I’m trying to get a layout idea, and I can’t find one for handling prototype-sized trains. Have any ideas?
by “prototype-sized” do you mean trains that are a couple-hundred cars long?
if thats the case - you can’t (at least in any reasonable amount of space). Generally (model) trains are maybe 30-50 cars long and just “suggest” a longer train. I mean 200 cars @ 5.5" long (40’ boxcars) is 91 FEET long, not including locomotives (you will need a consist of 8+ locos to get this moving - assuming each loco can, on its own, effectively pull 25 properly weighted cars)…
most modellers don’t have the room to allow for 91’ long strings of cars, not to mention the fact that this is assuming you’re going to model the transition era. modern equipment (80’ +) would put that same string of cars at just around 200’ +/- a little bit…
these figures are for HO. N scale yould be about 45’/100’ respectively.
What scale are we talking about?
I’t much easier to build a layout for prototype sized operations in N scale then it is in G scale.
Derrick,
We could be of some help but please give us some more details:
What scale are you considering?
How much space do you have available for a layout?
How much is in your budget for layou construction and materials? (Are you going to be building little by little as you earn money or do you already have a certain amount set aside?)
What type of theme are you considering for your railroad? Mountainous, Valley, Urban, Small Town, Industrial, or a combination of one or more of these?
Gee, some of the trains locally are over a hundred cars in length - do you have an arena to build a layout in?
IOW, unless you own a small town, and the skating rink in it, you won’t be running prototypical lengths in any scale. Weeeelll, you could if you have a 15’ diameter oval, and little else.
For all we know he models in Z scale and DOES own a skating rink!
Perfectly plausible, but not at all likely.
OK, I’ll give you that! [swg]
Especially since the OP has started several of these vague threads in the last few days …
I am planning to open a train club here in Ridgecrest, California. Here is the answers to all of your questions:
A for Q 1: HO scale.
A for Q 2: Either 100’ by 110’ or 100’ by 150’.
A for Q 3: Donations and help from club members.
A for Q 4: All themes.
Also, the layout will be planned to be techniclogicly advanced like the Miniature Wunderland.
ok, thats a LOT more helpful
you can (at best) pull 40 cars in HO, with the space for the layout. otherwise the loco(s) on point will be in one town, and the caboose (or last car if its more modern) will be in the previous town (or it’ll span 3 towns or more)
Short trains work alright - not to mention they’re a LOT cheaper than long trains.
Lets say you need 1 loco per 20 cars, each car is $10 and each loco costs $100
40 car train - $200 in locos + $400 in cars
200 car train - $1,000 in locos + $2,000 in cars
its a lot more feasable to get your 2 locos and 40 cars after you’ve paid for and built the benchwork, trackwork, scenery, etc than trying to afford 10 locos and 200 cars… (this assumes these locos and cars are “club property”)
But wouldn’t I have had egg on my face if Philip had hit the jackpot? [:I]
Well, I was half right. He’s got the skating rink! 100’x150’!
But it’s not Z scale, it’s HO.
My double garage filler, HOj (1:80 scale on HO standard gauge track,) is designed to handle prototype length trains. However, I chose my prototype with care! Twenty car freights (four wheel cars, about 350 tons) were the norm, and the passenger consists (of 66 foot cars) were short. A ten foot siding is more than adequate for my longest train.
One thing to consider is that it is very difficult to see the entire length of a train in the kind of terrain favored by model railroaders. If you can’t see the last locomotive and the markers at the same time, just how many cars are there in the train? Even my short trains are hard to judge, because, like my prototype in the area that I model, I used a snake for a straightedge and still have a number of unavoidable short tunnels. (When drawing the contours, Amateras’ O-Mikami used a bucket of worms for a straightedge!)
OTOH, trying to road switch with a prototype-length train 1 1/2 scale miles long could get VERY interesting!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
When I first read the message, I thought you meant 1:1 scale![%-)]
The only place I’ve ever really seen 100+ car trains is at regional train shows, on modular club layouts (such as the Four-County S.M.E. of central Maryland) where they could string together a large number of modules.
The Oshkosh Model Railroad Club has a large HO layout with double-tracked mains. We sometimes run 3-4 large diesels pulling a maximum of 75-85 cars which is a long, heavy train. This is a pain to operate with, which we manage to do anyway, but we prefer to run trains in the 40-45 car length for most ‘mainline’ trains.
I’d reccomend taking some yarn, tacks, and some patience to the layout. Pretend the yarn is track and see what you think works well while keeping in mind curves, etc. I did this on a couple of layouts and it worked ok to help me visualize how things would look. How many other people will help you with this layout?
So a mile long train will be approximately 61 feet long.
That is pretty small for HO scale if one really wants 100+ car trains. A squared off loop with a pennesula in the middle, or if one doesn’t mind the trains turning large corners often perhaps an “E” shape. The “E” would give them seven nice long “straight” sections where they could straighten out, but be broken by several long curves. If one doesn’t mind the grades a second and third level might be an option.
Even harder in the available space. The longer the train the bigger the scenes need to be to keep from looking funny. Nothing looks stranger than having the locomotive in the mountains while the fred is still in the yard.
I personally have never seen that layout, but I understood it was simply trains orbiting on isolated loops of track. Is that what the intention is?