My friend is considering buying a 2023 Visionline Big Boy for his layout, but his outer O-72 loop has a portion that has about 2.75" clearance from the centre rail, from his town scene raised up on 2" foam board. A scale MTH S1 6-4-4-6 clears it with a bit to spare, but that isn't articulated of course. Any idea if the Big Boy would clear?
I could also cut a groove into the "wall" under the town for the deck of the Big Boy, but I'd prefer not to of course.
Thanks!
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Since I have the 2014 Vision Line Big Boy and I'm pretty sure the mechanical design is identical, I can say it almost surely will not clear 2.75" from the center rail. Mine needs 3.0" from the center rail clearance, and the MTH Premier Big Boy needs almost 3.25" from the center rail.
I use this for my original Lionel big boy on 072 curves. It’s 3-3/16 from the center rail. The screw is over the center rail. I got this tip from the late Jim Barrett.
I like the idea of a rolling ruler, very slick. 
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Since I have the 2014 Vision Line Big Boy and I'm pretty sure the mechanical design is identical, I can say it almost surely will not clear 2.75" from the center rail. Mine needs 3.0" from the center rail clearance, and the MTH Premier Big Boy needs almost 3.25" from the center rail.
Would you be able to measure the height from the railhead to the lowest point on the front edge of the boiler, i.e. the point that would first contact anything like the steampipe to the front cylinders? This is his Lionmaster Challenger from an earlier post just as a sample, and if you look close, the steam pipe can almost clear the top of the trolley track (if the trolley wasn't running, of course), so if the Visionline is slightly taller in that spot, then it may fit. I know I'm grasping at straws here lol, but I'm just trying to help my buddy out. I could also raise that track up with another layer of cork, but it's ready for ballast at this point.
From the top of the rail to the bottom of the cylinder is 3/8", to the thing that hits first, the edge of the pilot, it's almost 7/8".
I would suggest before any large purchase that you actually get your hands on one of the big boys and check clearances yourself, don't count on guesses.
We picked it up on Saturday and brought it straight to our local club to try it out, and he was very impressed. I tried it out on his layout today, and it fits (height wise) with room to spare! Though the trolley can't run at the same time since they could contact in one spot, it saves me from having to raise the track the locomotive is on. Also being able to run it off of my phone is very handy to check clearances.
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