G3 track minimum radius

[Dave_P]

I am a retired engineer and chairman of a Men's Shed which is a community woodwork shop
I little experience of model railways but what I would like to do as a group project is to build a G3 track at high level (running between the trusses of our workshop as a series of bridges each models on a different iconic bridge.
The total track would be about 100ft but as the workshop is only 15' wide and the 4-6-0 loco has drive wheels at 4" centres, do you think it will go round a 180 degree loop.
I should also mention that I am planning on driving the loco using a motor/gearbox from a cordless drill with an 18v drill battery in the tender. Our electronics guys are proposing to use an Arduino controller for speed control by reading trackside barcodes so it will slow for the curves. We are also proposing to use hardwood rails which being overhead will never be seen.
Any comments gratefully received.
Dave

[cabbage]

Without knowing how your locomotive is put together the answer is probably no... However there is a help page

www.gauge3.info/wiki/index.php?n=Main.DesignParameters

There you will find the tables for loco length, axle side play, articulation. With an 4-6-0 the 200mm fixed length would never work - you will need to make design choices.

The tightest curves on my layout are 3.3metres radius.

We wrote to G3WIKI to help, read and study!

Regards

Ralph

[cabbage]

Ok after some Rhodesia Rails style coffee... Your best bet would be to build something like a B0-B0 traction loco. This would give you the best cornering ability with the easiest construction. I would suggest that you stick to commercial Steel/Brass rail, although there is a company called Sunset Valley that offer plastic track (?)

A standard 12V sealed lead acid battery of around 4.5Ah will supply all of your needs. Only one of my EMUs needs 18volts but that is due to the length, number of motors (one per axle) and buss bar cable lengths(!)

Welcome to the world of G3. It is a strange mix of mechanical engineering and modelling. The G3Wiki should give you a helping hand.

Regards

Ralph

[AshleyW]

my track is 15' wide but only loco's like 14xx or jinty's will go around. if the 4-6-0 is a b12 without cylinders and a biggish gap between loco and tender that will go around too. of course if the loco has plenty slop between wheel backs and frames that can help too. youre welcome to try the loco on my track before starting, but if you have rail, gues syou can do that yourself.
another aspect is when people talk about radius- it's very easy to have tighter spots and free-er spots, it's more important to pre- bend the rail with a rail bender and get a perfect true curve, as if the loco sits on the track and can move it will be able to continue doing so, but tight spots may de-rail it. what is your 4-6-0 ?
we are also assuming you are talking gauge 3 here, but lets double check too in case you have g scale such as bachmann american loco?

[cabbage]

I have to agree with Ashley. For a 2.25m radius really only 2-B0 or  B0-2 or 2-B0-2 or B0-B0 locos would be able to take that sort of curve. But to give you more advise we really need to see a picture of your loco.

Regards

Ralph

PS I am in Derby.