I have a Spectrum set of Penn RR passenger cars. I can’t keep them together, or on the track. I have 18" radius curves on my layout. Is there another set that can handle these curves without modifications.
Long cars of any type have trouble on 18-inch radius curves. Usually, it’s the couplers. I don’t know these cars, but they probably have body-mount couplers. You could try replacing the couplers and the trucks with truck-mounted couplers, which are a lot more tolerant of those tight curves. My passenger cars, relics from the Eisenhower administration, have truck-mounted couplers and they run fine around my own 18-inch curves.
I’ve also seen coupler mechanisms (don’t remember where) which are body-mounted, but also allow some extra side-to-side swing to accomodate tight curves. Anybody remember who makes these?
Oh, and Welcome Aboard!
I have a similar set of passenger cars- N&W Spectrum and they won’t take my 18" curves either. They have body mounted (but they still swing) couplers. I use them on my 22" radii and they work fine there. I’ve learned that long cars and small layouts (I have a small layout) don’t work well together.
Bachmann states in their ad that those cars need a minimum of 22" (or maybe even 24").
IHC’s and Athearns with truck mounted couplers will run on 18". Not a lot of detail though. Guess it’s a trade off.
I have the HW UP set, and the couplers are a PITA!! I have to run them in the order that the couplers match up, as they have no practical adjustment. I’m waiting to move and have a new layout with broader curves before putting body mount KD’s on them. They will handle my 18" radius, but they are about 15 years old - maybe the older cars track better [%-)]
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Try a pack of Kadee #46 couplers as they come with a longer shank. The gap between the cars will be more noticeable but should negotaite 18 radius curves.
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If you can remove the roof or body without difficulty, remove the interior and add weight to the floor. I I use BB gun pellets to fill in the pockets in the floors of my passenger cars. Tracking is improved and minor wobbling vanishes when done in conjunction to properly adjusting the trucks.
[8D]
I agree with antonio on the use of the longer shank coupler. The Spectrum swing coupler pockets are a PITA and coupler height can vary from the slop. Shimming within the pocket has helped, but the entire box/ pivot seems to be the problem. I have solved some of the pivot slop by shimming the box or peening the pivot rivot. Using a longer shank can increase the height difference under coupler loads. Trial and error and as mentioned car/ coupler matching for best performance may also help.
The cars generally will run flawlessly on 22" or greater especially if converted to body mount. If you do remove the roofs to add weight use care not to damage the thin metal lighting contact strips
Be careful removing the roof!!! If you think the couplers are a PITA, getting the roof back on AND making elect contact will bring a whole new meaning - and vocabulary - to modeling pains!!![:-,] I have added figures to the interior of most of my HW’s, and consider it lucky when I put the roof back on & the lights work 1 out of 3 or 4 tries!![B)] Other than a few plastic figs, I’ve not added any weight to them. Check wheel gauge and your track - that should take care of the derailments. As for the couplers, well one option would be to make up drawbars for them, as passenger trains usually run in the same consist all the time, and certain cars - baggage & observation - always run in the same position.[:)]
Full length (80 foot) passenger cars on 18 inch radius is marginal. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Your odds can be improved by weighting each car right up the NMRA standards (1 oz + 1/2 oz per inch of length, about 6-7 oz per car). Insure that the trucks pivot freely and don’t hang up on underbody details. With body mount couplers, you get better results of all the cars in the train are the same length, namely long. Short cars coupled to long cars aggravate the coupler swing problems. Same goes for locomotives, a long E unit is better than the short tender of the typical steamer.
Double check wheel and track gauge. Pray a lot.
Or try for extraordinary coupler swing. Mount the coupler on a long long pivoting bar. Install a wide wide coupler retaining bracket. Without a centering spring the cars will never couple reliably when pushed together, but the extra wide swing will help keep the cars on the track in the curves.
Or, look for a set of Athearn “shorties”. The Athearn cars are selectively compressed and come out only 60 odd scale feet in length. They don’t look bad at all and they will hack 18 inch radius.
I can run mine all day on R18’s without issue. What do you have for track work? (snap track, flex track, EZ-Track, Power-Loc? etc…) And do you have S-curves? How quickly are you running them?
I contacted Hornby/Rivarossi about their new 60’ coaches and i was informed that these coaches come with an extra set of couplers that allows operation on 18" curves.
Welcome a board. Hee, Hee, Hee, I just figured out what PITA stand for!
For the tighter turn I have had great luck with 72 foot Con Cor cars. I added around 4 oz of weight, tuned the trucks so they roll easy and added Kadee body mounted couplers and # 29 long shank couplers.
Not great for people in to detail, but I am half blind anyway.
They are pretty low in prices, around $14.95.
I bought one IHC car, I will stick with the Con Cor for now on.
Cuda Ken