I am just wanting to know from Tomix track owners! Has anyone ever ran six axle locomotives on their 45 deg R=243mm numbers 1855/1125/1195 curve tracks? Was there any issues?
Your concern is with the engine. But how about the car coupled to it? That engine probably has a body mounted coupler which will probably swing wider than the outside rail. That could very well pull that car off of the track. Big engines, small curves, what could possibly go wrong?
Supposedly the Kato 6 axle models (ES44, 70MAC, etc) have a minimum radius of 9.75” or the 249mm radius track. I don’t know if other manufacturers’ models will make the same turn, and I can’t comment on coupling issues either, although longer cars like your 60 foot boxcars may fare better behind your locomotive.
@BarstowRick I agree wider curves are better. @Mr. Trainiac I came to the conclusion that this smaller radius might not have issues with six axle locomotives due to the closeness in size to the Kato's R 249mm track. Though uncoupling and pulling rolling stock off the track is the results that I will be having. So with this notion I changed my inner loop to the outer loop size and the outer loop to the larger size. This took some reconfiguring with alignment on both the 4x8 and the door. The door size was my most concern due to the space the curve tracks will take. But end results should be less worrisome. I also took the extra curves off the industrial side due to the possibility of string lining. Now it comes down to do I use the 4' x 8' or the door 36" x 80"? I am quite certain that I have room for the 4' x 8'. The room that will be in use is 10'7" x 11'6".
Those outer tracks are awfully close to the edge. Any slight bump of the layout and it could get expensive! Any plans to perhaps add a raised edge or an outer thin wall around the perimeter?
Yes, the door layout is a tad bit close with one centimeter to the edge I might see if I can cut this back a few mm. The 4x8 is ok. Regardlesss of the two, I will have a two inch high barrier of plexiglass to help prevent a CATastrophe. I went back and at least try to resize the height and this would cost more than the current plan.
Since your room is 10'7" x 11'6", why stick to a 4' x 8" or 30" x 80" rectangle? If you went with 2 sections that were less deep and placed against walls, connected on the ends by narrow modules, you could have some really large radius curves. Of course, how to do that depends on window and door arrangement, plus whatever else needs to happen in that room.
There is a closet on the left whenever you enter the room and one window opposite side of the door. I don't know the measurements on how far the closest stick out and how much L shape is at the entrance. My wife and I have the house under contract. We should be closing in a few weeks.
+1 I hear ya and agree whole heartedly. Seeing long trains negotiate big wide sweeping curves, of say 36 inch or more radius, is a thing of beauty but not everyone has the space to do it. I suggest one join a model RR club be it NTRAK or other and run on that layout and have a small layout, like maybe a switching layout, at home to fill in the times you want to run trains in between. Most clubs meet once a week. An added benefit is that you have the collective expertise of club members to help in those areas that you are not proficient in.
