A 56" radius would make

A 56" radius would make passenger cars look better.

Jim, I can only dream of such

Jim,

I can only dream of such a radius until can get a longer room. Good to know that 56" radius is what it takes.

Do you have a 56" radius on your layout?

Hi Dee: I operate my Rapido,

Hi Dee:

I operate my Rapido, RDC-3 and Walthers,, Amtrak superliners on 26" radius curves for wyes and balloon tracks and 30" radius mainline curves very reliably. When looking on the inside of a curve even with 85' passenger cars, coupled, modelers don't notice the extreme sharpness of a curve.

When you come right down to it if we tried to build small railroads like the prototype and used their curve radius none of us would have room to accommodate them.

Sharp curves on model railroads are fine if the equipment runs smooth through them.

Barry

Hello Barry,Good to know. It

Hello Barry,

Good to know. It does look much better on the radius when looking the scene close to ground level especially on the inside of the curve.

I often wondered the space required to have a track plan more prototypical and the upkeep of such track length.

Prototype curves are mostly enormous

Chasing the prototype - at least for big railroads such as Class I's - is pretty tough for modeling. On the C&O in my area, there was a very sharp curve at Gordonsville, which necessitated a slow order of around 20mph. This curve translates to about 52" radius in HO. Most of the other curves are much, much bigger. I can't even imagine how big the curves must be on the NEC, where they run 100mph faster...

I can only dream of such a

I did in one place on my last layout.

John Armstrong knowing that really broad curves were difficult to include on home layouts recommened including at least one cosmetic curve.  This 56" curve was my effort at a cosmetic curve on my last layout.

The layout I am working on now has minimum 32" curves and will have some in the 34 to 42" radius range.  I have one spot where I can include something larger.

Jim, I do like the idea of a

Jim,

I do like the idea of a cosmetic curve for a stretch on a future layout.

Thanks for sharing!

CandoFan, I'm not familiar

CandoFan,

I'm not familiar with what "Class" means so I'll look it up.

Class

     Hi D,  Railroad "class" was based on haiving a certain revenue level per year. The amount changed as inflation changed the value of the dollar.    As for the 42 inch curves , I think they are pretty generous for HO scale, for comparison my new S scale layout uses 46 inch radius on the main line....DaveB

Thanks DaveB, Always

Thanks DaveB,

Always something new to learn in this hobby.

Curves

I knew a guy who had a layout with no real curves other than turnouts, it went down alongside a 50 foot room and had a sweeping curve along about 25 feet that maybe the center swung out 3 inches at the most. Nobody could figure out how broad that was, but it was insanely broad for any layout.

He loved not mentioning that fact and would wait for the inevitable argument on who had the broadest curves. It never failed that someone would say no layout has accurate curves to which he's say his did, broader than most mainlines. he even won some beers on bets over it as he always carried photos with him.

He passed several years ago and the layout is probably at the bottom of a landfill now but I never forgot it.

Class I railroads

Sorry, Class is an artifact of American railroading. Class I's ("class ones") are the ones that most of us know - Union Pacific, Conrail, Canadian Pacific, etc. Back earlier in the 20th century Leigh Valley, Western Pacific, Central of Georgia, etc were all Class I's - big railroads. As others said, literally over a million dollars revenue per year or thereabouts, in (say) 1950 dollars.

Smaller roads are Class II's - today we often call them regional railroads.

Tiny ones were/are Class III's. A typical weedy pair of rails that wind through the brush or forest for a few miles, trod once or twice a week probably belongs to a Class III short line.

A big Class I railroad like Santa Fe or Pennsylvannia ran big, fast trains that needed wide curves. Little Class IIIs like logging roads that twisted up a mountainside had far sharper curves.

Dee attached are some photos

Dee attached are some photos of both Amtrak and an RDC on my 26-28", radius wye curves.

Barry

CandOfan, Very informative.

CandOfan,

Very informative. Thank you.

Now that is one broad curve,

Now that is one broad curve, LEE.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for showing me your

Thanks for showing me your curves Barry.

Your first image is upside down so I fixed it:

Dee, thanks for "righting the

Dee, thanks for "righting the wrong" position. 

I may have shot that with the camera (phone) in the wrong position.

Barry

My pleasure Barry. 

My pleasure Barry.