I'll admit I've been leaning on the excursion traffic card to justify my A3 and D11, which particularly in the case of the A3 I thought was a little too fantastic. (But she was a present from my parents when I was a kid, so I was always going to find an excuse to run her)
Then I was browsing pictures posted online by Paul Johnson and came across these two delightful images.
C1 in Norfolk
B12 with Pullman Train at Sheringham!
I mean, the first seemed unlikely, the second even more so.....so my thought is, that if a C1 was sent in 1923, is truly implausible that an A3 might be sent in 1938 and given both J11 and D9's were sent in 1936/7, is it completely implausible that a A5 might have been tried out at a shed located at a station that was after all, never actually built in the first place!
I must admit I'm tempted
It also makes me wish I'd picked up a Bachmann C1 when they were still in production
This is the concern though and thank you for making the test and letting me know the results. Sounds like she would have no problem on the majority of my layout, but there is one piece of bad trackwork where the R2 curve transitions to a straight that I know I need to replacing at some point because it has a small but noticeable kink (its ballasted or it would be out already) and unfortunately it is on the main running line so all my locos end up crossing it.Hatfield Shed wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 1:11 pm I have now, and it is second radius plain track curve capable. But it is on the limit, won't tolerate any deviation from a smooth curve, no doglegs or bumps of any sort, and a reverse curve formed of two R2 pieces directly connected is liable to have it off the rails.
But the standard set track point with its R2 substitution radius is no go, carrying wheels fall off and the coupled wheels are tight on the main curved element, which of course is necessarily less than R2, because there are two straight sections in the curved road.
None of this is to do with the flanges, put deeper flanged wheelsets on and it will still derail: and there will be a further problem in that the bogie wheel flanges may well contact the front platform underside.
If I do go for the A5, it sounds like I'll need to bite the bullet and make that correction sooner rather than latter.
Jim de Griz