# question on engine's and curves



## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

hey guy's im wanting to run these big loco's six axle one's example's, sd70ace, ac6000's and some es44ac's. My question is can i get away running these on a 22 inche radius curve if i eased into it with some 24 inche radius i only have a 4x8 to work with so need the advice thank's yall. L.F.B.


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## searstractorfan (May 30, 2011)

I got about 6 SD70's and they run on my 18in curves....They run better(they dont drift over the curve as far)on my 22in curves... Im new to the world of trains, so I just try and see what each engine can do...


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

sweet thank's dude for the info gonan get me a sd70ace now lol i only have one engien right now a gp38-2 it's a normal sized engien and is handleing my switchign layout pretty good but i am gonan need some mainline power for the bigger layout well a 4x8 layout i have planned.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

The manufacture of the locomotive often makes more of a difference than the prototypical model it is based on. For example I can run my Athearn DD-40 on 18r curves but the same model by Bachmann needs a minimum 22r curve. A Riverossi Big Bog can handel 18r curves but any other manufacturer that I know of requires larger curves.


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

okay thank's im looking at the ahtearn genissis sd70ace with sound and dc in the bnsf rail color's will it handel the 22 radius curves' okay and same on there sd60m. thank's zach.


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

My six axle engines kept derailing on some 18" rad track. I had gotten one side of a track coupler under the rail so there was a bump. With that fixed they all (engines) run just fine on the 18"rad. but better on the 22" rad. track.
Myadvice to you is to be very sure your track is nice and smooth and the joints meet on both rails as perfectly as you can get them. I think that's the secret to any good running railroad. Pete


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

okay thank's will sure keep that in mind when starting the continuous lopp railroad right now jsut have a switching layout with bachman ez track that is a pos that im learngin to hate it sat out in a untemptuare controled buildign and it's all warped well most of the curves are and the turnout's are okay though and so is most the straight track is fine and some of my curves are okay the rail joiner's are kind of falling apart and are like they are gleud onto the bachman track what can i do to fix these.


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm not familiar with that type of track so maybe somebody else can 
help you with that. Iwould say that most railjoiners are removable but some need a pair of pliers to get them off. I'd just replace them with new ones if that's possible. Don't knowwhat to tell you about the warped track.Have you tried to heat the pieces up and flatten them out? Put them on some metal with some weight on top and leave them out in the sun for awhile. Then let them cool with the weight still on them. Maybe that will straighten them out. Worth a try with a few pieces anyway. Good luck. Pete


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I've got a couple curves on my layout that are in the 21" range currently and my Athearn Genesis SD60i does just fine.


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

You must be using flex track Scott and that's good. With flextrack you have far fewer joints between track sections to deal with and especially on curves where the wheel flanges are prone to climb a joint and derail if the joint isn't perfectly aligned on both rails. Just a tiny gap can cause problems with a tri-axle truck on any but the very widest radius. These rail joints being misaligned have been my biggest problem on previous layouts so I have learned my lessons there.
I think the old pros will agree that you can't do too good a job on laying your track. It's the sole basis for the entire railroad and if it's not right the trains won't run right. Plain and simple. Pete


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I do use flextrack....one trick to kink free trackwork is to not trim both rails to length at the same place (90 degrees across both rails even.) Let the inside rail length grow and feed it into the next section. That way the gap in one rail will be reinforced by the solid other rail. When you have gaps in both rails directly across from each other the track wants to kink as you have stated.

I didn't do this trick on my first layout, but will be using it for the next one.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

This is going to depend more on the model than the actual prototype. I had a SD70MAC from Athearn Genesis and while it was a very nice looking engine it would throw the car behind it off the track on less than 22" curves. The coupler would not deflect enough. I found the same road number SD70MAC made by Kato and bought that (Since my other Kato engines did not throw cars off the rails) and it's coupler deflected enough to handle 18" curves with ease. So this is going to be a test more of what engine can do what not what prototype can do what. Oh and most manufacturers will build their engines for 22" or lower radii curves.

Massey


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

That's a good point SST. Making the joints off set is a great idea. I didn't use any flex on my current layout because I had plenty of sectional track from my last layout years ago. However I'm already thinking about expanding this layout and then I will use flex track.

Massey I had not thought of the coupler swing distance but I can see where that could make a difference . I'll have to check my engines and see how they work although I don't seem to have any problem like that at this point. Thanks for the tip. pete


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

norgale said:


> That's a good point SST. Making the joints off set is a great idea. I didn't use any flex on my current layout because I had plenty of sectional track from my last layout years ago. However I'm already thinking about expanding this layout and then I will use flex track.
> 
> Massey I had not thought of the coupler swing distance but I can see where that could make a difference . I'll have to check my engines and see how they work although I don't seem to have any problem like that at this point. Thanks for the tip. pete


If you do find you have issues with swing distance you can always go to a slightly longer shank coupler to alleviate the problem (most times)

Where you really get into problems on the tighter radius tracks is with the longer Passenger equipment or the 89' car carriers, etc. Those long cars like big curves.


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

okay thank's for the info think i will envest into a sd70ace and hope for the best right now it will work fine on my switchignl ayout i know gonan be kidn of weird switchign with a road locomotive but it's waht i like and what i want thank you all for all the help lfb.


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

so it will work on waht i want it to do thank's yall for the help i have a csx one on order from the little choo choo shop in saliusberry north carolina.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Having fun and modeling what you want is the whole point. One reason I love this forum over the other really popular one is because people here dont get on you about doing things that the real railroads didnt or wouldnt do. This is part of the fun this is YOUR railroad and if they use SD70ACes to do switching labor on YOUR railroad then I dont see a problem... do you?

Massey


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## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

Massey said:


> Having fun and modeling what you want is the whole point. One reason I love this forum over the other really popular one is because people here dont get on you about doing things that the real railroads didnt or wouldnt do. This is part of the fun this is YOUR railroad and if they use SD70ACes to do switching labor on YOUR railroad then I dont see a problem... do you?
> 
> Massey


I agree whole heartedly. When doing switching operations on my layout, I usually use two GP38s and a GP30 together. Sometimes I'll add my SD 40-2 to the group as well. It really doesn't take all of the these engines together to switch cars, as I've done it with just an SW1500 switcher. But instead, I like doing it with at least two or three engines. I just think it looks awesome. In the past I've had others that said that this was the wrong way to do it. I just look at them, smiled and said "I'll take it under advisement." 

Routerman


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

thank's guy's yeah it's what i want to do so imma do it just wanted to make sure the engine i want to use will handle the curve radius but i think i can make it wider now since it's gonan be a shelf layout and the only curve is the one between the two leg's of the l. thank you all for you help zach.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

Just remember that when you are considering the radius of curves to double check that of the switches. Some switches are not quite what the actual radius should be. Atlas snap switches I have found to be slightly less than an 18r curve. Also I have seen 3 axil locos that can make it around an Xr curve but when it hits a switch of that same radius it will climb the rail and derail.


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## Littlefoot14 (Sep 3, 2010)

Ive had 2 Athearn Genesis SD70ACe's. Both ran excellently on my 18in radius power-loc track curves. My current SD70ACe runs flawlessly on my floor layout. Ive never had it derail. 

Most locomotives are designed to be able to run on 18in radius curves. They might not perform or look their best, but theyre built to be able to accomodate 18in radius curves.


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