More about Curves

As an addendum to my post on curves and radii, I took a few pictures of the Kato Zephyr around various curves to demonstrate how the degree of curve affects appearance. Apologies that the lighting/composition is poor, but hopefully they still illustrate the concept. Here is the Zephyr circling the 18" staging loop (about 24˚):


In particular, look to the left of the photo where you see two cars connected at a sharp angle. That just doesn't happen in the prototype.

Here is the Zephyr around a gentler mainline curve of 41" radius (about 10.5˚, still very sharp by prototype standards):


Here is the Zephyr around a short mainline curve of 51" radius (about 8.4˚, still sharp by prototype standards, but now within the domain of a realistic curve):