MTH engine radius question

I would say not.....if MTH or lionel have a recommended radius its probably best to stick to it....although it may run on a tighter curve, undo strain on the running gear may occur. In addition, you could prematurely wipe out the flanges on the locomotive wheels....I'm speaking from experience!....cause I have wiped out drivers!

It's basically a crap shoot.

MTH doesn't have an O36 track radius in their product line and they will always quote the tightest curve that their engine can negotiate, on their track. Most manufacturers will do the same.

An MTH engine rated O42 will negotiate an O42 curve on MTH track and will not negotiate an O31 curve on MTH track. It may negotiate an O36 curve on someone else's track, or it may not. Further, each MTH engine rated O42 will be different. Some may handle O36, some may not.

And some MTH engines/cars may not negotiate the specified curves on anyone's track...Been there, Done that!

I ran into that on several of their products. I had to modify them to work on my mostly O-31 RealTrax layout. One engine had drivers gauged wrong, one passenger car had under body details that limited the truck movement, one set of passenger cars had wiring to the trucks that limited truck motion.

Seems like MTH can deliver products that don't meet specs, no matter how great they look. I over came each problem but I am extremely mechanically inclined. I fear for those MTH buyers who don't know which end of the screw driver to use or worse yet kids who get these trains for XMAS.

So....If the specs say O-42 believe them and be willing to modify the engines/cars to make them meet specs.

LDBennett

Barry Broskowitz posted:

It's basically a crap shoot.

MTH doesn't have an O36 track radius in their product line and they will always quote the tightest curve that their engine can negotiate, on their track. Most manufacturers will do the same.

An MTH engine rated O42 will negotiate an O42 curve on MTH track and will not negotiate an O31 curve on MTH track. It may negotiate an O36 curve on someone else's track, or it may not. Further, each MTH engine rated O42 will be different. Some may handle O36, some may not.

Yeah that's what I thought as well So it's a crap shoot basically.  I would imagine a lot of the 6 wheel modern diesels would track the same

Christopher,

Some things may surprise you. I use Gargraves track, and Ross and Gargraves switch tracks. My mainline loops are O42 and O54. Some examples of what I've learned:

• The MTH Premier Shay w/PS3 is rated O72. It negotiates my O54 loop and switch tracks, forward and reverse, in both directions, without the slightest problem.
• The MTH Premier ALP-36 w/PS3 is rated O72. It negotiates my O42 (yes, O42) loop and switch tracks, forward and reverse, in both directions, without the slightest problem.
• The MTH Premier Weed Sprayer w/PS2 is rated O54. It negotiates my O42 (yes, O42) loop and switch tracks, as well as O31 curves and O36 switch tracks, forward and reverse, in both directions, without the slightest problem.
• The MTH Premier P5a Box Cab w/PS2 and Premier P5a Modified w/PS2 are rated O72. With a simple modification to the pilot tracks and cutting down the height of a slide switch on the P5a Modified, both  negotiate my O42 (yes, O42) loop and switch tracks, forward and reverse, in both directions, without the slightest problem.

On the other hand, the MTH Premier L-5 electric is stated as needing O54 and I can assure you goat it will derail on O53-15/16" curves.

Go figure!

Greatest surprise for me was my Legacy SD70ACE UP Heritage from 2008, 6-28281. At 17-1/2” long (longest in my fleet), it has 6 wheel trucks (ALL wheels having flanges!). While the tightest curves at the ends of my layout are 0-42, there is an inner route that has a curve with three pieces of 0-31 track. This locomotive glides around the 0-31 curve with ease. 

Fuel tank overhang bothers me far less than a third axle with un-flanged wheels so that the trucks stick out in space. The designers' solution seems brilliant as their outside 3^rd axles actually swivel like the pilot truck on my 1941 1666 steamer.   

Thanks Barry that's great info for those of us with smaller layouts and curve diameters.  I always like the Alp-36 and weed sprayer but have been scared off by the minimum curve requirements.

Christopher, simple solution.  If you are a customer of the Litle Choo Choo in Spencer just go there.  When we (Bruce and I) rebuilt the floor layout we included an O36 loop on the end facing the street.

My Rail King Big Boys will run on 0-31 curves as specified, but they don't like it.  When pulling a longer consist or running at 30 scale mph they both tend to shed traction tires.  I'm OK if I keep the speed down and run a short consist.  But that's boring, so I mainly run them on the O-72 or larger loops, double headed with 30 cars in the consist.