Minimum radius for 2-8-8-2

I am using at least one shin. double crossover. Being pennsey mainline, I can use code 100 without anyone getting out calipers... original layout had three, but I added the lead track.

In that

That is basically the numbers I got, except I need to fit the pedestrian platforms in.

Yes, the primary function is to organize name trains and commuters while dodging freights..... Switching ability is the key to making this actually fun. It will be around the wall so the two track main will be trains dodging each other to keep n schedule.

I am planning to pin it down on 1/4 inch foamboard to see how it needs to be scored.

Thanks, Wolf, for the advice....

Jim Stewart

Any European products; Roco, Rivarossi, Trix plus Lifelike will go around 18" (457mm) radius curves and perhaps even 15" (360mm) (Trix).

Don't overlook the fact that a Mallet loco on 18" radius will not get through a tunnel mouth until it is back on straight track and it will pull a long train off the track into the inside of the curve. If you have to include (say) 9" of straight inside a tunnel to bring the loco straight with 18" radius, then you might as well make the radius 22" and the hidden straight 5".

A better scheme is to make the curve a transition, with only the centre at minimum radius and the ends at larger radius. (eg 24"/21"/18"/21"/24") You can lay such a curve with flex track or just buy something like Atlas set radius track. Each section should be about the length of a loco, not counting the tender.

Regards, Greg.P.

That is what I was planning to do. A long time ago I saw a way of making the curve change smooth by making an ovaloid. I am a bit limited in which engines I can use since I am modeling (loosely) Pennsy in the 1940's..... Otherwise I would want a Cooper-Jarrett. And a Malaysian pacific with the five valve system.

Thanks for the advice, it is worth while. I am being VERY careful with tunnel entrances and with the overhangs.

Jim Stewart

The poppet-valve Malay 4-6-2 I understand, but what on earth is a "Cooper-Jarrett"????

Do you perhaps mean a Beyer Garratt?

And now, since you've mentioned them, how about some information on the machines for those of us who are ignorant of them. Got links to photos?

Captain Handbrake

I speak from the experience of having a new loco _not_ negotiate a fully scenicked layout! :-(

Regards, Greg.P.

I only saw them in person, The Malay engine (used before independence) on the lawn of the national museum in Kuala Limpur and the other (a tank engine made in Scotland) on a display stand on the Quay in Iceland....

Jim Stewart

features the Federated Malay States Railways poppet valve 4-6-2s.

As for the "Cooper-Jarret", try this:

Good pictures, Mark. I have never seen one of the bigger CJ's but they are the strangest animals in the jungle....

Jim Stewart

Looking for all the world like a Japan-built machine.

Captain Handbrake

I take it that you haven't seen many Japanese steam locos, from that comment.

I'm confused - are you saying that you saw a Garratt in Iceland?

Quite the contrary. I lived in Japan for several years back in the 60's Steam was still very much alive and well on Hokkaido. I had many photos and still have vivid memories of class C and class D running through the snow in winter. Steam was still very much in existence in Taiwan as well during those years. Taiwanese, Japanese and German steamers (especially Henschel machines) all bear a family resemblance. Additionally Taiwan was also populated by a large number of French-looking tank engines such as the ones that worked the marshalling yards in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Chilung, three of the cities that I visited on several occasions during those years. Not to say that the Malaysian and Japanese machines are twins, I didn't say that. A Class GM does not look like an E 8, but it certainly DOES look like an EMD and would be immediately recognized as such by anyone even peripherally acquainted with North American locomotives. They might not know that it was an Australian machine, but they certainly would know that it definitely looked like an EMD of some kind and might opine that it looks for all the world like an American-built machine.

Captain Handbrake

They used one engine to build the causway about 1910. It was placed on 6 foot of track by the harbor. It was an 0-4-0 T. It had some relationship to the first one on the page. I think the builder's plate was K-J.... It certainly was not a missing unit from the South African lot. K-J I believe made a number of industrials. It made Puffin Billy look like a fast freight.

Jim Stewart

There were two locos on the breakwater construction in Reykjavik Harbour, both of which are preserved. They were constructed in 1892 by the German builder Arnold Jung, of Jungenthal. Jung built many industrial locomotives, but they had no relationship with the firm of Beyer, Peacock.

I cant find my photos of the Reykjavik engines at the moment, so here's a link to a German page that features one:

All except 8 Taiwanese steam locos were of Japanese design, and built by Japanese builders - I would expect them to have a "family resemblance". I don't agree at all that Henschel or other German-built steam bears much resemblance to Japanese steam. There are too many distinctive features that characterise Japanese locos that are unlike German practice.

I take it that you also haven't seen many French tank engines, from that comment. The locos you saw were again of Japanese design and manufacture.

> Not to say that the Malaysian and Japanese machines are twins, I > didn't say that.

No, you didn't. But your comments, and comparison of the two suggests that you are only peripherally acquainted with foreign steam locomotives. There are any number of features that tell the experienced observer immediately that the FMSR 4-6-2 is British-built.

They might, but what of it? The features that distinguish diesels from different builders or countries are superficial compared to those of steam locos. Your comparison is flawed. And your grasp of Australian terminology is poor, as well. They are "GM class", not "Class GM".

I believe only one was saved. The one I was on had a wood storage box behind the driver. Did they recently restore the other? I was there over ten years ago in a blinding snowstorm in May....I guess my Icelandic slipped again. The ground sure looks like the port, though. If you do run into the photos, I would like to see them. Jim Stewart

By the way, what gage are/ were the Malaysian rails? Seems to me they were narrower than US. Meter?

Did you ever see the station in Kuala Lumpur? I remember waiting for the train from Butterworth and looking up at the towers.

Jim Stewart

Yes.

I did, it was magnificent!