I have an HO 7X11 layout. 6 or 7… 50’ cars look best pulled by a 4 or 6 axle diesel. Yard switchers pull 3 or 4 cars.
I’ve pulled 16 cars before, but it looks like the train chasing its tail.
Okay, Shortline, 4-6 cars, Class II 7-15, and Class III 15-30. This is just off the top of my head.
My Santa Fe is three decks, in a space 33ft by 29ft. Because of the helix, grades, etc. between decks, I keep my unit grain trains at about 23 cars, some other freights will run a few more, most are about 19-20. I model 1989/90 but still run waycars on freights to “help me know that a train hasn’t broken in to in a hidden area” and because I like waycars. Another limiting factor is that the Enid District, which was a grain hauling branch line in Oklahoma was limited on train lengths by the few passing tracks. So ATSF resorted to fleeting grain trains from the west into Enid for unloading, and loaded trains originating at Enid for the Gulf Coast. So I have some logic behind my lengths.
I run 2 unit consists on most trains, but do go to 3 unit consists for the unit trains. Like someone else said, “too long overpowers the railroad.”
Bob
Bob
My layout is designed for six 40 foot car freights pulled by a 4 axle hood unit with a caboose bringing up the rear. The passing sidings and A/D tracks were built around this length. The room is about 9X13. Anything longer than 6 cars would be too big.
In one town I have an SW9 for switching and in the other town I have two Roundhouse Critters MU’ed for the switching detail. road power is a GP9 or and F3.
My primary interest is switching rather than mainline running so there are lots of industries in each of the towns to keep me busy.
Tom
My layout has approx. 85 feet of mainline (HO scale), the benchwork is in the form of a capital letter E. Most of the bottom portion of that E is taken up with the main yard, turntable, engine round house etc. There are approx. 20 ‘industries’ on the layout. The yard has 3 tracks that will hold about 8 or 9 40 foot cars, so most locals have between 5 to 9 cars. When I have ops sessions here the guys will normally take around 25 to 30 minutes to run their routes, dropping off and picking up. Once in a great while one will somehow get himself boxed into a corner or something and take a lot longer.
Power is generally an Atlas RS-3, a GP-30, a 2-8-0 or other smallish steam if we’re running that. I’ve yet to double head power, I just don’t need to on this layout.
But eeeeevery now and then I bring out a NW Class A (that’s it in the bottom picture) and run much longer trains, but that’s just when I’m alone, free running. It’s a BLI and will pull the chrome off a trailer hitch ball. [:D]
Jarrell
My plans are 20 cars 1950’s era 40 foot cars for a normal operating session. Goin crazy time well, 40+ cars wouldnt be ruled out. My grades will be tough 3% or more, if I can’t get a p2k Berk to get uphill its double head time or double the hill, actually for my N&W having BLI Y6b’s I think I have the power just fine. I have been on the 4x8 route layout, yeppers, them smaller trains look right.
I think a sense of proportion, in terms of both layout size and realistic representation of the prototype helps. My current layout looks right with about 4-5 cars and one diesel. I’ve tried longer trains, but they just don’t look right, too long for the layout. Likewise with the town and industries, a steel mill or paper mill complex for example would totally overwhelm the layout. On the other hand, a previous N scale layout could easily handle 30 - 40 car trains and 4 engines with no problem. Which leads to my next thought –
– Even though it could handle long trains visually, they never felt right to me. For some reason, the “personality” wasn’t there. I attribute this to growing up on a branch line where the trains I remember were pulled by Alco RS and S unit switchers with only a handful of cars. This is that other part of proportion – would the prototype run this lenght of train on this line?
After a bit of experimenting with track planning software and a spreadsheet of industry needs, I think my ideal train size would be about 8-10 cars, but I would need to double my layout space to keep things in proportion.