hey guys. i decided to take the plunge and take my dremel to the bottom of one of my walthers flatcars. and make the axle turn more by removng some of the center beam where the inner axle wheels hit it and limiting its turning radius, which is 24"in.
i will go back and get a different bit to clean the area up and give it some paint.
the reason for this was i decide to run my flats and found my yard lead radii where to tight. so i ripped up the section and im in the process of redoing. so got me thinking between my two staging yards in my pennisula, has a 180 degree turn, with a 20"r. and they would not pass thru there.
was thinking of ripping it up and pushing the edge of the track to the edge of the layout. may have been able to get it to a 22"r.
now the flats can make it around the 20"r which is the smallest radii so far.
Along w/ Dave’s recommendation of the longer shank, The kadee swing coupler box may help. These mods may work for coupling the same flats, however trying to couple to a shorter car may create troubles if coupler doesn’t have enough side movement.
This sort of thing is why I embargo certain rolling stock from specific parts of my trackwork.
My longest cars are never put into DOWN locals, because DOWN local staging has 550mm radii on the curved back-in staging tracks. The only exception is when I route that DOWN local directly to a cassette - the cassette dock is a straight shot, no curve.
Almost the only JNR rolling stock allowed on the 350mm radius goat trail supporting the rails of the Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo is the standard four-wheel freight wagon. Exceptions are limited to one short tank car (anhydrous ammonia) and a four-truck articulated machinery flat.
There is a prototype for embargoing tracks to specific equipment. Back when the West Shore was New York Central trackage, I found a sign next to the turnout to a rural lumber yard that restricted most of the NYC steam roster (by class) from entering the siding. The problem there wasn’t curvature, it was light rail, but the same principal applies. I’m sure that modern long cars would have been kept away from a lot of switching districts laid down in the 19th century with curves designed for cars of forty (or less) foot length and 0-4-0T motive power. Think Pratt Street in Baltimore.
