Ted Sowirka posted:Murnane posted:the K-Line is super detailed, but doesn't like my itsy-bitsy-tiny layout tight curves like the Lionel 0-4-0s do.
Rich (Murnane) I'm curious... does the K-Line loco bind on O-27 because of a longer wheelbase? Extra drag from the traction tires?
Which "modern" locos have you found that run well on O-27? Thanks!
I haven't 100% figured out why the K-Line A5 doesn't like my small layout's tight curves, I think it might have to do with the connection bar between the engine and the tender being a little long. There are two holes on that bar, if you try to use the tight one it just can't curve enough (behaves like a longer engine, longer wheelbase, not enough pivot left-to-right) but I'm not certain why it doesn't like the longer one, for some reason I think it'd be better (give it more pivot space because the tender wouldn't bump into the engine), but haven't spent any time on it to figure out.
I can tell you that my Lionel conventional 0-4-0s (1615/1656 style) work awesome on my O27 (and sometimes tighter) curves. They also behave quite nicely with my automatic tubular switches on my workbench layout, which is a continuos "dogbone" type of layout, looks like this as it has two switches -> O_____O . I now have three of these (NYC #1665, C&O #39, and Angela Trotta Thomas #1991).
Other engines on the roster which work great on my O27 (and tighter) curves and tubular switches:
- Lionel PRR #8977 B6 (6-18000)
- Lionel "James" steamer from Thomas the Tank Engine, I call this a switcher but I guess it's not really, no front coupler,
- Lionel PRR #561 0-8-0 steamer from a RTR set
- Lionel Postwar #246 2-4-2 Scout steamer
Engines which work great on my O27 (and tighter) curves but sometimes have issues tripping my automatic switches:
- dockside switchers (both MTH and Lionel)
- K-Line Plymouth
- K-Line MP15 (somewhat older engine I recently picked up for cheap at a show)
Other engines (some not switchers) in the roster which do not like O27 (or slightly smaller) curves:
- RMT Bang which has very long couplers which don't quite have enough movement left-to-right which cause me issues, that was a surprise since the engine is small I thought it'd be a "tight curve no brainer", but it's not.
- Atlas SW900
- MTH LCT 262E: does not like O27
- MTH/RailKing Berkshire (obviously, this thing is huge)
- Williams by Bachmann GP30
Here's a link to a good forum thread which discusses some "old school" 027 friendly engines:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...-locomotives-for-027
Note: when I say "tighter than O27", my workbench dogbone layout has tubular O27 track that I've cut down a little bit to fit my workbench, so the curve ends up being more like O25.5. But.... I do have a couple other small layouts with "real" O27 curves (here and here).
