minimum and "normal" radius for ON30 gear

[piper_tim]

Hi all, 

I'm new to ON30 (been an HO'er all my life).  I've started collecting rolling stock and a few steam engines.  Now it's time to start planning the layout.

What is considered the normal radius to use for these and what is the minimum?  The largest engine in my collection is the 2-6-0, others are a Shay and Forney.  Unfortunately I don't have gobs of room.  I was planning 18 to 22 inch radius.

Thoughts from the group?

Tim

[ebtnut]

While all of the locos you mention will handle 18" radius, the Forney in particular looks odd and has a lot of overhang on those tight curves.  Some folks have had issues with cars uncoupling from the loco because the coupler swing is so wide.  If you can, I'd stick to a 22" minimum. 

[rwiseha]

I have a very small layout.  I have a curve on one end that is 18" and the other is 15'.  Have had no trouble with shays, 2-9-0. 2-6-0.  I cut my forney down(2-4-0) because it wound go around the curves.  Some people say that back the forney with no problem.
Like said above the bigger the better. my layout is a trapezoid 5 feet long and only 39" on the small end. That's all the room I have.
good lick

[Jimster]

 Because the Forney is a 2-4-4T, with a rigid wheelbase it will cause the most problems on a tight radius.

I love the Maine 2 foot railroads, so I hate to say this, but you might be better off with one of the 4-4-0s if you need 18 inch radius.
Bachmann did a great job on the Forney. My brass HOn30 Forneys needed as much room as the On30 versions.

[NarrowMinded]

found this in search
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,6108.msg51995.html#msg51995

[piper_tim]

Thanks for the input everyone - that's exactly what I needed.
Tim

[terry2foot]

http://maineon2faq.fotopic.net/p21848367.html

take a look at what a loco similar to the Bachmann Forney looks like on an 18" radius curve, 


Terry

[railtwister]

The Forney is a beautiful model and a fine running loco, especially the version with the factory Tsunami sound. However, because of the prototype's configuration, and through no fault of the model, it requires larger radii and more carefully laid track than all of Bachmann's other On30 engines. Because of it's unusually long rear overhang, it will exhibit coupler problems due to excess swing not only when tracking through tight curves, but also when transitioning from dead level track into/out of grades. I would say that the minimum radius for reliable operation with rolling stock should be at least 22" (24" would be preferable), and it must be put down with great accuracy (no kinks, bumps or humps). It is such a nice locomotive though, that it is well worth the extra effort to tweak your trackwork until it is perfect enough to satisfy the Forney, and all of your other equipment will run better, too, as a result.

Operation on our modular layout has demonstrated that both the outside framed 2-8-0 Consolidation and the 4-6-0, which are much larger than the Forney, seem like they will operate in some spots that cause the Forney problems.

The outside framed 4-4-0 has more overhang than it's inside framed little brother, so it too, is more sensitive to vertical track changes. especially when using the front coupler.

Surprisingly, one of the better tracking On30 locomotives seems to be the 2-6-6-2 articulated. One might think with all those wheels under the loco it might be more difficult to get it to stay on the track, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Florida On30 Renegades