newbie in 7mm

[madknotter]

Hi people, I am looking to move into 7mm standard gauge the room I have available is 16ft in a straight line (loft) or 14x9 in a shed , it will only be tank type locos possibly a small tender 4f size. I will only be using 3 linc couplings ie problems on sharp curves, has any one got any thoughts. look forward to hearing from you

[Poggy1165]

Hi people, I am looking to move into 7mm standard gauge the room I have available is 16ft in a straight line (loft) or 14x9 in a shed , it will only be tank type locos possibly a small tender 4f size. I will only be using 3 linc couplings ie problems on sharp curves, has any one got any thoughts. look forward to hearing from you

 

 

Welcome to the club!

 

The Gauge O Guild recommends nothing below 6ft radius, but you can get away with 5ft 6 inches or even 5ft at a pinch. Most of my engines go round 5ft curves no problem, and propelling wagons with 3 link couplings is also generally no problem. Main problems that do arise stem from having a mixture of very heavy (whitemetal) and very light (Slaters plastic wagons) or from having excess slop in the axles. I think smaller engines could probably get round even tighter curves but I suspect propelling would then give you hassle.

 

If you go for a straight layout with no curves below 6ft you should have no real problems even if you run Beyer Garretts.

 

One of the issues with 32mm finescale is that there is a lot of 'slop' in the standards, and if you plan to build your own track there is a case for reducing the gauge to 31.5mm. The arguments for and against this have been extensively rehearsed.

 

I have got into the habit of springing or compensating my wagons, but it isn't really necessary. I would suggest that functioning sprung buffers do help a little where curves are tight and propelling moves are made, but again, I'm not convinced it's strictly necessary.

 

You might be best served by laying out a few sidings (without ballast or point motors) and just try out what you can and can't do with the engines you've got.

[madknotter]

Thanks for that, I have tried your idea of testing and I can get away with 4 1/2 foot radius but instead of doing a U shaped layout where I think the long curve will just look silly I will be going with an L shape. The fiddle yard only needs to be 4 1/2 foot long , so the curve can be 4 1/2 and the straight section with the station etc will be 10 1/2. Now just need to work out how to cram it all in. I am trying to do a shortened version of Newcastle Emlyn or Aberayron.

[madknotter]

Oops forgot to say the shed is 15x9 not 14x9 and it is cool in the summer and warm in the winter (central heating) , the loft is ok but dusty and very very hot in the summer.

[madknotter]

Just thought I would ask in case anyone has done the hard work for me, I am wanting to build Newcastle Emlyn or Aberayron in O gauge. I realise I will have to shorten them but modelling is always about compramise. the room available is 15x9 so I am looking at an L shape with the fiddle yard beeing 4 1/2 feet. This is my first try at O gauge so a bit unsure of what will work and what wont. Any help or thoughts would be great

[Poggy1165]

I think if you stick to the sort of engines that would really have travelled up those branches, you'll be fine.

 

The difficulty might come with propelling an autocoach, but only trial and error will establish that. My GCR 12 wheeler propels round 5ft curves OK, but it does have working sprung buffers with large oval heads. If all else fails some sort of fixed, rigid coupling will likely do the trick. Or you can try gauge widening.

[Adrian]

Have you seen the Guild small layout plans book? It's a free download from the website and has plenty of plans showing what's feasible, including a couple of L shaped plans.

 

http://www.gauge0gui...ayouts_1-02.pdf

 

Adrian

[madknotter]

Thanks for that, I have read it before, but I think it is a bit dated now. I have spent the morning testing the curves, and very quickly realised what I thought was a nice gentle curve is in fact very near the limit, and some time in the future I would like a Deans goods and I now realise that it is just not going to work. So time for a major rethink.Newcastle Emlyn is a no way and Aberayron will still be compressed too much. So I think I wont worry about a prototype just try and make something interesting to play with (can I use the word play).So if anyone has some ideas, using peco track, the fiddle yard can be 4ft which leaves 11ft to muck about with, and I would rather not go wider than 2ft as I already have the boards. A feeling of GWR and countryside is my favourite. Looking forward to some brilliant ideas.

[madknotter]

I have spent the morning testing the curves, and very quickly realised what I thought was a nice gentle curve is in fact very near the limit, and some time in the future I would like a Deans goods and I now realise that it is just not going to work. So time for a major rethink.Newcastle Emlyn is a no way and Aberayron will still be compressed too much. So I think I wont worry about a prototype just try and make something interesting to play with (can I use the word play).So if anyone has some ideas, using peco track, the fiddle yard can be 4ft which leaves 11ft to muck about with, and I would rather not go wider than 2ft as I already have the boards. A feeling of GWR and countryside is my favourite. Looking forward to some brilliant ideas.

[richard_t]

I have spent the morning testing the curves, and very quickly realised what I thought was a nice gentle curve is in fact very near the limit, and some time in the future I would like a Deans goods and I now realise that it is just not going to work. So time for a major rethink.Newcastle Emlyn is a no way and Aberayron will still be compressed too much. So I think I wont worry about a prototype just try and make something interesting to play with (can I use the word play).So if anyone has some ideas, using peco track, the fiddle yard can be 4ft which leaves 11ft to muck about with, and I would rather not go wider than 2ft as I already have the boards. A feeling of GWR and countryside is my favourite. Looking forward to some brilliant ideas.

 

 

You could try looking in the Guild's Small Layout plans for ideas. The 2nd edition you have to pay for the printed version, but the first edition is available as a PDF download: here.

[mikeg]

I have used 5ft curves and have several 0-6-0T and tender engines that will go round them if not driven to fast, the only thing with tender engines is the drawbar needs to be over scale length to allow for the curves or made to stretch with a spring, not good with a heavy train, but for a small layout and short trains OK, I run three/four coaches and upto 12 wagons with no trouble except buffer locking when trying to push trough reverse curves of two x'overs. A friend had a layout with 4ft 6in curves and got 4-6-0's round them with no trouble so it can be done. My loft is 11ft wide at layout level so 5ft was the max to allow for one outside track and the curve round, your 9ft would mean 4ft 9in radius which could be OK for an 0-6-0 loco so long as you have sideplay on the leading and centre wheels the rear being driven and unlikely to allow any sideplay. The lima 4F will go round 3ft radius but it does look very toy like and some of the US O will go round 2ft 6in so I think it would be worth trying the U shape for your layout, station one side, fiddle yard the other.

 

hope this helps your progress

 

mike g

[Mod5]

This now merged with O gauge will it fit to prevent duplication of threads and answers.

[F-UnitMad]

... I think I wont worry about a prototype just try and make something interesting to play with (can I use the word play).So if anyone has some ideas, using peco track, the fiddle yard can be 4ft which leaves 11ft to muck about with,

If you haven't found it already you might like to see my thread here on my small O scale layout Withyn Reach. With a 6ft scenic section it might give you some ideas about what you can fit into 11ft, and you'll see what a 4ft fiddleyard looks like, too.

 

The word "play" is absolutely fine by me...!!!

[madknotter]

Nice looking layout, and love your fiddle yard, I might be pinching some ideas from that. I am still mucking about with the curves, not giving up yet.

[madknotter]

This is my cunning plan based very loosely on Aberayron, that is a double slip leading to the cattle dock and coal staithes, does anyone see any obvious mistakes as I would rather know now than when its too late.