Railroad Forums 

Forum for the discussion of the Budd Company and Budd-Thyssen through bankruptcy. Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Company

Moderator: John_Perkowski

 #22685  by DocJohn
 
Question: for the RDC-2 and the RDC-3, what was the minimum curvature for operation as single units and as coupled to another RDC? Also what was the minimum turnout they could navigate?

DocJohn
Macon, GA

 #22710  by DutchRailnut
 
there were no restrictions on RDC's other than max speed and approaching automatic crossings with single units at no faster than 30 mph, due to single units not shunting rail circuit properly.
 #23091  by DocJohn
 
Thank you for your reply. Perhaps I did not phrase my question correctly. I was looking for the smallest curvature that the RDCs could navigate alone or coupled to another RDC without derailing.

DocJohn
Macon, GA

 #23115  by DutchRailnut
 
the smalles switch these days is a no 4 I believe and the RDC's had no problems with these coupled or not.
as far as max curvature, nothing in writing I belive but Danbury loop track makes a full 197 degree turn in 850 feet if that helps

 #23187  by DocJohn
 
Thank you for the info. Mapquest shows a loop in Danbury, CT, near Patriot Drive and Pahqulogue Avenue. Looks like radius of most curved portion is about 300 ft or about 41 inches in HO scale.

DocJohn
Macon, GA