# track help please



## tomthetank (Sep 3, 2013)

Anyone know what the radius would be for the following? lgb #1100W, r 600 Brass curve track. i dont know what to go by as far as trying to match up on line box looks like its from the late 70's made in w germany curve track is about 12 inches long, i'm not sure if the newer lgb track is the same . This track should be able to bachmann big haulers? thanks Tom


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## redbeard (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg Elmassian operates a website with an incredible amount of information. http://www.elmassian.com 
Greg is a Long Time member here at MLS and has a link to his site in his signature as well.
The info you asked about is;
Radius is 600MM or 47.244 inches. When you can spare a good bit of time, cruise around his site and learn how to negotiate it, he has more information than you can imagine. To find "your" info I went to; 
LS Trains (drop down) 
Track & Switches (drop over)
LGB Track and Switches

Check it out! Larry And Thanks Greg!


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

That is LGB R1. The r600 is the radius in millimeters. That translates to about 4' diameter. The next size up is R2 which is LGB#1500. This is about 5' diameter.

Chuck


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Well, thanks for the really nice compliment!

Here's a direct link to the LGB track page:

http://elmassian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=328&Itemid=366

Regards, Greg


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## JerryB (Jan 2, 2008)

redbeard said:


> <snip>
> Radius is 600MM or 47.244 inches.  <snip>


600MM is 23.6", NOT 47+"

Jerry


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## tomthetank (Sep 3, 2013)

thanks for the help guys. Tom


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Tom

What are your plans for your layout? In my opinion that track is fine for occasional, Christmas tree, use. Big Haulers and short wheel base rolling stock will navigate those curves. They will not be happy campers being run on that track for a long time. There is a lot of wear on the track, wheels, motor and gears. I have a friend who runs LGB short wheel base engines and cars on that track all day every day, when he is home, he has to replace the curves every couple of years because the wheels on the engine grind down the inside of the rail head and the engine falls down in between the rails.

Use the largest curves you can for the space you have. You and your rolling stock will be happier in the long run. 

Chuck


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## tomthetank (Sep 3, 2013)

Chuck, just had some left over and wasn't sure the radius. I'm running sd70 and auto and container cars so i have the 18000 lgb. Thanks for the help ,Tom


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Tom

18000 is good!!!

If I was starting over that is what I would use. I run my SD 70 on Arisro 10' d curves. I wish I had a layout with larger curves.

Chuck

When planning a layout, think and ask about what you think, hope,you might like to run. I've been there and my layouts can't do what I would really like. The trains got larger and the track stayed the same.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

Last time I LOOKED, diameter is 2 times radius. If 600 mm radius, then 1200 is diameter. and so, that track IS about 47 inches in diameter.

Perhaps we should be more careful about radius and diameter. Smaller scales use radius. Perhaps we should too.


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

A single section of curved track has no diameter, only radius. 

Andrew


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Merely specifying diameter or radius every time with the number will work.

While technically correct Andrew, people will still use some nomenclature even if less than 1/2 circle.. and apparently diameter is defined for a chord that is 1/2 circle or more.

such fun!

Greg


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I tend to write both values, just to avoid confusion. Large scale (historically) has tended to favor "diameter" over "radius," but as more folks come from the small scales where "radius" is pretty much standard, people and posts get confused very easily. 

Of course, the manufacturers aren't helping matters much, either. At least 3 use "R#" to designate the size of their curves, but there's no consistency between them with respect to what the "#" actually means. One manufacturer's "R3" is likely going to be completely different from the next. Even there, it's easy to presume the "R" stands for "radius," but I've seen "R1 = 4' diameter" in their literature. While it may be accurate, one reading quickly may easily miss the "diameter" part, thinking "(R)adius = 4'." Other manufacturers also mix the use of diameter and radius almost interchangeably in their literature as well. Not erroneously, mind you, but something akin to "our locomotives run best on 5' radius curves, so use our wide radius (10' diameter) switches" or some such. 

Is it any wonder we get this stuff mixed up? 

Later,

K


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Having been involved in the machine trades for almost sixty years as a machinist hobbyist or as a journeyman die sinker/tool maker, I am always amused with some of the comments made about radius/diameter. In my humble experience with prints for parts to be machined, the difference between radius and diameter is VERY clear. It HAS to be so that the part is made CORRECTLY and there is NO misunderstanging as to how the part is dimensioned! A hole is dimensioned as DIAMETER. A rounded edge on a part whether plan view (face) or elevation view (side or end) is given as RADIUS. Ever see a note about 1/8" fillet radius or 1/8" corner radius? Also radii have another dimension associated with the radius and that would be the location of the center point of the radius. An exception to that would be a fillet radius TANGENT to two other rdimensioned fillet radii. Actually there are different fillet radii given on a part print. Some fillets are one size in the plan view (face) and another size in the elevation view. In fact, a machinist/tool maker will have a set of gages in his toolbox for laying out and checking these features and they are called RADIUS GAGES. Check ANY tool manufacturer and look-up Radius Gages, not DIAMETER gages . Also any feature on the part (other than a "boss" which is given as diameter) is given as RADIUS. The EXACT same thing occurs in a plan view of a track layout. The track should ALWAYS be given as RADIUS and that radius is the CENTERLINE of the track, NOT one rail or the other. Seems simple enough to me. Diameter dimensions given for turnouts from manufacturers seems very strange to me.


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

If you run the trains every single day, which in my book falls into a commercial type of use like a resturant or public display, then the largest radius should be used to avoid undo wear. That being said, most of my outdoor and my overhead indoor loop is LGB R1. The outdoor track is over a decade old with normal use, a couple evenings a week and most weekends off and on. I have seen no adverse rail or wear on my short wheelbase LGB engines. Even an old Aristocraft Alco FA1 did just fine. Granted, if you can go larger, then do so. I was constrained by space allotment. I try to keep my engines to the 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 variety or short four axle diesels. Now most of the time my layout has a German/Austrian narrow gauge theme, so the normal engines from LGB do just fine on those R1 curves. Mike


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## wpaulin (Jul 2, 2016)

Greg, I finally got here ... and am now starting to understand Track. Next I will try to figure out switches!

Bill


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

'Wide Radius 10'D switch' covers it, doubly.
John


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Trainli does state r numbers as being the radius on their switches and they have a chart comparing several manufacturers with r number and comparisons.


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