Minimum Radius

I'm thinking of building a small logging scene on a hanging peninsula section, and I am wondering if I can put a return loop at one end,...perhaps as little as 14-16 inches radius.

I've got a variety of nice loggers I'd like to run (continuously) on a compact logging track 'loop'

Locos in question?

Dear Brian,

Which specific locos (make, model, and era/production-run) did you have in mind/on the roster?

FWIW:
- The B'mann Class B Climax is factory-rated for 18" radii,
can do 15" stock,
and has been reported as capable of 12" with modifications

- The B'mann Class C Shay is factory-rated for 18" radii,
and has been reported as capable of 12" if converted to a Class B 2-trucker.
(BVM did an On30 2-trucker conversion kit some years ago, providing the proving ground for this one).

- The B'mann 45-tonner (honorary geared logging loco, those siderods...) is factory-rated for 18" radii,
and has been reported as capable of 10".

If you're got 15" radii capability, then you should have enough elbow room for most common HO RTR offerings, providing your track-laying, loco and rollingstock configs, and coupler operation is tuned to perfection...

For reference, read and heed, particularly the intro on Page 1.

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

6" Radius Reported....WOW

On another forum got this report...

Minimum RADIUS

I sometimes have to ask myself if my mind is still working. i had posted this....

That upper peninsula (if constructed) would certainly not be any wider than the lower one,...thus 24" or less in WIDTH. 

That would require a radius loop of 12" or less,...or likely 10"

For reference, read and heed,

Thanks for that excellent reference Prof Klyzir

How about a shuttle?

It can be done. I decided the hassle isn’t worth it.

If you have the time, money and energy to engineer a really sharp radius track then it is possible. I winged it when I built the branch line on my layout. It ended up about 12” radius and 7% grade. It looked like real life industrial trackage. It operated too, to realistically. Every trip was an adventure and the 0-6-0 could only push 2 cars up the hill each trip. 

When I decided that this branch would be extended to serve the power plant then it was overwhelming to get the traffic over it. I installed WS foam risers and 15” sectional track. Now it’s 15” radius and about 5% grade. Still pushing it but close enough to standards that I don’t have to modify everything to run on it. I run a Mantua 2-6-6-2 over it now. It pulls about 8 cars up the grade. 

In your example of 6” radius picture you can see that the middle drivers were modified to be ‘blind’ (flangeless). That’s the type of reengineering it takes to operate reliably on extra sharp curves. 

Interesting First Hand Experience

Mantua articulated loggers

 I also have a really nice Toby brass one that I would hope might make this radius.

Brass aint Plastic

Brass, not as tight

I kind of figured that.

Toby version, brass

I have a Toby version and I am interested in its minimum radius capability due to the limited width of my central peninsula. Otherwise it will become a display loco as soon as I drag it out of storage.

Meanwhile I was cruising thru some old CD disc of mine and found this photo of that loco Joe pictured above,..

Why a circuit?

Re: why a circuit

Hi Brian,

to have a look at at what might be possible scroll down at  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/new-mrh-column-idea-freelancers-column-12198883 to see some of my photos of Leigh Creek. The Shay on the wharf in the 3rd photo was on an automatic shuttle circuit. Periodically it would go hide behind some scenery then re-emerge later onto the wharf. 

Point-to Point trips don't have to be automatic, they can be manually driven and can be "challenging" especially if grades are involved. For industrial trackage like logging lines where loads are at "maximum" and speeds are low, they can also take some time to get from Point 1 to Point 2. Even if Point 1 and Point 2 aren't that far apart physically on your layout.

For your consideration,

Keep talking

Keep talking,..you just may talk me into such a thing.

I really have no idea at this point about exactly what track plan I have/had in mind,...just that it would show off my limited but fairly nice selection of logging locos, and I recall from a long time ago a fellow that built compact little mountainous scene with some logging locos running around it continuously,...but there were some loops involved there. (I may even have some photos of that locked away on some old CD disc)

Now that In think of it he may have had a pt-to-pt arrangement.
 

At the moment this is not at the top of my mine, as I have yet to figure out a lot of my final dbl-deck arrangements.

Sounds prime for....

Logging Cars

I think I have some of these?

Its going to be like Christmas when I finally get to the point of unloading my storage trailer and putting some of it under the decks of my layout in the shed. (wonder if I'm going to have room for all that 'stuff' I've collected over the years)

Ref material

I likely have that issue, its

I likely have that issue, its a question of finding it.

At one point in my re-entry into the hobby i would buy up LOTS of old issues of Model Railroader mag, then proceed to cut out lots of articles, photos, etc to be filed away into manila folders by categories.

I still have a ton of cutouts that need to be reviewed and filed away,.....paper days before I became computer lit (and thats another 'question',...my computer literacy).

LOTS of excellent things in those old mags

GREAT Sigh of revief today

Yesterday (Sunday) I spent the day looking for my brass logging locos. I had  saved most of my 'upscale' locos in a HD footlocker and a HD special locking box used to ship valuable big film cameras. i had raided these boxes once before and pulled some of these items out to several indoor storage locations.

I could not find that one particular Toby 2-6-6-2 brass one, and I was sure I had NOT sold it off along with a number of brass locos I DID sell off when I was considering relocating  to Thailand full time. I looked and relooked and could not find it. I was just about resigned to the fact that I may have lost it, or sold it.

So this morning I decided to have one more look around the cargo trailer. WOW! I found it,...along with another brass Climax one.     great sigh of relief.

Book & Kits

Along with that loco find I also found several other items.
1) I found a GREAT book I had saved, "The Locomotive Portraits, vol3" by Kinsey,...including 41 superb photos of the logging industry's steam locomotives, historical essays by John Labbs on each loco, and the logging operation(s) it served,...with excerpts from conversations with some of the old time engineers, firemen, and brakemen.

2) Surprise,...just when I began to think it would be nice to have some timber structures/industry,....I found two of Walther's unbuilt kits of their 'Trees & Trains' series,...the Saw Mill. etc ( I knew I had saved lots of their kits, but never realized I had that one).

Great Reviews for that Book

That book I mentioned got some GREAT reviews....

Metal Beam Backbone

Yesterday I was visiting my metal scrap yard and noticed a new piece of that 'sign post' metal beam I've utilized on other portions of my 'metal benchwork'. My thoughts turned back to this logging train trackage I had been contemplating down an elevated strip over my central peninsula.

Could this beam be the backbone rib of that logging trackage? In other words it would exist strictly as a stiff backbone of approx 8-9 foot of length. Various pieces of 1-2" thick foam attached to this backbone would provide for the scenery and roadbed all along this length. The backbone might well be attached to the ceiling beams of the shed via 2 long all-thread rods, so no support structure required from the bottom. And these rods can be placed such that the ceiling fan is still usable. 

Logging Interchange vs Logging Tracks

Even though both of these 'scenes' are interconnected, they both require individual design attention, particularly as related to the logging tracks servicing the lumber mill.