Route availabilty/Curves

[weave]

Hi,

Might help a little bit. Not sure what you are modelling. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tatraskoda/5323608260/#.

Cheers Weave.

[painbrook]

Not so long ago we were due to get 'Tornado' at the Ribble Steam Railway.
Unfortunately no one checked the radius of some of the curves in the docks area and she was pulled out at short notice 'cos she couldn't get round them

Nobby, how are you getting on with the Deltic?, not bent I hope . Cheers john.

[Bad Raven]

Early 80's I was booked on a steam trip from Carnforth up to Sellafield, the engine turning light on the triangle at the nuclear plant.

It was booked for Scotsman.  The week before my trip it had lifted a centre driver up while turning there, so a Black Five was substituted (from dim memory 4767 the Stephensons link one).  Most people were very upset...I thought it was great, especially as it gave the B5 a REAL load to pull so plenty of fireworks!! 

They even let people off at one coastal station, reversed back, and did a run through to give some spectacular sparks from the chimney photos!!

In modelling terms I have always gone with "if it looks right" on radii.

Having modelled part of Fleetwood Docks, and the Cromford & High Peak Railway (where one curve was so tight there are photos from the loco of the brake van passing the other way!!!!), I have had my share of getting N Gauge models to work round very tight radii!!

[EtchedPixels]

RA3    16.5 Tonnes
RA5    19    Tonnes
RA8    22.8 Tonnes
RA10  25.4 Tonnes

By way of historical context - the reason the RA values went down a long way is that an awful lot of the network was not built to take what today we think of as a typical locomotive.

Go back to 1930 and much of the ex GER network for example was only up to 17 ton axle load (RA4) with only some main lines up to 18 ton axle load (RA6). In a modern context you wouldn't even be allowed to run an 08 over such a line !

The GWR Kings were one of the few steam locos to reach RA8 equivalent (ie the same as a current 67)