Just curious on how long most of you run your trains before resting them (clockwork trains excluded [(-D].
And by accident maybe, you ran them too long? What happened and how long was that time?
RAY,
I run my trains mostly friday and saturday nites, for about 1-3 hrs. The 3 hr. time is usually when I have a PILE UP. I need that extra time to get everything working properly again. Most times its about 2 hrs, and not at BREAKNECK SPEEDs anymore.
laz57
As inanimate non-living objects designed, for the most part, for continuous duty, our trains should not need a rest unless there is a mechanical or electrical problem. That said, I run trains sometimes for hours on end - especially Bowser(trolleys) and Williams.
The trolleys sometimes run unattended(very slowly) under the tree from the time we get home to the time we go to bed during Christmas time. I just ordered a new set of brushes for one that I’ve had since ~1995 or 1996. It still runs perfect, but the brushes are at the end of their service life.
Mostly I run an individual train for only about half an hour or so at a time. I don’t know why. Maybe because it was about as long as my parents could take the noise when I was a kid.
I don’t think I even realized the trains were noisy when I was small. But I’ve got my 1951 Lionel 2026 (my first locomotive; thanks, Dad) and four modern NYC 027 passenger cars running right now, and they’d make it tough to have a telephone conversation. In our small living room at the time, it must have been quite a racket.
Actual run time is very small. I spend most of my time redesigning the layout. This year I started adding scenery.
Usually I run mine for about 30 minutes to an hour. I have no particular reason for that length except that is about the amount of time my kids will remain interested in watching them; however, the baby may watch longer. I would run the trains longer if I was by myself and did not have other obligations such as making sure my kids don’t burn the house down. I could watch the trains for hours, but I want to keep my kids interested in them, and not be the dad who spends more time with the trains than with the kids.
Joe
When my wife says she’ll be ready to go out in ten minutes, I go down to the basement and run my layout. Those ten minutes are usually a half an hour or more!
Usually they tell me how long to run them. Sometimes they are so cantankerous (like me) that I get frustrated quickly and give up for the night. That is when I am in train hell. Other nights they run like well-oiled clocks. That is when I am in train heaven. When I am in train heaven, I run them until I am afraid that they will get like me again and I shut them down for the night while I am still ahead.
Timboy
LMAO! Tim, too funny!
Cobrabob.
Like you I did not realize the trains made a noise either when I was a kid.Now I cannot hear the telephone ringing in the next room.[:)]
i run every day if i can for about a hour it all depends what i am doing but i like to run all my favorits about 20 min or so
Somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours for an operating session. Depending on what is going on during the week I may operate the trains upwards of 5 times a week.
how 'bout, until they spontaneously combust?
After reading the posts I remembered I didn’t chime in on my times. I don’t recall ever running them for more than an hour.Most of the time it’s about 30 minutes. But even a good 5-10 minutes sometimes is enough. Alot depends on who’s around and if SHE says “it’s dinner time”, of course that’s when I run them an hour! [(-D]
Ray
Usually I run them for 1/2 hour or so. But every Christmas when we have visitors over, I sometimes run them for well over 6 hours!!! If there is anything that will make or break your trains, it’s running them for 6 hours straight!
-Scott
I only run the trains when we have electricity. [(-D]
In good working order, clean, and lubricated, I don’t think it matters much…how long you run a particular engine. Heat buildup is the next thing to consider, but that should not come into play unless you are pulling a particularly long consist of heavy cars or have some serious and long upgrades on the layout.
The Museum in Chicago had a gargantuan O layout they ran all day every day. They would just conduct preventative service on the engines while the others were operating. But some of those suckers had to have more actual miles on them than anything ten of us could accumulated combined.
Jack
I remember that lay out at the Museum of Science and Industry. It is one of the few layouts where the track actually wore out in places! I agree with proper preventive maintenance and moderate loads and speed the locomotives can run for hours!
Any one train, about 10=12 laps on my 13 x 17 layout; by then something usually happens, resulting in investigation, debugging and more ‘test’ running. If things are really going well, I may actually doze off; to avoid that I move around the room; enjoying the various perspectives. One thing is guaranteed - if I leave the room, something will happen. Total layout ‘play’/work time? Probably an hour to an hour and a half or so 3-4-5 times weekly in the winter months, often zero in the summer months. Also depends on how interesting a book I am reading.
runtime
I run them briefly when one of my clients wishes to see them operate. I have a layout in each of my two offices. At home I run them until the transormer gets hot! [;)]