Train set on the floor!

Kato are a Japanese firm that produce a great deal of n gauge equipment that caters in the main for the home market where space is at a premium for Japanese modellers. However they have developed quite a catalogue of USA outline stock in both n and H0 scales and have done some UK both in n and 009 all at competitive prices.

This is the Kato CV1 track pack which is an oval of track which you may not think is that unusual. However, this pack is unusual!

Whereas the minimum radius n gauge track supplied by UK and most European manufacturers is 9 inches, this Kato track pack has 6 inch radius curves meaning this oval of track is just about 1 foot by 2 feet. That is small! I have a plan for it but like most of my projects will probably emerge around about the earth's next glacial age. But, in the meantime I needed to have a play so it was just like being a young lad at Christmas (only 77 days to go at the time of writing this!) with the train set on the floor!

I knew that the Kato chassis that I use for the 3D printed locos I have built would go round the curves but would anything else? Most manufacturers state that 9 inches is the minimum radius that their rolling stock will go round. Well that is not completely correct! Getting some of my USA outline stock out, most of the diesel locos would go round but given their bogie wheel configuration that was perhaps to be expected. Most of the rolling stock seemed happy enough too.

With the diesels having gone OK round the curves would a more rigid wheelbase steam loco do the same? This 2-8-0 loco had no problems.

The 4-6-2 had no problems but the lengthy coaches did! They derailed due to the couplers not having enough movement.
 

Whilst all this may seem a bit frivolous and Mrs. Woody could find better things for me to do with my time, it does prove that you can have a small layout that just about any home could accommodate. In fact Mike Potter from Budget Model Railways on YouTube proves the point with a layout he has recently built and this is the video.

It was great to see life in my USA outline stock and this has experiment has again awoken my love of the scale which means more projects whirring in my mind! Oh dear!