[modeleng] Re: Tight bends, and steep grades

Remember a little railway called the Cromford and High Peak Railway? Most of 
their inclines were rope worked but they did have one, the Hopton Incline 
that was adhesion worked. Not a little incline and there are many pictures 
around of little tank engines being flogged up a 1 in 14 bank, complete with 
2 or 3 wagons full of Grycers, (spotters) and no continous brake..... What 
would H&S think of that today???
As for the load, 3 adults up a 1 in 24, me thinks someone needs to lose a 
couple of pounds, tell your passengers gently, they are still blaming the 
poor engine!!

Dave.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "R.L. Roebuck" <rlr20@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 6:46 PM
Subject: [modeleng] Tight bends, and steep grades


> Hi there Dennis,
> Had you tried using dissimilar rails to try and help with the wheel
> slipping on the bends (say steel on the outside rail and brass on the
> inside rail on the bends, so there's more grip on the steel side, and the
> wheel on the brass side can slip more easily)?
>
> I know that some people arrange to have one wheel loose on each to
> help with going round bends - though the purist attitude to that is that
> the wheels won't track properly on the track and will rely on the
> flanges, though I'm not sure for the low speeds encounted on a line with
> tight bends you would see any difference as long as your flanges
> are nice and rounded.
>
> I have heard of flange oiling devices on some locomotives in full (narrow
> gauge) size, but I have a sneaky feeling that for our sizes of kit, we'd
> end up with rails covered in oil, and loco's with wheels spinning, and
> going nowhere (except perhaps sliding back down your 1 in 24).
>
> On the subject of gradient, I think there is limit for lines that operate
> for the public. We visited the Teffi Valley Railway about 7 years ago.
> They're a 2 foot gauge line near Cardigan, but had laid a 7.25" gauge line
> also. They'd fallen foul of the rules, because someone had come for an
> official inspection of something relating to the 2 foot gauge line, but
> whilst there had taken a bit too much interest in the 7.25" gauge line.
> Anyway, the long and the short of it was that they were having to relay it
> because it was considered too much of a gradient for safe operation
> (perhaps should there be a runaway vehicle?).
>
> I know of at least one person out there who knows of a long stretch of
> 7.25" gauge track that was laid to get loco's in and out of their
> establishment which might even beat your gradient Dennis, but in their
> case, they don't use it as part of the passenger hauling route - I'll
> leave them to comment (or not) incase they'd rather not draw undue
> attention to it.
>
> Yours,
>
> Rich.
>
>
>
> On Wed, 17 Sep 2008, Dennis Rayner wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>    I have been modestly extending my space-challenged 5" / 7¼" gauge 
>> garden
>> railway. Just completed 25 feet of 1 in 24 approached off of 180 degrees 
>> of
>> 12½ feet radius curve (with 0.125" gauge widening). Rolling stock is 7¼"
>> gauge bogie with 10" wheel centres apart from the 5" gauge 4 - wheel loco
>> which has a a 14" wheelbase.
>>
>>    I have quoted all these figures because I was surprised to find the
>> extent to which this modest train strained its way around the curves but
>> romped away up the gradient and wondered if other members find this
>> surprising? (Load was 3 adults)
>>
>>    I might have to try to squeeze a bit more omph out of my Sinclair C5
>> motor.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST.
>>
>> To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to,
>> modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject 
>> line.
>>
> MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST.
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to,
> modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject 
> line. 

MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST.

To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, 
modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Other related posts: