tilting trains on super elevated curves

[stueyboy43]

Hi all.

 

I am interested in purchasing the kato sonic 885, which has the tilting system.

 

My question is do kato tilting trains go round unitrack super elevated curves OK, or do they end up tilting too much (with the tilt of both the track and the train working together) and fall over?

 

I am really sorry if this has been asked many times, I used the search function but could not find anything.

 

If anyone with some experience could help I would really appreciate it.

 

Thanks

 

Stu

[Krackel Hopper]

Kato tilt trains (Sonic 885, N700, KiHa283, etc etc) are perfectly compatible with super elevated curves.

 

Honestly, the super elevated curves really make the tilt mechanism shine.  On standard curves the tilt is so minimal it is almost not noticeable, unless you are looking for it.  The super elevated curves make it truly noticeable.

 

Many of the Kato promotional posters feature their tilting trains on a super elevated curve.

 

[HantuBlauLOL]

im wondering.. how does it works?

[ozman2009]

So am I. Rokuhan have introduced super some elevated curves for their Z scale track, but tilting Z scale trains might be a bridge too far.

[Davo Dentetsu]

im wondering.. how does it works?

It's just a slight angle on the rails.  They're still level of course.  ;)

[stueyboy43]

Thanks for the reply to my question, that's great news as I love the look of this train, it means I can plan my layout and purchases a bit more now.

 

Stu

[HantuBlauLOL]

It's just a slight angle on the rails.  They're still level of course.   ;)

 

i mean how the body tilts while the bogie dont?

 

i know this existed on 1:1 size but.. how does it works on 1:150?

[kvp]

 

i mean how the body tilts while the bogie dont?

On many bogies, there are two small plastic bumps on both sides of the bogie center. Normally they are used to prevent the bogies rotating more than a set degrees and they also stabilize the chassis horizontally. If you make a small identation towards the center of the car, then when the bogies rotate, they will lower that side of the car where the bogie is turning due to the flexible nature of the bogie pins. When the car is travelling on an S curve, then one bogie will try to lower it on one side the other on the other and the car stays upright, since its frame can't twist. Using coil spring power pickups on the bogies also helps, since they act as secondary suspension coils. Actually the passive tilt mechanism on some european trains work in a similar way. Modern trains use active tilting, that uses the speed of the train and the horizontal rotation of each bogie to calculate the amount of tilt at each bogie. On the model railway since tilting should be more severe on sharper curves, natually banked curves should be broader to avoid overtilting the trains. However i think it's not possible to derail a train by running trains with a tilting mechanism on standard canted curves. I would be cautious with sharper S curves in and out of banked curves, because depending on the speed, this could cause a bogie to lift wheels.

 

The Kato 885 series has ramps on the bogies:

http://www.1999.co.jp/itbig17/10176377a.jpg

 

ps: Tilting trains either need special rotatable frame mounted couplers or bogie mounted couplers, so two car frames with differing amount of tilt won't cause a problem. In reality, the solution is usually to allow some twist for the couplers.

[Mudkip Orange]

Consider this a partial endorsement.

 

I run my 383 "Wide View Shinano" tilting trains on 282/315, which is the tighest superelevated curve Kato makes. The regular 6-car set does fine and will provide hours of trouble free-running, *however*, if I couple the add-on set, it binds where the two cab cars join to each other. And this causes derailments.

 

I've run it on 447/480 with no problems.

[stueyboy43]

Thank you KVP and mudkip for further information, really helpful to know.

 

Stu

[Ewan.in.gz]

I have have had no problems running pairs of Tohoku Shinkansen trains through Kato's tightest superelvated viaduct curves....