Tightest Curve

Odd question but...what's the tightest curve on a) the national network and, b) the heritage railway network?

 

Standard or narrow gauge?

On the standard gauge, I suspect you'd probably be looking at somewhere like Chatham Dockyard.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...:0x81ccd83ac461b85b!8m2!3d51.380952!4d0.52213

https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...:0x81ccd83ac461b85b!8m2!3d51.380952!4d0.52213

I'd estimate (given the scale lower right) that the line curving into a shed there is not much more than about 20-30 metres radius, i.e. of the order of 1 to 1.5 chains. (The first one looks tighter).

Tom

 

Northampton Ironstone Trust at Hunsbury Hill have some pretty horrendous curves.

 

On the standard gauge, I would expect it to be somewhere ex-industrial such as Foxfield.

 

On standard gauge mainline, Weymouth tramway had some tight curves that required certain GWR stock to be banned and longer screw couplings fitted to passenger stock.

 

Do tram lines count?

 

Are we talking running lines, or the nastiest bit of siding at the back of someones yard?

 

The Up and Down Goods lines between Philips Park No.1 and Philips Park No.2 would be in the running and it was on a gradient. Many trains came to grief there but there were plenty of Platting trip engines to come to the rescue.

 

There must be some fairly tight curves at Elsecar from this recent post on the SVR-Online forum:

 

Question isn't really specific enough, if we define it as standard gauge, regularly used for passenger trains, then off the top of my head I would nominate the departure from Keighley up the Worth Valley branch & the south bound departure from Bury round the curve heading towards Heywood possibly?

 

If we are including lines that are no longer with us I would throw the Gotham curve on the C&HPR into the hat. Rather impressive to see in person, must've made a tremendous noise traversing the thing.

 

Tanfield Marley hill curve or Bowes railway blackhams hill curve?

 

On the national network I would suspect the curves on the Line to Ffestiniog as being a bit on the tight side , with the amount of times specials have ground to a halt.
Otherwise Crimple curve between Leeds and Harrogate at under 9 chain radius did make your ears hurt with pacers squealing round it.
The only place I know that has 2 sets of greasers on the running rails each way as well as a check rail greaser for good measure.

Industrially, I would think United Glass at St Helens might be up there.
When we recovered rail from the works for Steamport, we watched the works shunter push the wagons as far as it could around the corner (not a curve) then run round the works and drag them through from the other end.
I think it was a 90 degree corner in about 3 rail lengths back in 1974 or so.

 

Middleton railway out of moor road halt over moor road level crossing to balm road level crossing to midland main line junction 0.6.0. Engines like brooks no 1 and bellerophen make quite a screech on gala days when in use round the curve to moor rd halt Fro balm rd.

 

When bellerophen visited middleton railway in spring 2016 from foxfield railway.

 

How tight is the curve at Aldershot junction from the Redhill line? That always seems to be taken at very very low speed.

 

The Bury South curve is definitely tight. During the Metrolink work in 2007/8(?) the first CWR train had to draw to a halt at the bottom of the 'Ski-Jump' and be walked round the outer curve. This was due to the curve being a teeny bit tighter that the minimum radius curve spec for the CWR consist. Ironically, the wagons made it comfortably, but the '66' hauling them needed attention before it came off the curve as one axle had the brakes jammed on after stopping for the observers to ready themselves for the move!

 

Tightest on the London Underground is a 46m radius curve onto A Road at the back of Ealing Common Depot.

Regards,

Dan

 

The right angle curve at Avonmouth on the Severn Beach branch is pretty tight..............

 

The tightest curves at Middleton are 51.2 metres. (which is 2.45 chains in realspeak) into the workshops and on some A & 4½ turnouts. The curve over Moor Road is an easy 111 metres (about 5½ chains) in comparison. A & 4½ turnouts used to be quite common on industrial lines in times past. Incidentally, GWR 813 negotiated these without incident on its visit to the Middleton Railway a few years back.
I'm told that the curve into Stourton loco shed was 3½ chains and 9F's used to go round this on occasion. At the end of the day, it would depend on such niceties as gauge widening.