Tinplate on O-27? new to tinplate

The main concern with that steam locomotive is the connector on the tender-side of the drawbar.  My sample locomotive seems to handle an O27 curved section of track ok, but not with lots of room for movement in the drawbar assembly.  My suggestion is to proceed with the O27 trackplan, but with caution.  The Christmas sets come with MTH's O31 Realtrax, and 45 degree crossovers are available too.  I don't believe the overall layout dimensions would be that much more than doing it in O27.

 

Good Luck!

Wurl,

 

I like the O27 because it looks more like what tinplate should run on...I got the Christmas set with MTH realtrax (from JRJ!) and have a bunch of it, but I don't like it at all.  My regular layout is Fastrack.

 

I was hoping that the drawbar would allow for some wiggle room, because the wheel configuration seems like it would be OK on these engines.

 

Ed

Set up a test section and try it. For some reason, I think the 262 will handle it.

Ed,

 

The other thing to consider is that you can get Lionel tin track in 0-31. The same look that you want but a slghtly bigger curve. Really hard to tell the difference. I always get this confused but (I think) the 0-27 has brown ties and the 0-31 has black.

I do not think Lionel made 027 track until after WW2. Ives made it in the late 30s in O gauge.

 

My first 027 set from 1957 had black tie 027 track and shortly after the ties became grey and finally the brown tie of today. Most pre-war trains in O-gauge would have run on tubular regular 31 track with black ties that still is being made today. This track IMHO is better looking, beefier and more durable than 027 track.

Hi Ed, I can understand your point of the more traditional look of O-27 track verses the MTH Realtrax. Being somewhat a traditionalist myself, I totally agree with you. O-27 "style" track also comes in 42" curves and 54" curves. I will check the locomotive compatibility on them, and also the 45 degree crossover tomorrow.

I have a recently released LCT 262e and it runs just fine on my 027 curve of Atlas-O track. Disclaimer is that I haven't ran the unit above 50% throttle as it looks neato running in cruise control at slower speeds on a conventional transformer. My layout includes 027, 031 and 045 corners. The loco handles each just dandy.
Agree the cartoonish radius curves compliment tinplate. If you're worried about how it looks...tinplate may not be right for you. However, from a mechanical point of view...I completely understand the concern of the potential drawbar issue.