Pacific turn radius

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tetramachine
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Pacific turn radius

Post by tetramachine »

Planning a small track layout in the back yard for my 4.75 gauge pacific 4-6-2. First I put the loco on a 20 foot radius turn played out in the garage, and pushed the loco through.
With no front or rear trucks it worked fine.
No problem with wheels climbing the rail.

Now with both trucks attached, climbs the rail all wheels on the inboard side. Outboard side on air.

This is a LE model, the front truck uses links to permit lateral movement. Could that be modified to permit enough travel so the driver keep on the rails.

What have others done in this situation?

Tom
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Bill Shields
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by Bill Shields »

God luck on that small radius..especially with links.

Take the links out..put the truck on the track between the cylinders and see if there is any clearance pony truck wheels to cylinders in that radius.

Seriously doubt will work. My 3/4 hudson will not go around that radius
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kcameron
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by kcameron »

Well I know 50' radius works fine as that's what the club has and many a Pacific has run miles on that track. 20' does sound kind of tight. It has been said a few times that one of the old LE catalogs listed the minimum radius for each loco in the catalog. I've never seen one of the catalogs. I came to this part of the hobby after the fall of 1" from LE.
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jmpharrington
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by jmpharrington »

1995 LE catalog states 25' minimum radius for the 1" Pacific.
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FKreider
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by FKreider »

This was just recently discussed in another thread I believe and the general consensus is that 25 to 30ft is the minimum turning radius for any track.
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tetramachine
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by tetramachine »

I will first try to give the leading truck to have a larger lateral movement. As built it moves only .125" of center. If that doesn't work looks like 25' radius or more is the fix.
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mattmason
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by mattmason »

I've seen 20' on my home track, but 25 would be better. Anything 18' and under just does not work.
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by Dick_Morris »

Can you widen the track gauge in the curve?
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kcameron
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by kcameron »

We gauge to 4.781 for our track to give a little on the curves yet stay within range for straights too.
-ken cameron
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tetramachine
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Re: Pacific turn radius

Post by tetramachine »

My track is gauged about the same. The front truck was removed, and the lower edges of the links as well as the center post was killed to provide an additional 1/8 movement L & R.
I then layed out a section of straight leading into a 10' section of 20 radius track. First pushed, then run on air, fore and back. Multiple times, without issues.

Looks like it may work well, with 20' radius curves.
My wheels don't slow me down
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