Min. radius needed for Budd Lounge Walthers Car

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello

I have a couple of Budd lounger Walthers Ho cars, and they are struggling in my tighter radius spots. Anyway suggestions on improving the problem, other than relaying the track work to make a bigger radius?

Regards,

CASO

2

What is your smallest radius? They do say 24" radius is the min on the box…

Seriously though, out of the box, these units really need radii bigger than 32". If you want to have them run on smaller radius you need to modify them.

There are a few things that can be done.

  1. Install longer couplers.

  2. Loosen up the swinging coupler bracket and check to see if there are any burrs left from the factory.

  3. Remove the screws that hold the trucks together. Mill or replace them with ones with flat heads.

  4. Loosen up the diaphragm. There are 2 designs for these, the older spring type and the newer plastic clip type.

  5. Weigh the car down. Go beyond the NMRA spec.

Beyond that, you will need to consider more generous curves.

David B

3

Caso,

It would actually help to answer your question if I asked one of my own…what ARE your curve radii?

The Walthers cars function best on 26" or larger curves, but it is possible to get them down to about 24" with a bit of tweaking.

4

to add one more suggestion to what David has said (all of which are excellent suggestions),

  1. Check to make sure that the ends of the truck sideframes aren’t catching on the inside of the carbody skirting. If they are, CAREFULLY shave the inside of the skirting down until the truck clears it. I’ve had this happen on several Walthers cars, and once the problem was taken care of, the cars would handle a 26" radius well…at least at slow speeds. I wouldn’t want to take a passenger car around a curve like that at speed, that’s for sure! [:)]
5

Hi!

I started a posting on this about a month ago, when I was using a string of Walthers passenger cars to check trackage on my under construction layout. My minimum radius is 26 inches, by the way. There was a lot of good advice offered on that chain, as there is on this one.

In my case, I found:

  • you have to oil the axles - lightly of course - with plastic compatable oil.

  • make sure the diaghrams are not binding (mine were ok), and the couplers are free moving (I had one that was a problem).

  • make sure your radius is smooth, with transitions to straight track. I had a minor kink that was easily fixed, and frankly it surprised me as it wasn’t readily visible.

After doing the above, er doing the above the cars ran smoothly - except for the tail end observation car. At first I thought it was because it was the tail end car, and went down a couple of rabbit trails pertaining to that. But then it was suggested to check the truck clearance (which I originally thought was OK), and I found that the truck was hitting the body side wall. Now with a 30 inch radius, this would not be a problem, but for 26, it was. Anyway, I used a plastic nipper and cut an 1/8 by 1/8 inch piece out of the top back end of the rear truck, and that solved the problem.

Of course everything is fine, but it did annoy me that the cars did not operate as advertised (on 24 inch) without adjustments.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

6

It is 22 in one spot and 24 in the other spot. I think I am try everything David suggested.

Thanks Guys,

CASO

7

On my old layout, I had a 22" radius curve, my Walthers Budd Cars went around it with no de-railments or hick-ups. Even when I lined up all my Walthers passenger cars, not once did they derail.

I used Atlas snap-track for it as it was going to be hidden in a tunnel which may have played a part in it as the radius was the same all the way around?

Gord