Large Scale Central

R1 - the problem, that can't be avoided indoors

Greg is 100% correct, I was first getting started in G scale when that whole mess between LGB and Aristocraft was going on. That being said, both my indoor and outdoor layouts are 100% LGB track and I have had zero issues with track gauge, or plastic frogs. But then my engines are LGB, with thier skates and all wheel pickup, battery or live steam. Now, a dead set of point rails will stop or stall even my dual truck 2095 as the front and rear trucks are not connected together from the factory. Back to track, I had some Aristo track at one point. I didnt like how it weathered, or lack of it, outdoors, so it didnt blend in with the LGB track, the plastic ties also felt cheap when compared to the LGB track already on hand. There were some really good pissing matches in the early days of G scale in the USA, along with whining about LGB prices, price fixing, outragious prices for the moguls ect. The early issues of Garden Railways and some of the others that came and went are very entertaining to read, and to compare to how far we have come in just a couple decades. Mike

Todd Brody said:

Looks to me that when the railcar enters the curve, the vertical “tang” rides to the outside until it puts enough pressure against the arc to force the car off the tracks.

Is it possible to cut back the tang a bit (to increase the slop) so that there is more clearance such that it puts less pressure against the arc (i.e., lets the tang ride further out) in the tight curve?

Forgive me, as I haven’t been following this topic. But I have never had any problems with hook and loop couplers when I had R1s. Are the couplers LGB or Aristo? I know the Aristo couplers that I am familiar with have a set of triangular castings on the bottom of the loop. This prevents the hook from swinging side to side too much. The LGB couplers don’t have this and they are free to swing to their hearts content, thus they don’t force the trailing truck off the rails.

Try it with double hooks… unless you have hooks that swing side to side, you can have issues.

Greg

I have been using double hooks and metal wheels for over 10 years on a back and forth train on a ledge with 2 R1 quarter circle turns and have had no problems. LGB cow engine for 11 months, Xmas train for 1 month. All equipment is 2 axle and level brass track.

I agree with Dan, double hooks were never a problem when my layout had only R1 curves.

Dan,
the hook and loops in the pics are newqida.

There’s a certain deja vu about this thread…

Some people telling of problems with double hooks

Some people swearing never a problem.

If the hooks themselves can swivel, then no problems.

If you have the kind where the hooks do not swivel, then they can interfere with each other.

The deja vu part is going through this whole “get to the real answer” again, and if I remember it right, half of the exact same players are here.

Greg