The Neff UP9000 runs on Air! Now I need some track

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Thanks to the help from an experienced live steamer I was able to get the Neff engine running on compressed air. The next step is to get it fired and running on it’s own steam.

Who has some track?

2

Hello,

I hope to have the Engine running on it’s own steam before the end of the week. Just need some fuel and water lines and propane and we should be good to go.

I have been looking for a calculator to help plan the radius. I would like to just have a small loop of track in my warehouse to run the train. Any help out there to figure out how much track is needed for a loop that is 20 feet long on the straights?

I hope to have a video to post soon of the locomotive running. It was very impressive with air. I can only imagine that it will be much much much more impressive with steam!

Thanks!

Michael

3

I would love to see some pics! Well, you want 20 feet of track on the straigts, so thats 40 feet of track. Connect then with a half circle on each end of whatever radius curve you want.

4

To give a rough idea of the amount of rail required for a loop you just need the formula for circumference of a circle, which is pi x Diameter, or, pi x (2 x radius),
ie 3.14 x diameter of circle, which will you’ll need to multiply by 2 again as you have 2 rails.

so for a loop of 60ft diameter:- (3.14 x 60 = 188 1/2 feet of track) x 2 rails
so you’d need 377ft of rail total + the length of your straights.

The radius you can run will depend on the sideplay in the locos wheel base so this might mean a bit of experimenting unless there is anyone with and identical loco chassis that knows what it needs.

5

What scale or gauge is the UP9000?

6

Hello Paul, Devils and Nataraj,

Thank you for your help.

That is going to be a huge track! The cost is going to be something to budget for that’s for sure!

I may just end up making a nice display stand that has rollers until I can save up the cash. That way I can show it off and run it!

I do have pics elsewhere in this forum and will try to post more along with the video by the end of the week.

The engine is O scale. The flanges are 32mm apart. Total length of the engine and tender is roughly 23 inches.

Thank you,

Michael