Mark, let me take a wild guess - you’ve been railfanning on some n g!![:-^]
P.S. Great shots BTW!![:)]
Yes–I do think the curve looks 18" -ish in radii.
Changing plans, or layout maybe?[:-^]
My estimate, even though the low camera angle works against me, is that the radius is near 200’. Two-hundred feet X 12"/foot comes to 2400". Converting down to 1/87 gives 27", which I think is a closer approximation than 18"
-Crandell
Those look like White Pass and Yukon locomotives. Their website suggests the tightest curve is 16 degrees (as the prototype measures curves). According to this source, that translates to more like a 50" radius curve in HO.
Yeah, I always spoil the fun.
Byron
Model RR Blog
Yes, those are WP&Y locomotives. Two GE Class 90s and an Alco RSD39.
The lens has compressed the field of view. The actual curvature is less than it appears.
Take the same photo with telephoto and wide angle lenses. The difference can be amazing.
Here’s a complete table of degrees to inches for most of the scales: http://www.urbaneagle.com/data/deg-curve.txt 16 degrees is 49.5 inches in HO. The Maryland and Pennsylvania had a 20 degree curve on their mainline which is 39.7 inches in HO.
Enjoy
Paul
… and I can hear the squeal of flange against rail.
That is a pretty tight curve for the railroad world. But if you were to scale down the tightest curve in all railroads, it’s radii would be about 72.
Where did you get that number and what unit of measure are you speaking? You cause suspicion you know not what you speak.
The CN doubletrack mainline at Paris ON goes over a high rail bridge and then curves to the southeast towards Brantford. the curve there is just enough to make for a loud squeal of protest from the cars. So much fun prototypically----I wonder just how much of a curve one needs to do that–
I am speaking in the normal MR terms for curves: radius or radii. As for where I got it I do not know. Have you read my post on POWER VS. DUMMY LOCO.? Midnight Railroader asked how I knew all this information at such a young age (now 13. Its my Birthday). I am near the bottom at http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/148416/1644898.aspx#1644898
Given the lateral play in our model trains, I suspect that you would be better off pinching a curve a little bit. Of course you might get a derailment before you get enough squeal to hear. [(-D]
Maybe we could get Soundtraxx to do a sound decoder for freight and passenger cars.
Enjoy
Paul
Don Adams’s fine On3 layout Dublin Branch of the D&RGW has something like a 380-degree curve at the end of a peninsula. He has a sound unit there. Flick a switch and you hear the sound of wheels rubbing against rail. It is a nice effect.