Realistic minimum radius for modern stuff in P48

60 foot cars ought to work on 60" radius.  I would pass on the 86' freight cars.  You might have to compromise on coupler pockets a bit.

Thank you for the reply.

Hmmm...rats about possible trouble with 86 foot hicubes and autoracks. Any ideas what radius might work? Remember, slow speeds. I have not used my hand laid track skills in 25 years (!), but they were very good back then.

The basic idea is that I can have a space 50 feet long, but only about 10 feet wide. I might have trouble expanding the loops too much bigger - at one end the main electrical panel of the building starts to get in the way. The center will be a bit more narrow at 8 feet, so a bit of a dogbone. All the interesting bits and fun are to be in the two long straight sections, each about 40 feet long. The loops on either are not really for looks, so if the train looks funny going around them, then so be it.

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Will

1:1 Railroads typically have the equivalent of O-240 (radius of 12 feet) for their tightest turns.  These are almost always spiral easements but that is what the curve would work out to if it was a circle.  This is roughly the diameter of the Spiral Tunnels on the CP Rail in the Canadian Rockies and matches up pretty closely with the balloon tracks under Grand Central and those found in other passenger yards/terminals.