Weekend Update 4/5/26

[trainforfun]

Has anybody tried tilting the track to the outside on a helix?

My helix have radius of 17 1/2" and 19" ( double track ) , the slope is around 2% , the tracks are flat no tilt , I am running a 74 hopper cars with 6 locomotives up front , no derailment and not a car is lifting .
Fun fact I add a car to this train every year for my birthday !!! Hope to go up to 100 one day ....

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What is the radius and the slope of your helix ?

It's not mine, it's @DeltaBravo 's . I'm using it for testing purposes.

I think it's 15 and 16 3/8" radii (it's the Kato stuff).

I'm not sure the grade either.

That said, I bet I could've run plenty of hoppers up and down it. I was running this test train specifically to see how those 86' auto parts cars behaved under seriously demanding conditions.

The answer was: surprisingly well, but there were some limitations.

I'm planning on accounting for those on the "big plan".

[randgust]

The only thing scarier that watching those model wheels lift on the video is being on a real train when that happens.

I remember riding on the Gettysburg RR, in the John Marino years, on that god-awful autorack with school bus seats on it.

They hit a section of low-joints at 'just the right' harmonic speed, I was on the upper level, pretty much by myself, on those bus seats.   It was rocking so hard I slid over into center aisle and landed on the floor.   I realized the banging underneath the car was not just hitting the side bearings, but the wheels banging up off the rail head and hitting down again.....  that was enough for me, I immediately retreated back to a coach.
Earlier shot, but this is the car:  https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img941.jpg
Carry on....

[Point353]

The only thing scarier that watching those model wheels lift on the video is being on a real train when that happens.

I remember riding on the Gettysburg RR, in the John Marino years, on that god-awful autorack with school bus seats on it.

They hit a section of low-joints at 'just the right' harmonic speed, I was on the upper level, pretty much by myself, on those bus seats.   It was rocking so hard I slid over into center aisle and landed on the floor.   I realized the banging underneath the car was not just hitting the side bearings, but the wheels banging up off the rail head and hitting down again.....  that was enough for me, I immediately retreated back to a coach.
Earlier shot, but this is the car:  https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img941.jpg
Carry on....

At least you missed the boiler explosion.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

At least you missed the boiler explosion.

That engine died so that others live. And by others, I mean both locomotives and people.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The only thing scarier that watching those model wheels lift on the video is being on a real train when that happens.

I remember riding on the Gettysburg RR, in the John Marino years, on that god-awful autorack with school bus seats on it.

They hit a section of low-joints at 'just the right' harmonic speed, I was on the upper level, pretty much by myself, on those bus seats.   It was rocking so hard I slid over into center aisle and landed on the floor.   I realized the banging underneath the car was not just hitting the side bearings, but the wheels banging up off the rail head and hitting down again.....  that was enough for me, I immediately retreated back to a coach.
Earlier shot, but this is the car:  https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img941.jpg
Carry on....

Yikes.

[davefoxx]

The only thing scarier that watching those model wheels lift on the video is being on a real train when that happens.

I remember riding on the Gettysburg RR, in the John Marino years, on that god-awful autorack with school bus seats on it.

They hit a section of low-joints at 'just the right' harmonic speed, I was on the upper level, pretty much by myself, on those bus seats.   It was rocking so hard I slid over into center aisle and landed on the floor.   I realized the banging underneath the car was not just hitting the side bearings, but the wheels banging up off the rail head and hitting down again.....  that was enough for me, I immediately retreated back to a coach.
Earlier shot, but this is the car:  https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img941.jpg
Carry on....

That reminds me of a trip on a MARC commuter train northbound on the NEC out of D.C. almost twenty-five years ago.  It was a MARC double-decker car that started experiencing some serious harmonic side-to-side motion, which was concerning.  The only thing I can imagine as the cause was that it was the last car on the train.  Probably the first time that I was happy to get off a train when we reached our stop in Odenton.

DFF

[chuck geiger]

[sschnabl]

We're not worthy...

[bbunge]

The only thing scarier that watching those model wheels lift on the video is being on a real train when that happens.

I remember riding on the Gettysburg RR, in the John Marino years, on that god-awful autorack with school bus seats on it.

They hit a section of low-joints at 'just the right' harmonic speed, I was on the upper level, pretty much by myself, on those bus seats.   It was rocking so hard I slid over into center aisle and landed on the floor.   I realized the banging underneath the car was not just hitting the side bearings, but the wheels banging up off the rail head and hitting down again.....  that was enough for me, I immediately retreated back to a coach.
Earlier shot, but this is the car:  https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img941.jpg
Carry on....

That car was really something.  The noise was, well, really, really loud.  I sent the wife back to a coach, but being who I was at the time, I wandered up to the top level so I was eye level to the top of the boiler of the locomotive, which was pushing the train at the time.  The locomotive just seemed to be in very poor condition with smoke puffing out between the door and the boiler front with every stroke, something I've never experience before or since. 

I was glad to get off that train and never went back.  And wasn't surprised later...

[DeltaBravo]

So, what's the radius on that helix?

  It has been up for years but I think it is 18" .

[John]

  It has been up for years but I think it is 18" .

Kato N 20-181 Unitrack Concrete Tie Double Track Superelevated Curves 45 Degrees Radius 414mm/381mm 19"/15"   ????