Having lots of locos does not neccessarily mean someone is having more fun than you. I seem to recall being awefully happy with my Rivarrossi E9 and UP passenger cars as a kid. I ran that thing endlessly.
We all start somewhere... I have several, and without exact numbers, I am near my 10% of D&RGW roster about 1986. It's not as many as it sounds, but I have more than enough, and most need decoders. Argh!
It's taken me 25 years to get as many locos as I have, not including the ones I sold off. Quantity means nada- it's the quality time you have with what you have that counts. Even with just 2 diesels, you can still do quite a bit of running.
As I can only run 2 locos at once a pair would do me as well ....... but I am thinking to the future when I win the Lotto
And how much would be left after the taxman got hold of it? Over here, in the extremely unlikely chance I should ever win either Powerball or the Texas Lottery, I can count on half of it going bye-bye before I ever see one penny.......but with their jackpots, that still leaves plenty of $$$.
Thankfully, my main modelling interest, the Seaboard Air Line, believed in coupling up the ready track. You never knew what would be on the head end of any given train. Thus, my rationale for having a lot of different diesels. Admittedly, two or three units at the head end of a 12-15 car train seems a trifle overkill, but what does one pay the most attention to on a model train? Thankfully, my second favorite, the ACL, got the same idea, but kind of late in the game.
My three year old summed it up for me the other day "we need lots of engines daddy because they are just small." I think I'll try that one out on the wife... John
Not on D&RGW's LaVeta Pass.. 5 GP40's on a 40-car train was normal.. The 3% grade prolly helped that...
I have a pretty good idea of what each consist will pull. I haven't tested it like I used to, but I know four Atlas 10-16s aren't going to pull what four IM F3s will pull. Right now, each consist is assigned to a train, with just a few consists on the ready track. The ready track consists are really useful when a train stalls on the grades.
Our lottery is tax free, so if you win 10mil you get 10mil, will have to pay tax on the intrest though, so would just put it into an off shore bank account.
HemiAdda2d - Naw, think I'll stick to my original excuse, think the max grade on my "flatlands" railroad is about 0.125%, yeah, about 1/8th of 1%.
Used to be about double what I now own. But, after some serious thought, and trying to be logical- About 24 diesels. Hmmm. OK. I became curious. So counted them. Have 26. Boxcab E50
Let me know how that line works, willya? All I heard from the missus when we were moving back in June was "....*&&^%&^@#$ trains...$$#%#....". Which was ironic, 'cuz I was the one lugging the stuff downstairs from the old place & putting it in the garage in the new..... :/
At the last count 78 N scale 72 Ho scale 2 g scale oh, and the postie has just delivered an ho scale sd45.... now i need a bigger house, but just think of the engines i could buy with that money! paul
Grades are... good! Grades provide just the excuse we need to buy more locomotives! I just got my A-B-B-B-A set of IM F7s... I probably should have two sets, really... Seriously, if there are grades on the your prototype, I think you should put them the model -- exaggerated, even, so that your locos slow down and you really need three or four units to make it. This is really fun! In my Helper to Soldier Summit layout, there's a ruling 2 to 2.5% grade from West Helper to Colton... just like the prototype. I like to run 25-car trains... you can't make it with two locos! I'm running an under-the-layout sound system (like Bob's), and it is just infinitely cool to see a freight with four or five GP-30s on the nose, and four F7s on the tail end,* moving along at 25 mph with the throttle moved up to the eighth notch (I've programmed the Soundtraxx decoders so you get to the eighth notch at about 55% throttle)... --Bryan *This is actually a prototypical consist from 1964-5. The F7s were about to be traded off to EMD for brand-new GP-40s.
No doubt about it - grades are really great. But what do you do when your prototype ran through flat land where if it wasn't marsh, it was woods or farms (excuse me, now tract housing - a lot of it!). I guess it's a choice between lugging upgrade in run 8 or letting the through freights move through at very good speed. Unfortunately, due to the brevity of my main line and a fairly sharp curve, don't think I'll get to watch three GP-40's or SDP-35's rip through with a Florida perishable.
WOW you muist be married to my wife's twin sister I haven't tried the line yet but I am sure it will go over as well as all the other ones I have tried... John
