# G Scale Diameter under 4'?



## J.P. (Nov 17, 2020)

Hi - I'm looking to put together a track setup around my tree this year with some old LGB trains I found from when I was younger. I don't have the track anymore and am currently searching everywhere for a set that makes up a circle 36" or less since my space is limited. I have looked into flex track but I don't want to invest in a rail bender only for this project. It would be great to get something pre-assembled. I know HLW and Aristo Craft had once made smaller radiuses but there is nothing to be found online. If anyone has any recommendation or knows anyone doing custom rail to order please let me know. Thanks for any suggestions!


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Welcome to the forum. It's been several years since I was in G scale but I don't remember anything smaller than 4' diameter. One of the variations in G is they measure curves in diameter, not radius. There are/were sites like LargeScaleOnLine and MyLargeScale you could try. Good luck


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

J.P. said:


> Hi - I'm looking to put together a track setup around my tree this year with some old LGB trains I found from when I was younger. I don't have the track anymore and am currently searching everywhere for a set that makes up a circle 36" or less since my space is limited. I have looked into flex track but I don't want to invest in a rail bender only for this project. It would be great to get something pre-assembled. I know HLW and Aristo Craft had once made smaller radiuses but there is nothing to be found online. If anyone has any recommendation or knows anyone doing custom rail to order please let me know. Thanks for any suggestions!


You try looking on E bay?








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## J.P. (Nov 17, 2020)

Gramps said:


> Welcome to the forum. It's been several years since I was in G scale but I don't remember anything smaller than 4' diameter. One of the variations in G is they measure curves in diameter, not radius. There are/were sites like LargeScaleOnLine and MyLargeScale you could try. Good luck


Thank! I'll look into those.



Big Ed said:


> You try looking on E bay?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm checking in on ebay at some point everyday to see if someone will list the Aristocraft Art-11140 (21" diameter circle) or Art-11145 (31" diameter circle) and unfortunately no luck so far.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

J.P. said:


> Thank! I'll look into those.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm checking in on ebay at some point everyday to see if someone will list the Aristocraft Art-11140 (21" circle) or Art-11145 (31" circle) and unfortunately no luck so far.


I have G scale for under the tree, but mine is a little larger with some straights added in.
You can't do any larger?


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## J.P. (Nov 17, 2020)

Big Ed said:


> I have G scale for under the tree, but mine is a little larger with some straights added in.
> You can't do any larger?


Not exactly. I'm pretty limited to space in my tiny apartment. I have an area where 3' would be perfect! 4' requires me to move some furniture around and sticks out in the room too much still. I'll end up stepping on it just walking through the living room for sure.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Maybe sell them and get an O scale train for under the tree?
HO better yet. 

How long is the train you have now?
35" ? 
On a 36" loop, It would look like a dog chasing it's tail.


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## J.P. (Nov 17, 2020)

Big Ed said:


> Maybe sell them and get an O scale train for under the tree?
> HO better yet.
> 
> How long is the train you have now?
> ...



Haha!  Yeah it is about 3' long all put together. They are just some small 2 axel - 1 loco + 2 passenger cars. The total track length should add up to about 9-9.5 feet at a 3' Diameter so it'll look pretty cozy on there but not too cramped. I love this train so it would be hard to part ways.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

I just looked, those benders are costly !
There must be a way to bend the rail with cheaper method?
I never did it so I don't know, maybe someone else has done this and will chime in.
If you mount the circle on a piece of plywood I would think you can bend the rail as you go along?
But like I said I never did it so I don't really know.
The flex track is not cheap either.


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## J.P. (Nov 17, 2020)

Big Ed said:


> I just looked, those benders are costly !
> There must be a way to bend the rail with cheaper method?
> I never did it so I don't know, maybe someone else has done this and will chime in.
> If you mount the circle on a piece of plywood I would think you can bend the rail as you go along?
> ...



Yeah, they are! As soon as I saw that price I knew it was time to ask for help, haha. 

I found some decent flex rail from Llagas Creek - Llagas Creek Railways
It looks like they make some pretty good flex track. They have assembled pieces, 3ft. - $15.95 and 6ft. - $29.50 using aluminum. It goes up for brass and nickel. I reached out to them and got this back -

"The flex track can bend to a very sharp/small radius. Without doing anything to the tie strips and using either a dual rail bender on the assembled track or a single rail bender on a piece of rail and then sliding the rail manually onto the strips you can easily get a 3.5ft diameter/1.75ft radius circle. You can push it further by cutting some of the connecting pieces that keep the tie strip together to get even tighter bends so the 1.5ft radius that you are looking for should be no problem, just have a bender handy! The aluminum rail can be bent by hand when making slight curves, but regardless of the rail material a radius so small will need a bender to make sure the rail curve is nice and consistent."

The bender seems to be my hurdle though. I asked them if they did custom orders and have yet to hear back. Fingers-crossed.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

FYI Aristocraft went out of business several years ago.


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