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I am in the process in building a layout that has 18" inch curves but have a very long amtrak train, each car is a streamline coach but the couplers are attached to the trucks and not the body, I cant tell you much about the cars because they have not came in the mail yet. some people say no, but others say they wont if the couplers are attached to the body but mabey if they are on the truck, can any body help
Yes, some cars will work on an 18" curve, but they have to be truck mounted & sometimes you have to use a long coupler to keep the cars from riding up on each other on the corners of the body. When this happens the cars flip over or derail.
Ill second what Larry said, most passenger cars are suppose to be run on 22 inch radius i beleive. Remember, if or when it derails or flips over, its going to flip to the outside, so you might want to make sure you have enough of an edge on the table. If you keep the speeds down and use metal wheels it should help.
Another thing they will overhang quite a bit so make sure you have enough space between tracks if you will have a double track main line, what brand cars did you buy?
Depends what scale...
In N scale, no problem and they look fine doing it.
In HO scale, they can do it but look terrible doing it.
Most can make 9 3/4 turns. Especially the older cars. They'll just look funny, because you'll a lot of the track. The wider the curve, the better they look. Don't jerk them going thru a tight curve. You'll stringline them & they'll be all over your layout.
i dont think that its the physics that make them fall outward either i think its murphys law. but i agree HO passenger cars and 18 dont mix well if you going for looks. i personally have to use 22 because i am going to be collecting the big steam locos like the big boy and the challenger and others that are not so well known and i know that 18 derails the big boy
I'm sorry, I never mentioned that I was speaking as an N Scaler. If your in any other scale, disregard my post.
bigger is better, also super elevated helps tracking as well
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