Does anybody run Passenger Trains Either High Speed electric or Diesel ??? Or does everybody run Freight as they are less expensive ??? If anyone has Photo's of their Passenger Trains in action on their layout I am in need of Inspiration.. I have only got my ICE2, it has 1 Loco, a 1st class and a Dummy Engine... While it looks good it isn't exactly long. I am soon to fix this with a Kato TGV with 6 Carriages.
Magnat, I will be on the Grey and Grandure. I'm looking at the Kato "Swallow" If I can't run that then I'll have a daily I need to deal with during operating sesions.
Hey, While I was home,I was running 3 car commuters, 11 car Pheobe Snow, 12 car mail extras,& everything inbetween. I've always loved the speed. So ,of course now I'm a engineer for a passenger RR.
Ever since one of my passenger cars cartwheeled past the PA-1 pulling it, I hesitate to run passenger trains anymore. "Hmm... actually, it was hilarious..."
My favourites are passenger trains, especially mail trains. Not the modern stuff like you are discussing, but a train with express box cars and refrigerators, baggage cars, an RPO or two with a coach or a combine bringing up the markers for the revenue passengers that wanted to ride. All of this pulled by STEAM My favourites amoung the prototypes were B&O 29, 30, 31, 32, which were supposed to be only mail and express. During the Second War, they were on the public timetables, but other than that, they supposedly did not carry revenue passengers. According to more than one B&O man, the reality was that if you were at a station where it stopped, and you were willing to pay the fare, you could ride. A call to the station would get the station master to find out if it were supposed to stop there that day. If it were not scheduled to stop, he would find out the next closest place where it would. Even at the end, the B&O did not try to scare away its passengers. It made every effort to get a ride for anyone who wanted one and make the passenger as comfortable and happy as they could. For many years, the ATSF preferred to book its transcontinental customers on the PRR for the Eastern portion of the trip, but when the service there became so bad, because the PRR, like many roads, was trying to discourage passengers, the instructions went out to book transcontinentals on the B&O if at all possible. Even if the B&O route was longer, the ATSF instructed their agents at least to offer it. The ATSF was another road that tried to keep up its passenger trains, even to the end.
I find passenger operations to be a great deal of fun and very interesting as well. During the few times that I have been able to participate in an operating session on our club's NTRAK layout, my passenger yard has always been a center of attention. The operating rules are set up so that after every second pass of the station, a train must enter the passenger yard to drop off a car or two and pick up a car or two. The yard is a terminal yard, so trains must either back in or back out, and that adds to the fun when the mains are being fouled by the varnish. In real life, passenger trains where always switching out cars at big city stations. Sleepers and head-end cars where changed the most, but a diner or coach might be added as well. I have pictures of my station and yard at railimages, check the link in my sig line. I'll have some passenger cars there soon.
Paul, Nice photographs and nice work. Was the number even corrrect on the MP release for L&N? The B&O also had originals of this one (thirty of them, twenty from the Baldwin, ten from ALCo). MP has issued them in B&O with three different road numbers and has yet to get one correct. MP also issued one number with a Vanderbilt tender, which no P-5 ever acquired, even late in life. P-6s came with Vanderbilts, but those were USRA heavy copies.
Got no pics but I run an SP Black Widow GP9 torpeodo boat with a pair of two tone gray bilevel commuter cars. Neat little train!!! Sometimes I'll even throw on my custom SP FP7 complete with ice breakers on the opposite end for a little push-pull action.
No, they did not get the number correct. They chose #152, a very early light Pacific. It still exists, and actually still pulls passenger cars for the Ky Rail Museum. I guess that is why they chose it.
Welcome to TrainBoard Paul... Being a D&H fan I have a two Con-Cor Sets which include cars like these.
Yes, I run passenger trains! I have a Kato set of eight PRR corrugated that usually has five or six head-end cars, and a Con-Cor set of nine PRR smoothsides. These have been sorted out; I have two more trains of similar length that do not operate well yet. So there will be four through passenger trains, plus some locals, when I get them all sorted out. They add variety to operations, plus the chance to "open 'er up" once the drag freights clear the mainline.
I have 2, a GN Empire Builder, and a D&RGW California Zephyr: *need more up-to-date shots of the 'Builder....* PA-1's pulling the CZ: F3's on the point:
Yes, passenger trains are wonderful. I really enjoy the research involved in modelling them. I have four different eras of Milwaukee Road Hiawathas from the Chippewa heavyweights pulled by Pacific steam to post '55 smoothsides in UP paint behind E8s. Just love to watch the Afternoon 'Hi' throttle up after making a grand sweeping curve.
Hemi, those are sweet trains !!!!!!!!!!! As for a Track layout do they require Larger radius Curves then say a freight train would ?? Do you run them faster or Slower then the Freight trains ??
Thanks for the kind words! They run a scale 40-50MPH max on my layout. They run faster than freight trains on the prototype, so they will on the model as well.. I have a minimum radius of 18" on my present layout, and can run 89' scale length cars (including passenger) without problems.
yes, sometimes. i have several kato via sets with 4 via e8/9, all three cp rail passenger car sets with matching cp e/8 locos. also i have a custom made rocky mountaineer passenger train
