Question on J Class 4-8-4

You should have no problem with 034 curves by Marx. The overhang may look a bit bad but as long as it don't derail you will be fine.

For better then Bachmann prices go to either Train World www.trainworld.com or Western Depot www.westerndepot.com on the internet, they knock the socks off of Bachmann website prices. From waht you save you might be able to pay for half of a passenger car set.

Lee F.

I have a MTH MT-1105 (N&W Cab#611) w/ 30-1112 Auxiliary Water Tender that is available. It has an added real coal load, cab figures, window glazing, brass builder/cylinder,tender plates. Conventional only, but the detailing is comparable to the MTH Railking Imperial. You can email me for more info/pics if you're interested. The 031 curves should be no problem at all.

I think the 60' cars would look fine. I have been running this with 18" cars, but not on my 036 FasTrack.

Gilly

These longer locos do look strange on O-31 curves, but its worth it to be able to run them: they look grand on the straights!.  I' ve run some O-36 rated locos on Marx 34" with no problem, just to see if it would.  The track seems no problem, but I have several locos that do not like old Marx switches at all.

Thanks all.  With my layout, I've got a range of curves.  The inner mainline has a lot of 27" curves, so I will keep my smallest engines on that.  The outer mainline has 54", 42", and 34".  I wish I could've gone with a minimum of 42" like the previous, but I had to give up space.  Long story.

Lee - your point confirms what I expected. I really like the looks of the streamlined steamers, but on the outer mainline, I thought they might appear oversized or throw off a big overhang.  I love how the small engines (like Junior Berks, Alco FAs, and O27 Hudson) look on the 42" curves.  I imagine that's why the guys with the bigger engines go with 72" curves.

I know there's an MTH Bantam N&W J, but I thought it's compression looked silly.

Since I was looking to add some color, maybe I'll just go for a blue B&O O27 Hudson or NW-2.

I've run mine on O-27 before, but it didn't like it much.  The overhang is pretty bad even on my fastrack O-36 curves.  It definitely handles them OK though.

The new 13" streamlined cars from RMT would look good behind your new loco. They are from the old K-Line molds and are very nice cars.