Absolute minimum track radius for OO?

[westcountryman]

Hi everyone & a very happy & peaceful new year to all RMWebbers.

 

I realise that this question has possibly been asked before, but I need to know the absolute minimum radius for Peco OO Code 100 flexible track.

I'm constructing a 4ft x 2ft potential exhibition layout to commemorate the anniversary of the first world war.

I'm in the process of coverting a Bachmann 'Gandy Dancer' 0-4-0 into an armoured Simplex loco, & it has a powered wheel base of just 2cm.

 

I have experimented with various track configurations, & 'normal' 0-4-0 loco's derail once the radius gets too severe, hence the Simplex idea.

The layout will represent the trenches & rail supply of the Ypres salient during the 1917 Battle of Passchendale, where my Grandfather served.

 

I need to have an operating continuous track, as the remainder of the layout will take the form of a diorama, hence the rail interest.

Any assistance would be very gratefully received.

 

Thanks again.

 

Rob

 

[shortliner]

The tightest commercial trackage was radius 0 (zero) found occasionally on Ebay - equivalent to about 10" - but it needs VERY short wheelbase locos and stock, rarely found with slow driving quality motors - may be best used with trams

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

With great patience, it is possible to work OO flex track down to about 10 inch radius, scale for the one chain minimum radius that SWB wagons would squeak around. You need to cut the linking webs on the inside to pack the sleepers in close enough and radial to ensure no gauge reduction. Will be easier with code 75 rail which is a lot more flexible than code 100.

 

Alternatively instead form the rail, then solder it to accurately laid out brass pinheads set in the track base.

 

Done both while attempting something similar to what you propose. The flex track was used to test basic feasibility. The soldered built up track much the quicker way to constant radius and maintained gauging in my opinion.

[edcayton]

Neil Rushby of this parish did a finescale 4mm "pizza" layout in a 2ft square some years ago. It is shown on hi web site, sorry I can't do links but I'm sure someone will.

 

Ed

[BR60103]

I managed a small street car layout on a 2'x4' board. I had a Bo electric, an 0-4-0T switcher (B&O) and a number of trams. I also used 36' Roundhouse freight cars. Tracj wasPeco code 100 as the best available in 1969.

[PatB]

An article in an old Railway Modeller (c1990 or so) on small East Anglian dock layouts suggested that a Mainline (now Bachmann) 03 would go round a 6" curve in Peco Code 100. Plenty of micro 0-16.5 layouts (00 by any other name) seem to get by quite happily well below 12".

[Il Grifone]

There was a layout article in the model press many years ago that involved 6" curves, but IIRC the track was handbuilt and some gauge widening was indulged in. On the other hand, early Peco Streamline adverts showed the track tied in a knot so the sharp curves should not be a problem.

[CloggyDog]

I've tested 16.5mm track (Peco Streamline) curved to a scale 90' radius for HO (315mm, just over 12 inches) for a future Harlem Transfer layout project - 40ft freight cars and Bo-Bo switchers will go around that.

[alfsboy]

I managed 7 inch radius  but one cranky bit even tighter .It works OK on short wheelbase and very careful loco choice .I did as an exercise in 0n30 basically but also to try 00 as a laugh .It didnt cause as many problems as it should .My main motive power in 00 was an old Hornby Percy   with a spectrum  0-6-0 saddletank chassis velcroed on (all high tech stuff )I used Kadees,but hook and loop worked as well .I tried code 75 Peco and its went down that far but laid Micro Engineering code 83 .

[great central]

At the Nottingham show a few years ago, we had a somewhat tongue in cheek, no pun intended, layout competition, called R.O.B.S railway. The premise was to build a layout for the smallest room.   Scale was left to the builder, there were a couple of N gauge ones and a couple of OO ones.

Presuming you've worked out what ROBS stands for, one builder managed to fit a figure of eight,using a custom built diamond crossing, around the rim and lid, which when closed made the layout easily transportable. An 0-4-0T and a couple of wagons were left circulating for most of the weekend with very few derailments. I think the wheelsets may have been pushed in slightly to compensate for the lack of gauge widening, but it used otherwise standard Peco code 100 track, second hand at that.

You can get some idea of the radius involved by measuring your own, ahem, facilities