I am planning an “S” curve with little or no straight between transitions. Short cars. Short locos
How much trouble am I going to get into?
if you have truck mounted couplers and tend to reverse the train over this S curve you will have plenty…longer cars and loco’s only compound the problem, also keep the heavy cars at the front of the train…
I would increase the radius of the S curves, revise couplers to be mounted on the cars chassis. and try not to put the S into a yard lead. There are enough S curves moving in and out of ladder tracks to turn the conductors hair grey…
Depends on how short your cars/locos (shorter the better) are, how sharp your curves (broader is better) are and how much side play you have in your couplers. Truck mounted couplers can help.
I would strongly encourage you to set up a test track and see how your equipment operates through it.
Enjoy
Paul
woodview,
How short is “short”? If you can eliminate the “S” curve somehow, your locomotives will both look and run better for it. Sometimes it is inevitable - e.g. first track on yard ladder. If you ever decide that you want to add longer cars or locomotives at a later date, you’ll be stuck.
Remove or - at the very least - lessen the “S” curve in that spot. I like Paul’s suggestion above of setting up a test track.
Tom
Depends on 2 things:
- The curve radii.
- The way the couplers are mounted on the cars.
If the curve radii exceed 10x the length of the longest car or locomotive, you may not have a problem. Somehow, I doubt that’s the case.
If all of your couplers are truck-mounted, you might get away with the S-curve. Whether that will make up for the other shortcomings of truck mounting is highly questionable.
The accepted standard is, there should be at least one (longest you run) carlength of straight track between curves in opposite directions. You ignore it at your peril.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
If you’re building an industrial area, like at a steel mill, and you have tiny four wheel steam or diesel engines pulling equally tiny 4 wheel cars hauling slag or something, you could probably get by with an tight s-curve…but otherwise, you’ll probably be in trouble.
In HO, I would try to redesign it to use at least 6" of straight track between the two curves if you’re using say 4-axle diesels and 40’ freight cars, 9" or greater if you’re using anything larger than that…and I’d go for 12" or more if you’re running passenger cars.
Thank you gentlemen. I come I didn’t think of the test track? That’s gotta be the route to go.
I have a 90 Degree 24" radius curve that trnasitions into a shorter 15 degree curve. It looks all the world like an S curve. However I used the method posted in the “Easments” thread to creat transitions between and in and out of all curved sections. The easment between the long and short curves (both 24" radius). I and most have said it adds a lot of visual interest to the layout.
In general S curves with less than 22" radius curves are a bad idea. Transitions are a must in any event.
My six axle engines negotiat the curve at full speed smoth as silk, not one problem from day one.
JulesB