[modeleng] Re: Tight bends, and steep grades

I never travelled on the C & HP but have walked/cycled all the way from 
Cromford to Parsley Hay. Cycled up and down the Hopton incline. As well as 
the steepest adhesive worked incline, the C & HP also had Gotham curve - the 
tightest radius curve on the natioanl system - 2½ chains radius. I think 
that equates to about 20' in 7¼ gauge and about 13' in 5" gauge - so I'm 
pushing it a bit.

As for telling the passengers to lose weight, one was SWMBO - be afraid - be 
VERY afraid.

I think I might play with the gearing on my loco - it goes faster than it 
needs to and I might trade some speed in for a bit more torque/TE .

My railway is strictly privatly operated so I hope to avoid any entanglement 
with officialdom.

Dennis

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Beaman" <dave.beaman@xxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:21 PM
Subject: [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.
>>>
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>
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