Ryan-1211848 Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 hi im new to ho hobby i live in u.s.a i been slowly collecting uk steam engines i saw hornby steam engines are recommended for 22 radius curves i was wondering can 24 radius curves work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 (edited) Hi Ryan Welcome aboard! I too am in the US. Most Hornby locomotives have a minimum curve specified by number. R1, R2, R3, etc. Alternatively stated as first radius, second radius, etc These correspond to dimensions given in millimeters. R2, or second radius, is 438 mm / 43.8 cm. That's 17¼". The smaller the number, the tighter the turn. Thus, R1 is smaller than R2. They are set up this way so that multiple parallel tracks can go around a turn, such that adequate clearance is provided for rolling stock. Bee Edited May 19 by What About The Bee Hilarious wording corrected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan-1211848 Posted May 20 Author Share Posted May 20 (edited) 1 hour ago, What About The Bee said: Hi Ryan Welcome aboard! I too am in the US. Most Hornby locomotives have a minimum curve specified by number. R1, R2, R3, etc. Alternatively stated as first radius, second radius, etc These correspond to dimensions given in millimeters. R2, or second radius, is 438 mm / 43.8 cm. That's 17¼". The smaller the number, the tighter the turn. Thus, R1 is smaller than R2. They are set up this way so that multiple parallel tracks can go around a turn, such that adequate clearance is provided for rolling stock. Bee i have a merhcant navy and k1 they are both 438mm can they work on 24 radius cuvres? Edited May 20 by Ryan-1211848 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 (edited) Hello Ryan I am not sure what you mean by "24 radius". If you mean 24 INCH radius, then yes, they can. 438 mm = 17¼" which is less than 24" Bee Edited May 20 by What About The Bee Emphasis added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 Ryan, when dealing with measurements, it is important to specify the UNIT. There is a huge difference between 24 millimeters, 24 centimeters and 24 inches. I suspect you mean 24 inches. If that is the case, then yes, Hornby locomotives are typically specified to be minimum turn radius R2. Which means 438 millimeters. 438 millimeters, converted to inches, is 17¼ inches. Is 17¼ inches, the minimum turn radius, less than 24 inches? Yes, it is. So no issues, your UK locomotives will most certainly handle 24 inches, because the minimum required is 17¼ inches. Hopefully that clears this up. Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan-1211848 Posted May 20 Author Share Posted May 20 8 minutes ago, What About The Bee said: Ryan, when dealing with measurements, it is important to specify the UNIT. There is a huge difference between 24 millimeters, 24 centimeters and 24 inches. I suspect you mean 24 inches. If that is the case, then yes, Hornby locomotives are typically specified to be minimum turn radius R2. Which means 438 millimeters. 438 millimeters, converted to inches, is 17¼ inches. Is 17¼ inches, the minimum turn radius, less than 24 inches? Yes, it is. So no issues, your UK locomotives will most certainly handle 24 inches, because the minimum required is 17¼ inches. Hopefully that clears this up. Bee ok thank you for helping me i’m be getting some more 24 radius turns. but thank you a lot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 @Ryan-1211848you are quite welcome Ryan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelerXYZ Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Sam's trains did an experiment and found that the hornby pecket and Smokey Joe locos could go round curves as tight as 103mm so anything is possible. XYZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 It's always best practice to use as large a radius as possible, to minimise chassis wear. The tighter the radius, the greater the risk the rails will pinch the flanges of driving wheels against their 'natural operating position', potentially ovalling the mounting / bushes (if present). Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelerXYZ Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 I know that. the sharpest curves on my layout are Radius 2. There may be an exception, but I am unsure it is, I think it is a radius 2 curve made out of flexitrack because the part was not availible from my track box, so to fill it in, I simply put a bit of flexitrack in instead. It would have been replaceable with a point, but the positioning didn't allow a loco to get beyond the pinch point, so it was useless, and I abandoned the idea, so I think that section is Radius 2. XYZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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