Minimum Radius for Class J NW 611

[ebuliavac]

Hi, does anyone know the minimum radius for the NW Class J #611?  Thanks in advance.

[Stephen Warrington]

22"but it prefers larger curves like 24" or even 30" Mine will squeeze around 18"but it doesn't look good at all doing it.

Stephen

[SteamGene]

This assumes you mean the new Spectrum N&W class J.  The older, poorer running ones probably waddle around an 18 inch radius, but they don't look good doing it and are likely to wipe out nearby objects.
People need to think of not only what the locomotive or car can physically do, but what it looks good doing.
Gene

[Stephen Warrington]

Hi Gene,

Mine is the new Spectrum version and it will do the 18" radius shuffle without the front tender steps on it but looks like crap doing it. So mine stays dust free in its little black box along with water tender. The old crappy version (PLUS) series did 18" fine and dandy but..... it looked and ran like crap on straight aways.

I got my new model from a good friend several years back now when we got to talking about the real thing and he asked me did I remember my 16th birthday when I got to pull the throttle on the real 611 in Alabama. and to think this year when I turn 32 it will be 16 years since I saw her under steam and in her glory.

Stephen

[SteamGene]

That's about the same time I rode behind the J with my kid sister (and I mean kid - she's 21 years younger than I am.)  The thing that has always been etched in my memory is crossing a long viaduct over a four lane highway, west of Roanoke, Va.  It wasn't the mini-vans and statin wagons stopping on the side so that Sis and Junior could see a steam locomotive, it was the 18 wheelers who pulled to the side so that drivers could get out of the cab and get a better view.  And Norfolk Southern in all its corporate wisdom shut down the program.
What idiots.  And CSX wants a billion dollars in insurance and the heart of your first born son to run steam on its rails.  What morons.
Gene

[Gene P.]

I have the 613 from the Cavalier set and just recently relegated it to the shelf. It waddled around and required alot of energy to get it going. Does this issue afflict the 613 as well?
Looks great up on that shelf though.

[murfling]

I have, I think, 5 of the class J's, from the first 600 that was issued, to the new 603 thats sitting in repair somewhere in Bacmann Land. (There is another whole thread on THAT one)  and the best looking radius I have run them on is the 35 1/2 that Bachmann puts out. the 33 1/3 is OK, but anything smaller than that, and the lead truck has a tendancy to jump the tracks.

And there is a slight issue of navigating the points on the #5 turnouts.

Other than that, they look real pretty sitting on my shelf.

Jonathan