Please put in your minimum and maximum if possible[:D]
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I’m assuming you’re asking about minimum MAINLINE radius.
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I would have gone higher than 41". I’ve got 48" and wonder if anyone goes higher.
Ed
How much is your maximum and how much room do you have?
30" mainline curves, 26" in engine servicing facilities, 24" in yards and industrial areas.
I have a minimum of 34" radius
My biggest curve is 60"
I am running number 8 turnouts
My layout is about 150 square feet
18" on the spurs and 24" on the main line
Largest turn back loop is 24 inches, all other main line is 22 inches. Some 18 in industrial areas.
9 inches. I’ve often wondered why they have to be so big, besides not being realistic. Why?
24" mainline, 18" yards/spurs, and the 15" track ONLY on the spur that goes to the Ore
Mine (serviced by a 0-4-0…)
You must be in N scale. Equipment runs better on wider radi. The wider the better. Less friction on drive systems and flanges.
My low line minimum is 22". And 28" on the high line.
I consider the min. radius on my layout to be 22", although I do have a small logging line with a 15" radius.
i am limited to a 4’x8’ layout, so i went with 15" radius, but i enter the turns with a 18" radius piece to ease it into it, not that it really needs it, just thought it would help…my logging line will be much tighter, but with a shay, it can be.
I have yet to actually build this layout. i am still just gathering the needed track and roadbed and weathering the track before i lay it.
Kevin
oh, i forgot, i only run 40’ or less cars passenger or freight, i dont like the long cars, so being limited to the 15" is just fine for me. the logging cars are 23’ so its even better. my theme is an early 20’s era rural VT line. no line in paticular, the wife and i just want rural VT in a small space.
kevin
On my pike the minimum mailine radius is 22", the secondary line has a minimum of 18". My previous layout had a minimum mainline radius of 15", and the curve ended in a forced joint… you can imagine the mess.
I have a minimum of 22" radius on the layout, but there are very big easements. I run basic 4 axle GP9’s and BLI USRA Heavy 2-8-2 engines. The passenger cars are 60’ Wathers and 72’ Athearn. Next time will have at least 30" minumum radius…
Jim Bernier
Minimum mainline radius is 12". It’s the narrowest curve I can get my engines and 40-50 foot cars to run around reliably. For my trolley sections, minimum radius will probably be 6-8". And yes, I am running HO. I only have two 12" curves right now–my planned “maximum” radius will be 18".
milesdf: Are you running HO or N? In general, most HO equipment needs a wider radius to couple correctly–and things like steam engines with more than four driver wheels need a wider radius or the wheels pop off the track. I can get my 44-tonner with a couple of old 30-foot cars and a “bobber” caboose around an 8-9" curve most of the time–but 40-footers are out of the question and my Geeps won’t make the curves.
Since I model an industrial belt line that was originally a traction line, super-sharp curves are at least somewhat prototypically accurate–but in most cases they don’t look right and certainly don’t operate well. My 12" curves only operate well because I am very careful about my trackwork.
18’’ is the minum radiuse for my dads layout
when i build my own layout im hoping for a minimum of 20’’
I voted 34". I will have 22", but that’ll be on the interurban line at the front of the layout, so it’ll be 55’ cars negotiating that, which will be no problem at all, as those radii were prototypical. I may go as low as 12" when I model the El in Chicago. I have to bend it around in 5 feet or less, and I want to have some straight track in there.
Another layout I know of goes as low as 7" on the interurbans.
18" here, but not on the main line. 22" and 26" on the mains.
My mainline minrad is 48". Secondary tracks such as freight yard may go down to 32" . Service such as oil/ sand and industrial can go down to 24" Passenger tracks may be 36" but preference is for larger, which is why my pass. station is on a siding 20 ft. outside the main line curve(reched by #10’s, of course! I have one module that is a 45 degree curve with easements that is 72" radius and the streamliner just flows around it!