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There are a couple of curves on my layout that are there just for fun. A way to show off the locos and carriages as they negotiate the curves. Most of the mainline has straight stretches and nice gentle curves, but there is one siding that starts on a curve and as the siding has it's own bend in it, the compound curve creates a S-curve. This does have implications for the rolling stock.
On some locos I have added short Kadee couplings to give a close coupled look. This is fine on the mainline, but creates issues on these S-curves. My Bachmann Class 20s that are set up as a consist had #18 Kadee couplings which give a very prototypical close-coupled look..
Here is the track:
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On the mainline, there are no problems:
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The problem on the siding (indicated by the arrow), is when the buffers overlap due to the tight S-curve and close coupled rolling stock. This leads to a derailment a couple of inches further on:
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The easiest solution is to change the couplings. I have switched the #18 Kadees to slightly longer #20 Kadees on the class 20s and this has solved the problem and the extra distance between the two locos is hardly noticeable on the straight:
![]()
This is a nice feature of the Kadees. We can switch them around very easily and adapt the coupling to the item of rolling stock and the track that it is running on.
Another solution is not to have tight S-curves, but when the train winds it's way through the bends it look great.
On model railway layouts we try and compress reality, but this often leads to problems so the idea is to compromise and that's the essence of it all. Manage the compromises as best as possible, but have fun and run those trains!
On some locos I have added short Kadee couplings to give a close coupled look. This is fine on the mainline, but creates issues on these S-curves. My Bachmann Class 20s that are set up as a consist had #18 Kadee couplings which give a very prototypical close-coupled look..
Here is the track:
On the mainline, there are no problems:
The problem on the siding (indicated by the arrow), is when the buffers overlap due to the tight S-curve and close coupled rolling stock. This leads to a derailment a couple of inches further on:
The easiest solution is to change the couplings. I have switched the #18 Kadees to slightly longer #20 Kadees on the class 20s and this has solved the problem and the extra distance between the two locos is hardly noticeable on the straight:
This is a nice feature of the Kadees. We can switch them around very easily and adapt the coupling to the item of rolling stock and the track that it is running on.
Another solution is not to have tight S-curves, but when the train winds it's way through the bends it look great.
On model railway layouts we try and compress reality, but this often leads to problems so the idea is to compromise and that's the essence of it all. Manage the compromises as best as possible, but have fun and run those trains!
