AFTER 10 MINUTES most brains ‘ANTICIPATE’ running patterns, and one starts to fall asleep.
A typical 4X8 loop repeats itself every 12 - 15 seconds wheras the more ‘obstacles’ to overcome (switches to throw, cars to ‘deliver’/pick up/ ‘shuffle’) prolongs interest.
An HO train going A ‘SCALE’ 60 MPH travels about 12" per second, half that for ‘SCALE’ 30 MPH and a realistic 9" = 45 MPH. (Those 0n METRIC will have to do their own conversions).
Anyone thinking “that’s too slow”, needs to put their eyeballs trackside.
\Or watch their train through a trackside mounted camera. I was already running slowly, but I was surprised how fast the train looked when i recorded it.
I agree. It can be hard to get your head around scale speed, but it makes your layout seem larger.
For me, operating shays, top speed is about 3" per second (15 mph). If I highball from one end to the other end of my main line, it better take at least 2.5 minutes or I’m not being realistic. I generally try to make such a run last about 5 minutes (around 7 mph). It looks very realistic, and it gives me plenty of time to throw switches, align the turntable, etc. I really enjoy the complexities of managing a train from here to there; running a loop seems sort of mindless.
When my eyes start getting heavy during the long hours of open house run time I let the train run and start talking to other members since 99.9% of the time my equipment gives me trouble free operation.No need to babysit the controllers.
I build a train starting with a loco and let it warm up by making a few rounds around the layout, then add the cars I’ve chosen along with the caboose depending on the era. From there, depending on the mood I’m in, how well I’m feeling, etc, I might sit and watch it make its rounds around the layout anywhere from a few minutes to an hour sometimes if I have nothing else to do, but in that hour I’m working on things that need repair, cleaning or a face lift.
I will let you know when I get back to working on them. Had major family health issues and didnt do much on the trains or anything related to it so slowly getting back into it.
Now let’s be nice rogertra. No sleeping pill on earth puts me to sleep quicker than watching golf, so let’s not knock it - and that’s coming from someone that grew up around a country club…
My layout is designed so that I can set a mainline running and do switching at the same time. Depending on whether the train on the mainline is a passenger or freight, I can add new passenger cars, or freight cars. [:)]
That’s what I love about DCC. Mine’s set up the same way. I can turn a train loose on the main, then fiddle around with a local, work the yard to set up the next train, and pull another train out of staging all with two wires and the same hand-held.
As for how long can I watch? Well, I designed my track plan so the train goes through a variety of scenes, and there are some view blocks so I can’t see the whole layout at one time.
As it runs, I can move my chair about, railfan the different spots and enjoy it from many angles. I also have added lighting to the structures and scenery, so I can dim the room lights and enjoy compelling scene of a headlight illuminating the scenery just ahead of the train. It’s particularly cool to watch a bright headlight passing through a truss bridge, and watch the shadows it casts on the surrounding scene. A dimly lit caboose completes the scene.
When that train gets old, I’ll bring another one out and park the first. Or if I’m feeling fearless, I’ll run two in one direction, and stage meets with a third going the other way. Again, with DCC, all I have to do is toggle between engine addresses and I can control the whole thing from my hand. I can sit up there for hours. (That is if She Who Must Be Obeyed is away for the day…)
I can stand to watch a model train run by once, and then I’m done with it. For example, at a show with a portable layout running I’ll stand there and watch a train go through a scene. But after seeing it the first time, why watch it again and again and again? It’s always the same, you know what it looks like because you just saw it, so why watch it again? It would be like watching the same commercial on TV 5 times in a row. Ho-hum.
When I’m running a train, I can run it around my club layout once before I get bored. Same for my home layout. The questions before I start are, will the train make it without derailing? Is there enough power to get it up the grade? How will it look going through that scene? Etc. But once these questions are answered, it becomes so dreadfully boring that I have to do something else.
The only things that stop the boredom is either switching or running with someone else where we have to make sidings or disaster strikes. I need something to keep me interested. Running just to run…meh.
I can operate my local freight trains going about their switching duties for hours at a time, but not watch them go round and round. That’s good for one minute or one round trip. Each freight train has a switching scenarrio for the industries that it surves. That’s what makes model railroading intrusting and fun for me anyway.
It can be relaxing to watch trains run, especially when I’m tired, stressed, or annoyed with life in general. It happens. That’s why I have a hobby, right? Just plug it in, sip a Coke, and watch the train go, and imagine all the places it’s passing through.
This is easier, I think, if one has ridden a train and seen that high desert or those Kansas fields or those Pennsylvania hills roll by.
Steam is also more fun to watch, especially with radial gear at medium speed. I love watching mechanisms in harmonic motion. When I watch my trains run, it’s like riding the rails in my mind. It’s a place I like to visit sometimes.
I even do this while operating in a more formal pattern, because I run circuits between each station to increase mileage. It’s just a plastic toy, but imagination can turn it into a fiery beast that breathes steam, smoke, and oil, clanking at the rod bearings. Why not?
