I was looking at some Bach N scale Dash 8 locos on E-bay. They said they recommend a minimum radius of 19"[%-)] Isn’t that really big for N? Even Bachs HO Dash 8’s run 18".
A misprint maybe??
Has to do with the weight and the lack of ability to overcome the friction on the inside wheels in the curves.
Although, they will run on smaller radius.
My last home layout had 18/16.5 inch curves and I never had any problem with my B’mann dash 8s on my curves so I have no idea why they would make a recommendation for 19 inch minimum radius curves. They are pretty big engines and that recommendation could be for cosmetic reasons.
Oh, and by the way! I haven’t run mine in a couple of years - I haven’t run anything in a couple of years - but these things always gave me very good service; I have had no trouble at all handling 60+ car freights with three units on the Mountain division of an N-Trak layout.
It’s so they can push more “EZ TRACK” products. It really is nothing but a scam. Anything under 14 inches though and they start to complain…
I’m not familiar with N gauge radius so I checked with Atlas to see what they offered. 19" is definately at the large end of the scale.
RT-Check your PM’s.
The whole radius thing gets confusing… I have minimum 22" curves on my mainline in N scale, the track pieces say 11" on them. The smaller ones are 9 3/4 inch. The Bachmann -8s will run fine on them. But mine all eventually died or developed too many problems to run, so I am not recommending them. Atlas is coming out with an N scale -840C and I am very much looking forward to it.
Sounds like you have 22" diameter, which would make sense with 11" segments. 9 and 3/4 inch will produce a diameter of around 19.5 inches (with respect to manufacturing tolerances).
Thank you for helping understand that. I do still use the 19.5 in my yard, just to fit everything. Most things, yes even those articulated autoracks, will actually negotiate this. Slowly of course.
I have a Kato SD90 that happily negotiates my 11" radius curves. It CAN run on the smaller 9.5" radius, but I tend not to run it there, mainly for appearance sake (I use ME code 55 flex track). What tends to really be the limiting factor is coupler length- you have to run a longer coupler shank if you’re running on smaller than 11" radius (so says Kato for some of their coupler conversions).
I’m quite sure that these new Atlas dash 8s are going to be better detailed than my B’mann units are but I have enough old Kato U30Cs to repower my B’manns.
HO products are specifically designed to run on 4X8 curves, to $ell, (removing underbody detail, smaller wheels - anything, short of ‘hinging’ the middle (artic. drives excepted, hello!).
N Gauge A"Misprint maybe??", maybe not. (Maybe a new ‘hiree’).
or, It maybe their track. (Kato has 9 3/4"-11"r).
I have an old N scale Con-Cor Big Boy and Challenger (3 rail one too!). Great locomotives. However the articulated nature of them- two independent driving trucks make them look better on the biggest radius curve you can have. Smaller curves make them look out of place as they overhang when turning a corner. In my opinion the bigger the radius curve you can put in the better they will look prototypically speaking. The same would hold true for your Dash 8 diesels.
George
I’m starting to wonder if the E-Bay seller didn’t mean 19" diameter?? (9.5" radius?)