Peco wagons, a Farish 04 and Tomix Mini Rail?

[Skinnylinny]

Hi,

 

I've recently moved into my new flat for uni, and have discovered in my room a rather nice shelf at 5'6" by 1'. My initial plans were to build an N-scale BLT, but since then I've become aware of the Tomix Mini Fine Rail range, including some very tight tramway curves at 103mm and 140mm radius. I was wondering if anyone had any experience of these, specifically how well Peco N gauge wagons (short-wheelbase 4-wheelers) run on the 140mm curves, and whether a Farish class 04 would negotiate them? I know the tracks are designed for short-wheelbase trams, but I would have thought sharp curves might not look so out of place in an industrial setting, with shunting happening "dead slow"?

 

Many thanks for any advice anyone can give.

 

James

[Skinnylinny]

Just an update, in case anyone else wonders about this. The 04 shunter just about runs through the curves (though there's a slightly worrying grinding noise (!)) but the 94xx shunter I have won't. Standard Rapido and Peco Elsie couplings on short-wheelbase four-wheel wagons won't couple on the curves, but will stay coupled, so for shunting, it's safer to stick to straight sidings... Also, it didn't take a massively long train to fill a 180 degree curve. Finally, the 140mm curves pretty much exactly fill a 1-foot wide baseboard.

[Etched Pixels]

A lot of the small bo-bo chassis will also handle 140mm ok. 177mm works a bit better.

 

In terms of accuracy it's too sharp for something like an 04, but some Industrial four wheel stuff would cope although I've no idea if it was done in practice. 100ft radius curves and 1 in 20 grades were found in industrial environments with four wheel wagons and four wheel locos (or the odd articulated loco).

 

I found I needed to add weight to some wagons to avoid toppling on 140mm and 177mm curves and longer ones didn't work (eg the Peco HAA wouldn't but the Minitrix are fine - except that collectormania appears to have attacked Minitrix HAA wagons so I can no longer extend the rake at a sensible price). It does limit what can be run a lot but there are interesting prototypes for a shunter and trucks plus other oddments (Wenford Bridge line, Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley etc)

 

(or indeed a BLT with a siding only through line)

 

Alan