I’m having trouble finding an article in my collection, and I can’t find the appropriate search tool on the website. If you can point me to the article or the search index, I’d appreciate it.
I’m trying to find an article (I think it’s a Trains of Thought) that discussed train length. I thought it was MRP 2008, but I don’t think that had the right article. Anyway, the one I’m looking for had Andy S’s layout as an example, and he talked about the system he set up on his layout. It was something along the lines of “1 powered axle can carry 5 cars; so a 4 axled engine can carry 25 cars”.
I don’t suppose anyone just read that article and can remember which month it was, or how to search for it on the site.
The article in Model Railroad Planning 2008 was by Tony Koester and was called “How trian length affects layout design”. I seem to remember the “cars per axle” thing, but I didn’t see that referenced in this article. I’ll have to do some more library research.
Interesting idea, but one that fails the reality checker. All axles are NOT created equal!
Three different locomotives, same scale, each with four powered axles:
2-8-2, easily pulls 20 cars up 2.5% with a running start. From a standing start at the bottom of the grade, it needs a pusher.
B-B diesel-hydraulic, will pull 20 cars up the grade after breaking the string they were tied down with.
0-8-0T with roller-skate-wheel drivers, will pull 8 (count 'em) cars up 2.5% on dry rail.
Both steamers are brass, but the teakettle is half the size of the Mike’s tender and weighs slightly more than the Mike’s boiler weight. The diesel has a cast metal carbody and can pull the paint off the wall!
Personally, I determine each loco’s tonnge rating by experiment, and record it on the locomotive data card that accompanies the train deck of car cards.
I’m not saying my example is exact. I was just trying to find the article to see what it said. Still haven’t been able to find it.
My main reason for searching is to determine how many F units I should have per train. 3 looks nice with a string of passenger cars, but seems like a bit much when pulling a small handful of freight cars.
Actually I think Jim Hediger uses this method on his Ohio Southern. It’s either been a recent article or possibly on one of the DPB videos because I remember it quite well.
Yea that’s what I’m looking for. I don’t think it was the dvd series (haven’t watched them lately), so it must be an article. I thought Trains of Thought, but I don’t think so.