R 1 Connie

[Riograndad]

Hi everyone,It may be a stupid question,even a daft idea,but,,,,,I have the chance of super cheap Connie(Bachmann Deadwood)problem is only run the railroad on R 1 curves,,,,question is will the loco run on same,i think that 8ft is recommended,now is that due to the wheelbase,OR,to the loco tender spacing,i m not bothered about the overhangs,if it is the spacing,can be overcome.cant remember where i saw it,but someone was running K27,with tender spacing mod with no problemso hope Connie could be moded in the same way,Thanks for any feedback biggest thing i run at moment are Annies(6) _ Neil.

 

[beavercreek]

Hi Neil
The inside drivers are 'blind' (no flange) and therefore it will in theory negotiate R1s but there are two other things to consider. One you have mentioned already and that is the tender spacing. This will need to be backed off a fair bit.
The other is the pilot bogie swing. This will obviously be much more than it is intended for and, although, it should be fine, it might foul the cylinders. If it is negotiating an R1 point from the curved part there could also be a little problem.
Never seen one on R1, but if it does work, you have a great little loco.

The overhang will be large as you have already surmised.

 

[ntpntpntp]

I found I had to grind off/round off a little of the cab fall-plate to ensure it didn`t catch on the tender on R3 reverse curves (it caught on the brake wheel stand and the simulated coal load IIRC).  on R1 it will be a real problem unless you modify things to allow for for a really wide loco-tender spacing - probably end up being too wide for the fall plate so you`d have to leave that off.

Another problem with the Connie is the tender bogie frames have been known to come apart if put under too much strain such as tight curves.  This is due to the screws being too short, and fortunately is easy enough to remedy with longer screws.

The loco is quite wide, the overhang at the front will be really excessive on R1!
<edit> Found this old photo of my Connie`s overhang on R3 curves </edit>

 

[funandtrains]

Mine even had problems with some R3 as if the track is twisted the wrong way it comes off.

 

[vsmith]

I was told of this being done, but the catch was that the pilot wheels were removed and it was modified into a 0-8-0 with the pilot beam pulled back, also the tender has to be on a longer custom tang so it won't bind, but it should be feasible. These unmodified and with the tender set on the longest mounting hole on the tang were designed to work on 5' dia. curves.... but they don't really like it.

 

[Riograndad]

Thanks for feedback,went and looked at the loco yesterday,although cheap,was only fit for the scrapers torch,body in bad state,been painted with a 6"emulsion brush,or so it seemed,cab roof cracked,gearing suspect too,so didnt buy,so looking out for another one at some point in the future,but no rush,thanks again guys.

 

[Baldwinnut]

I have been able to get my Connie to negotiate radius 2 curves at some speed without a problem but as you have all previously said the overhangs are enormous, to even get mine round the garden i had to modify one of the main curves by making it a bit wider, this curve is about 6ft radius max and Connie goes round that at full speed quite happily, also there are or were 2 Connies on Ebay within the last week, so may be worth a look.