That is to say a typical consist and cars on your layout. Typically I run 2-5 engines pulling 25-60 cars in two seperate blocks.
I run any where from 10 to 70 car trains. I am working on a replication of SP's oil cans in N scale. The train will be 60 Atlas 33,000K tank cars (all custom painted and decalled for tank train) and if my calculations are right, this single unit train will be amost 30 feet long! I hardly EVER run over 3 engines on a train because as far as I see it, you don't need all that power (unless you have 5.% grades).
Unfortunately I do have some tough grades hence the need for lots of power. Did you ever find the issue of trains that had the oil cans in them. I think I still have that issue, pretty interesting for the crew at times on those runs.
Yeah I actually did find it 90FAN. Well, the one I have was from around 1995/94 and was a write up of one trip with the crew. Very interesting as grades, sidings and tunnels all pose problems for this long train. I can't wait to get it running in N scale......
On my layout the max is 2-3 locos with 18-24 cars because of the size of my passing tracks and the grade on the helix. At N-trak setups I have run 4-5 locos and all my coal hoppers (74)
As my layout has a 2% grade I usually run multiple units of between 2 and 4 locomotives. The length of the train is usually between 20 and 30 cars.
I run anything from one locomotive and three or four cars on a local, to four or five units on a 50-car train. Some trains have pushers or mid-train helpers, which I love!
My trains have been getting longer as my mainline is getting longer. I just discovered the sound of 2 Atlas Geeps pulling 25 cars up a 2%. Very cool. Byron
on my A&A, 3-4 locos on regular coal drags (only have 10 hoppers) 2-3 locos regular freights(15-35) 2 locos for locals (2-10) 2 locos passengers (passenger service has been shut down temporarily )
I only have 60 cars(20 of those are 90 ton coal hoppers)but I expect gift certificates from the train store for Christmas and I plan to get some more freight cars.when I run all my cars on one train I use 3 six axle units on the front and I add one or two 4 axle units on the rear at the base of my hill and cut them off at the top.I too love helpers!(when their not derailing the last cars on the train) Oh I also have about 8 smoothside passenger cars that I hardly ever run.I use 3 Life Like PA's to pull that.One of those is a dummy.
Since my run sessions are set-up by computer software, the lengths vary, and will vary during the session. Sometimes the starting trains will be large (45), and sometimes smaller (28). Then during the sessions, the larger trains become smaller, and vice-versa. The largest I've run at home is 4-locos/55-cars. On our N-track layout, we've done 5-locos/100-cars, but these are too large and caused too many problems.
When I operate on my layout, I usually run 8-12 car trains, with one locomotive on the point. You see, I model a short line railroad, running small trains. There is a 4% grade on the main, so short trains are necessary as well. Passenger trains are also short: an E8 pulling one Kato business car or an F40 pulling 2 Amfleet coaches. Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) http://www.geocities.com/revnjeff/index.html
I´m using about 20 - 25 cars for tests only, like this run on a horseshoe curve at 2.5 % grade with one old F7. It has been run with both a TECH II, and my home built 16 volt pulse width regulated powerpack without problems. --------- Helge SR&WF NARA member #5
