Gauge widening

This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 29 August 2026 at 17:28 by Speedy Builder5.

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29 August 2026 at 12:47 #862677
martian
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@martian
I am building a 5 inch gauge railway in my garden, minimum radius curve is expected to be 15ft.

I am using the PNP system which allows gauge widening of 1/32 or 1/16 for tighter curves, but they don’t specify how tight.

How much gauge widening would you recommend for a 15ft curve.

I should just be running 0-4-0 locos.

Martin
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29 August 2026 at 17:28 #862728
Speedy Builder5
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@speedybuilder5
I have a ground level track made from 20mm x 6mm steel bar. All joints are with fish plates, drilled for 4 off 6mm bolts each (all jig drilled). My curves are 4.7m radius where my gauge winding goes from 5″ to 5 1/16″. I run a 5″ SPEEDY 0 6 0 . I have no super elevation as passengers don’t seem to cope with it – just reduce speed appropriately.

I welded 20mm x 6mm sleepers to the rails (I got my steel supplier to cut them all to length) using a wooden plank with sleeper spacings marked with offcuts of roofing battens as the jig. The curves I marked and laid out onto an 8′ x 4′ sheet of OSB, the reverse side I laid out the drawings of the points.

Bob
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Gauge widening

Gauge widening

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