Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

I used to have a large (for me) HO layout when I was young & used all my spare funds left over from my paper route to buy Ho train items, have been casting an eye that way again as I have young grandchildren that would love to see trains running (at least that's the excuse I tell Ang) I am gravitating towards steam loco's & have always liked the more complex (bigger) engines.....my question is , do they have any trouble traversing standard radiuses because of their length ? thanks, Bruce

Hi Bruce
Ah the bug bites
First thing to do before you purchase any track, rolling stock etc is get yourself some track planning software, I use AnyRail, (free) and have done so for years, it has lots of product info which will help design your track plan for your available space.
Then decide on your theme (logging, industrial, country station, city etc).
Don't rush the planning stage.

In my case I had 13'6" x 9' to use and I set some early rules, no duckunder, a continuous run and elevation for the city viaduct. (for visual affect) but these are all personal choices.

I tried to keep my radius as large as possible and the end result was 24" outside, 21" inside (as much as possible) so I settled on a dogbone layout to give me the space between the sides.
If you are very tight for space an end to end layout maybe your solution.
I have included a track plan (from AnyRail) to give you an idea how I used the space.

As Stoker has said, your turnouts are very important for the smooth running of the trains, (both locos and rolling stock) most of the commercial equipment will give you the minimum radius specifications that their rolling stock can negotiate.

And of course resources like this (forums, YouTube etc.) will always be willing to help. (nothing liked passing on pitfalls and tips)

As I have said I have included a track plans and a couple photos to give you an idea.

Cheers
Gary
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