I am new to the G gauge trains and would like to know what the minimum turn would be for the largest Locos and passenger cars. I have limited space but a huge interest in being able to run many different things and really dont want to be limited. Also would like to know if there are any G scale clubs on Long Island, New York? Thanks in advance for your help.
James Lauricella
Welcome James, the general thought around here is 10’ diameter (5’ radius) but if you go bigger your rolling stock will look better
welcome aboard James. And, yes 10’ diameter will handle most all the current rolling stock and locos,but there may be a few that may be problematic even at that size. So always check the manufacturers sites for minimum track size for each item.
Dave
Welcome James,
Absolute minimum in my opinion would be 8’ diameter (4’ radius) MY Amfleet cars don’t look too awful bad on a 9’ diameter I have but bigger is always better.
The largest locos take 16’ diameter… USA Big Boy…
Don’t go under 10’ diameter, even then the SD70 and the Dash-9 diesels will tend to throw a coupled car off the rail.
If you have the space go as big as you can, besides “just making it”, you need to consider reliability… the broader the curves, the more and longer trains you can run.
Regards, Greg