Short(er) Wheelbase Locomotives


taholmes

Member
Hi Folks:

I'm making progress on my layout, and as I am doing so, it looks like my SD90/43MAC may be too big for some of my curves. My curves are hand drawn, but close to 9.75" radius, and in a couple places, the loco wants to drop wheels. My F40PH seems to handle all the curves without a problem. so I am wondering, as I look for additional locomotives, I am wondering if I need to exclusively look for 4 wheel truck engines, or if just a shorter overall length should resolve the problem. Rebuilding the track is not an option as that is all the room I have
Thanks
TIM
San Luis and Rio Grande
 
Im assuming we are talking about N Scale here with that radius. If you have a look here, it will review about every N Scale locomotive in the past 15 years or more, and it will give you (on a lot) the curve radius, and what it will handle with the quality.

http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html

This is the Holy Grail of sites to check when considering a locomotive in N Scale!
 
dang. 9.75 radius? you have a trolley system there.
yeah, an SD90 would look like it lost its way on a curve like that.
GP locomotives are your better bet for operations and just plain running trains fun.
 
I have the same problem on my layout (but in HO scale). A great loco I found is the Dash-8bw. It's a nice, bigger, loco but with 4-axles. Amtrak and a few other roads used them.
 
dang. 9.75 radius?
9.75 radius in N-scale is the equivalent of 18" radius in HO. It is the "standard" size for all starter sets. But just like HO, it is way too small for large modern power. When I was in N-scale I had a minimum of 11" and it was too small. My future plans were to use 15" radius, but then I abandon N all together.
 
Ya, I wish I could go those kind of sizes, but I just dont have room in the layout room -- its also my bedroom and I have to juggle space. From where I sit, some layout is better than NO layout :)

TIM
 
I have the same problem on my layout (but in HO scale). A great loco I found is the Dash-8bw. It's a nice, bigger, loco but with 4-axles. Amtrak and a few other roads used them.
Yes, I agree, I'll be purchasing at least one of them as time goes along

TIM
 
Ya, I wish I could go those kind of sizes, but I just dont have room in the layout room -- its also my bedroom and I have to juggle space. From where I sit, some layout is better than NO layout
My bedroom was 8.5'x9' with two doors. I finally rigged a 2x8 layout that one end rested on the headboard and the other was on a shelf at the end off the bed. I slept under it every night.
 
Yep, mine is 1 foot wide around 2 of the walls, and 2 feet wide on the third, it will be 2 levels, and there is room to sneak in a helix to connect them - that one area I have room for bigger curves :)
 
Yep, mine is 1 foot wide around 2 of the walls, and 2 feet wide on the third, it will be 2 levels, and there is room to sneak in a helix to connect them - that one area I have room for bigger curves :)
Have you considered putting triangular fill-ins in the corners to allow you to have larger radius's there? i.e. allowing the track to "cut" the corners.
 
Man I just bought a Kato N EMD SD70ACe CSX loco yesterday and hope it turns ok on my 11 inch radius unitrack without issues. After seeing this thread I started sweating a little bit. Also have a Kato UP EMD9 coming too..
 



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