Someone at the Lehigh & New England didn't think through their curve radius at Catasaqua, PA. [05/21/1949, Donald W. Furler]
[/QUOTE] Those locomotives look like Alco S2 or S4's. They had a minimum radius of 118 feet which scales out to 8.8 inches in N scale. However, equipment, such as those gondolas, for unlimited interchange between railway companies is built to accommodate for a minimum 288-foot radius or about 20 degrees. That scales out to 21.6 inches in N scale
It could be that the gons are not gonna go through that curve, and this pic just caught the forward end of a switching move. Or those gons have been modified to handle tighter turns than they were built for. That has the look of a work train, and those may not be pool gons.
That first gon looks too new and in too good condition to be in MOW service. The composite gon could be a war emergency product similar to coal hoppers built during the war. It would be new also and looks to be in good condition. These lasted into the mid to late '50's. The B&O only started to convert their emergency hoppers to steel sides in 1955. The engines were new in 1949 and the auto predates 1950. This appears to be a switching move rather than an MOW work train and is probably dated in the early 50's. The train is probably stopped waiting for clearance to cross the other tracks. Those engines are Alcos and Alcos are famous for belching smoke but not a whiff of smoke is to be seen. As for modifying the cars for tighter turns why would any RR have any curves tighter than the absolute minimum of 288 feet? That is for curves that are not in general service. Minimum curve radius for general service is 411 feet.
It certainly is an interesting scene. Good observation that the train is stopped (no smoke), and the control tower is in view on the far side of the tracks. So, the curve in question is not for general service? Note that the track to the bridge also does not appear to be the same weight rail as the 3 mainline tracks. Does that mean that mainline cars cannot travel over it at all, even if slowly enough? Surely with a lot of squealing though. The near gon's load does not look to be secured very well (for mainline service), and is just loose boards.
@Inkaneer 's on the right track in the scene we're looking at. The L&NE train has just worked its interchange with the RDG and is waiting to cross the LV main to return to it's own iron across the Lehigh River. It was a common interchange run at the time. Catasaqua was a busy place in the day, with the CNJ and Ironton also in the mix. Interestingly, the L&NE served more industries than any other railroad there.
So that curve is part of the interchange between multiple RRs? That explains the large tower. I guess it worked well enough not to improve it. Just proves the rule; "There's a prototype for everything!"
Yes, it's the LV's CQ Tower and it protected their main line, four tracked between 1910 and 1911. The CNJ had a tower in the area as well. CQ was removed from service in 1958 as trackage was reduced. Catasaqua continued its decline; the L&NE shut in 1961. Only the former CNJ main (on the opposite bank from the red arrow) remains today. Here's a map of how things looked in better times. I placed a red arrow where the L&NE's sharp curve was to be found.
LNE RS-2 locos were also able to traverse that curve, and they have a minimum radius of 21 degrees. Thus, you could make a good case that the curve was built to meet the 288-foot/20-degree unlimited interchange requirement.
Both Hardcoaler's map and Point353's pic clearly show the curve extends through the crossings, which gives more room for a broader curve than indicated by the first picture. That said, my available space (N scale 36x80 HCD) makes such scale curves purely academic. There's a reason most N-scale equipment is designed to navigate 9.75R curves (that doesn't mean they'll look great doing so.) Sure, the equipment on the minimum 11R curves on my layout won't look its best, but those minimums are relegated to the 'local' figure 8 route. The 'mainline' dogbone route's minimum radius is 12.375R.
Frustration with sharp curves is what led me to Ntrak. Just the esthetics of watching a train on a 27 inch vs a 9.75 inch radius curve was reason enough. But now, I'm thinking that the esthetics would be better if we replaced those three foot corners with their 24-27 inch curves with four footers and curves of 36-39 inches. This would be especially true for passenger cars and other long cars in excess of 60 feet. However, there is a limit on how big a curve can be and still be contained on one module. For us, a four foot corner would be our limit due to transport issues.
I personally think the visual difference between 27" and 36" minimum radius curves in N scale would not be worth the effort or space. But that's just me. Besides, this layout has two hard requirements that rule it out: Uses Unitrack (where the largest radius with an adjacent complement is only 16.375") Fits on a 36x80 hollow core door But if 36" Rmin floats your boat, row with it!
