I’m working on an HO layout modelled after the Jay Street Connecting Railroad in Brooklyn. I want to use girder rail embedded in a cobblestone street and I want to service the industries with a single switcher moving a 40 foot boxcar. My radius size will be at minimum 10 inches and was wondering what small diesel switchers and what type of couplers/trucks for box cars, etc. to use that will work in this situation. Couplers on trucks or couplers mounted on car bodies? Extended coupler boxes? Extended shafts? Walters, etc.part numbers?
Any help/recommndations would sure be appreciated.
A 10" radius has been used successfully in HO in situations as you describe. Chances are good that Kadee #5 body mounted will work down to 10" radius. If not, you need the longer shank version (check the Kadee web site for #).
Most GE-44T, Bachmann 45T, and SW and other small switchers will also navigate carefully laid 10" radius at slow speeds. For guarantees, 4 wheel switchers like the Roundhouse EMD 40, Athearn Hustler (with regear to slow it down), and others will definitely work.
On the steam side, the Varney/Bowser Docksider is just about perfect. Any 4-drivered switcher would be. Some 0-6-0s would likely work, too. The key with the 0-6-0s is to keep the body short enough so that coupler overhang on the end is kept reasonable.
Experimentation with individual cars and engines will be the order of the day, with truck-mounted couplers an obvious back-up plan when body mount doesn’t work. If you can go to shorter and older cars (28-34ft from the 1890s or 36ft from the early 1900s), your odds improve. Pushing operations will also be more successful if you can stay with body mounted couplers. Finding good quality trucks designed for truck-mounted couplers may not be as easy as it was back in the '60s.
Ah, Arbuckle Bros., Yuban Coffee, Tracks in the Street; a great challenge. Try to keep it small and managable. Use Walther’s Street trackage system, either asphalt or concrete style. Remember that you can pack a lot of action in a small space. 0-4-0 Docksider, or 44 Tonner, or SW’s will work well. As stated above, use PLENTY of weight for best performance. Good Luck!!!
You need at least a 12" min radius with 40’. If you want the best explanation of min radius and S curves on a model railroad download MRH e-maginzine issue one. They experimented with just about every situation, not just repeated what others have said.
Check out www.carlarendt.us for some ideas on minimum area layouts and the clever ways our fellow hobbyists use space. I’ve got a switcher I know would work. Haven’t built it yet, but it’s a Grandt Line GE 23 ton boxcab. The thing’s only about 15’ long total! They were made in the '20’s for work in industrial plants and so on. This kit uses KD couplers and there certainly won’t be an overhang problem on the loco. The cars are a different story though.
I found some stuff online at http.sbiii.com/jfcageir/ageir40.html. Don’t know if that url will work for you, I hand copied it. If this little loco interests you, just search for GE boxcab diesels.
Thanks…That was a great article! I ordered a couple of 36-foot freight cars of that era that, according to the equations, should work on a 10" radius. I might have to tweak the coupler lengths or coupler boxes. I’ll also play around with the weight, as was suggested, and slightly over weight them if need be. I’m only planning to do single car transfers. An article on ORR girder rail recommended soldering a high guard rail (strip of metal), to the inside of their rail, on turns and in turnouts. I ordered a small Model Power 44-Ton(?) switcher to try out. If all that works, I’ll look into buying the switcher that was appropriate for that time period.
I bought it merely to experiment with. It was only $11.00, looks smaller than the Spectrum GE 44 Ton but has no DCC. I need to experiment with the 10 inch radius before I invest too much more. This is my first time using girder rail and making turnouts with it. The single point parts I can buy already made but the frogs are gonna be a real joy to make! The full turnouts that are available, expect a 6.5 inch radius and are for traction use so the rails aren’t electrically isolated.
Will the Spectrum GE 44 Ton work on a 10 inch radius? The GE 44 ton is very much like one of the later switchers used on the railroad I am modeling. I would just need to paint it orange and black and letter it.
Depending on how many turnouts you have and how they’re built, if you can’t get your 44 tonner to work on a 10" radius smoothly, you might have some luck twising the wheel just SLIGHTLY tighter than the NMRA gauge. If it hangs up on the turnouts, oh well. Might be worth a shot.
