I will put in an hour or two running trains, but I don’t run any particular train for more than about 15 minutes at a time, often less–I’m interested in operation, so sooner or later, the train has to either go to a layover track, or pull into the yard to get broken up. Then it is time to do some switching or to run a different train.
Most of our trains are postwar Lionel, and a few from the MPC era. My son and I have really started to enjoy building locomotives out of wreck and junk box finds. It is a lot of fun to start with a trailing truck or a motor frame scrounge for parts here and there and eventually get a nice looking running locomotive out of it. I have found that I can probably run an early 675 from now till the cows come home and it will just keep humming along. The early version 1666/2026 style will run forever as beautifully as the day they were made. Likewise anything with the 2034-100 motor in them as they are fantastic runners. Don’t shy away from those 2-4-2’s especailly as they are cheap and great to let kids learn with. The older 1654, 1684, 229/1664 style motors seem to have issues with heat and I don’t run them too long. We tend to pull longer trains and they are not really good for more than 5 cars. We probably only run them for 20 min, or less. A 2046/2055 style with the 2035-100 magnatraction motors in them I feel like I can run them pulling nice looking trains for an hour or more. I can pull 18 loaded Lehigh Valley coal cars with the 675’s or 2046 engines, it is a great looking train, but you have to keep the cars well oiled. My son does most of the running, and he likes to switch things off frequently so he is keen to keep an eye for signs of them heating up. (he’s 12 years old and is a really good mechanic. He is now building a 1688 from parts that was such a basket case, that I didn’t think it would ever run, but he has stuck to it.) I don’t think that I have run our 2343 F-3’s for more than 30 min. without giving them a rest.
Steve