Six axle diesel Redius?


P

PartsMan

New N gauge guy
What radius turns do six axle diesel locos need?
I am already thinking on my next layout and noticed that Bachmann lists 19" for there's.
 
19" minumum radius for a six axle diesel in N scale? That equates to about a 38" radius curve in HO scale, which is larger than 99% of us have on our layouts. I'm pretty sure this must be a misprint. A 12" radius curve is considered broad enough to run almost any power including large steam engines.
 
I had been told that diesels weren't that picky.
Maybe they list it that way because THEY don't offer anything between 11" (borderline) and 19" radius.
 
My 6 axle Bachmann's (8-40's and SD45's) will handle 11 with no problem........in fact they'll handle 9.75 although you can tell they're at the limit. Unless they changed, Bachmann includes 11 inch radius in all their sets.
 
Since noone else mentioned it, always try to use the biggest curves you can.....the trains will look and generally run better. But you gotta do what you gotta do.......If 11 is as wide as you can go, almost every engine out there will handle 11" radius....if you go under that you'll start to have problems with some engines, AND some long cars.
 
My atlas SD60's will do 9 3/4" r with no problems but the over hang doesn't look good! I think 15" radius would fit your needs! that's where I would call it quites for minimum Radius on everything
 
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I'm not worried about overhang.
You won't see the whole curve anyway.
I'm thinking about an 8' by 10' L with the back of the loop hidden.
 
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