainman Heavyweights (60 footers) for about $25 each. Are these no longer made?
They don’t look good on 22", barely acceptable on 24". I really had to have a little passenger service so do run them mostly on 24", and some 22". Can’t imagine running anything longer than 60’ on 24" or less.
They barely work on Atlas snap switches if run very, very slow. I think a snap switch is similar to a #4.
Nobody mentionned the Rapido Trains new lightweight coaches. Last saturday I went to my LHS to take delivery of my first two coaches. They are fantastic ! The walls are thin, the windows are flush mounted, the lighting effect is great (doesn’t use track power but internal batteries activated by a magnetic wand). The seats are well spaced but I’m not sure to be able to sit people with legs at right angle into them. I probably will have to install big adults with no legs and lift the legs of shorter people a little bit.
The only thing I had to correct is replacing the couplers at the vestibule-end of both cars with raised head couplers (McHenry 15) because the original ones were too low. A 2 minute job.
On my son’s layout they looked strange with lots of overhang on tight 18" curves but came through anyway. For such purpose couplers with longer shanks are included with each car while the standard ones are meant for close coupling and require at least 22" radius.
They are not meant for rough handling with an incredible amount of detail; you even can connect the “steam” hoses between cars !
The sleepers are coming in a few weeks and the bar-lounge cars will follow.
Thanks for the help everyone! My current track plan was made using 22" curves but now I’m in the process of redoing it using 32" curves. That should make it easier for a passenger train. My fiance said she would like to have a passenger train and the more I thought about it, I liked the idea too. I was thinking of having a continous mainline that it would run on while I did some freight runs and having to schedule my time on the main as to not interfere with the passenger service. Has anyone else done something similar?
I have not, but I read here that many folks do that. Just beware your elbow and passenger train interface when you are reaching in to do things that occupy your attention. Many of us put the main on the outside so that we can have the larger curves, but that means reaching over a speeding Limited to uncouple cars in the yard or in sidings, filng the points on an intransigent turnout, getting a nice tree to stand more upright, and so on.
I think you’re going to like the 32" curves much better.
I have a double loop plus another separate loop. The outer loop is 24" so the passenger train runs there most of the time. But, the station is on the inner loop so some 22" is necessary.
Here is the double loop portion:
The single loop off to one end is also 22" but I didn’t have much choice. It’s okay but I would prefer something larger.
Here is the single loop (pardon the mis-spelling of Canon City):
I’m now adding buildings, scenery, etc., so I hope to disguise the very rigid, structured look that results from using Atlas True Track.
A follow up question I have. As I mentioned before I’m modeling 40’s-50’s ICRR. Would 22" curves work ok for 50’ boxcars and coal cars of that era? I plan on using steam engines as I already bought a Spectrum 4-8-2. I was thinking using 32" curves for the passenger train that would only run on the main and then I could use 22" for sidings. I only ask this because I already own about 15 22" curve pieces and would like to be able to use them. If not I’ll just sell them on Ebay.
Operationally you can keep the Passenger on the 32" Main and the freight cars will go onto the smaller radius. The 50’ box should take a 22" just fine, just check your clearences.
As the name Recommended Prractice implies, it is just a recommendation - you do not have to abide by it. In the end it is your layout and the available space decides what you can do.
Give your fiancee my best wishes. Good to hear that she takes an interest in what you run on the layout. Moreover she likes passenger rolling stock.[^]
