[Dave F]

As some of you may know I have a rather challenging section of track between my shed and the fence.....

Now, while I'm quite happy with the Lone Peak & Western, this segment is giving me no end of headache..

The obvious solution (as pointed out by EVERYONE that's been by) is to go through the shed with one track, and run one straight section (no kink) behind the shed..

That's the deal.. So what I'd like to know is...

How BIG is a Bachmann K-27 ??? I'd like to eventually add one to the roster. How big of a hole and I going to have to punch in two walls of my shed so the monster will fit? I'd much rather measure twice and cut once than have to go back and modify the opening later...

Thanks.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Copyrighted data from the review (used with persmission of author):
Length, beam to beam, is 34”.
Tender measurements from MR are 21’ 10-1/2”, which scales to 12.93”. The model is just less than 12-3/4”.
Cab roof vent is about 7” above the railhead, which is very close to the scale cab roof height of 7.04”
The model’s cab measure 5-1/8” wide, cylinders are at 6-1.4”, stack is just under 7-3/4” in height.
That said, lock #1 and #4 axles to keep nose overhang (11/16" and uncontrollable, depending on load) to a minimum.

 

[Dave F]

Thanks TOC. All that being said it seems if I give myself an opening that is roughly 9" high (over railhead) by 8" wide I should be in good shape..

 

[Curmudgeon]

You just gotta watch the overhang of the pilot under load (train).
I have a bridge that was built to broad clearances, but coming up the curving 4% with a train, it locked over to one side and would hit the bridge (and stop).
The axle locking allows me to know exactly where it is going to point when it comes out of a curve.

 

[blueregal]

OR! you could just cut an interesting C/ notch out of the tree right there to accommodate anything you might want to run through there where the tree interferes with the engines width. Would make for an interesting run around!! The Regal/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif

 

[Curmudgeon]

Or, you could order one with a snowplow, remove the plow, and run with the bobbed pilot beam.

 

[Dave F]

Posted By blueregal on 08/21/2008 6:11 PM
OR! you could just cut an interesting C/ notch out of the tree right there to accommodate anything you might want to run through there where the tree interferes with the engines width. The Regal/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif" border=0>




Ya see.. the thing is.. we get some pretty bad wind storms around here... and my neighbors on the other side of the fence park some pretty nice cars there... I'd rather spend any extra $$$$ I have on more train stuff and not repairing/replacing their automobiles when I drop a tree on it..

 

[chuckger]

Hey Dave,

Why not just drop the tree no more worry about the neighbors cars getting crunched and no more kink in the track.

chuckger

 

[Crosshead]

Curmudgeon:

I thought any authorized reprint of the review had to include the phrase "And the socket is wonderful too!" in at least 14 point bold type to avoid legal quagmires.

Also I believe the design is such that the weight of the train will pull the locomotive away from obstructions on the curve if you don't lock the drivers. It's a specially formulated system of lee-verage.

Sorry I haven't written in so long: it's taken awhile for the stitches from the lobotomy to heal.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I have it on expert authority that the design criteria is such that the load on the drawbar actually pulls the locomotive into the curve.

The rules of this and most forums prohibits me from telling you exactly what I think of that statement, engineering-wise and experience-wise, but one word is probably acceptable:

HOGWASH!

 

[StanleyAmes]

Thanks TOC. All that being said it seems if I give myself an opening that is roughly 9" high (over railhead) by 8" wide I should be in good shape..


I have see a 9 1/4” high minimum , a 7 min width for straights and a 8.5” wide for curves. Using transition curves can reduce this somewhat but I wanted some additional room to handle the largest of equipment.


That said, lock #1 and #4 axles to keep nose overhang (11/16" and uncontrollable, depending on load) to a minimum.


I have done this on one of my K27s but found that I had much better reliability by doing Dave’s procedure on the 2nd and 4th axles. This allowed the front axle to float and act as a pilot to guide the locomotive through curves that did not have a transition such as LGB 1600s.

Hope that helps

Stan
http://www.tttrains.com/largescale

 

[Dr G]

Dave,
Ok, so here is my idea--you need a gauntlet track!!!! They exist in the prototype--I even bet the IC had one. And even better, you could signal it to add operating interest. Now I guess the track would need to be hand laid (yah that would be a bummer), but the bragging rights to being the first one to have one would be enormous.
Here is what I am thinking: Gauntlet Track
Sorry, I still can't seem to remember how to make a link active--anybody have a quick refresher on the code?
Matt

 

[jimtyp]

Enter the URL in tags like the following:
< a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauntlet_track">Gauntlet Track< /a>

(remove the space after each of the

 

[Dr G]

Thanks Jim--went back and fixed the link--really like that 'cause you can name the link!!! Wow, new toy for me to play with--now lets see--there must be a few more threads I can invade and play with this thing.


Matt--active link mad man.

 

[Dave F]

Hmmmm.. intersteing suggestion Matt. Could make for some very exciting sessions when I'm running two trains on the mainline..