Hi everybody. I was wondering how many engines do you pull with one long freight train. One time in real life I saw a Union Pacific train with 7 engines on it and the train was short. How many engines do you have on your layout and how long is your freight train?
Sincerely
Ryan LaPlaca
I’ve used 6 E-7’s and E-8’s to switch 6 empty coal hoppers. Does that count?
Brad
I have a ABBA consist I put together on ocassion just to listen to all the engines drifting in and out of sync. It consists of a FA1, FB1 and a FA2, FB2. I usually put about ten cars or so on it. Anymore than that and it will be kissing its own butt.
Terry[8D]
Got a ABBA set that will drift me off to sleep when I run em.
I guess I could use it in local work switching single cars.
Years ago I would start 60 car trains (No metal wheels etc) with a pair of AHM/Riverossi Articuleds. I think it was something like 40 feet + 1 foot or so for the slack to run out.
Must admit that I’ve only double headed a train a few times just for looks. Ryan, sometimes what we see is not what it appears to be. In other words, seven engines on a short train may mean that some of those engines are not being used for motive power, but are being transfered to another part of the railroad. Years ago it was not uncommon to see a train made up of 15 to 25 steam engines or more enroute from the factory near where I lived as a kid.
I almost always run two, sometimes 3. Just looks more natural to me.
I have a Bowser BigBoy, 2 Challengers, RR 2-6-6-6, N&W 2-6-6-4, 3 RR Y6b’s, Bachmann 2-6-6-2, 2 RR cab forwards…I could put one car behind and caboose, I wonder if the next hill is any problem…
I always run 2 on my layout but when I’m running trains at train shows with the club layout I always have 3, usually 3 AC4400CW’s pulling a long train of cars.
On our clubs layout, which is very large, I run a 50 car BNSF coal train and use four AC4400’s or Dash 9’s. I also use three or four with a 50 car stack train. At home I normally run two and about 15 to 20 cars.
Anything over 7 cars on my layout need two locos as a grade rule. My layout will supprt no lomger than 18 cars with two locos and a caboose.
I run frt trains 45-50 cars long and, in so far unrealized anticipation of a main line that might accomodate them, built a helix to nowhere on a 1.5% grade w/ 42" curves. I find that three Athearn (the original “Blue Box”) F-7s w/ Sagami or NWSL motors and the “super size” Athearn wieghts handle it w/o a problem. None of my steam engines(C&O Alleghany, N&W A, Big Boy, PRR J-1 among others) can get the train out of the yard, forget about up the grade. One of these days I’m really going to try powering a steam engine B unit (sometimes called “tender”) to see if I can duplicate the 3 unit F-7 performance.
On my steeply-graded coal-hauling private railroad I have to doublehead little teapot steam locos on anything over the equivalent of three US cars. Over six cars, that doubleheader gets a pusher.
On my main line, trains are short enough that I can get away with a single unit. Sometimes use a pusher, very rarely doublehead.
I recall reading an article in Trains (I think) many years ago, about working a Western Pacific freight across Nevada. Somewhere en route the crew had to switch a few cars at a remote mine with an ABBA lashup of covered wagons (aka EMD F-units.)
One photo in my collection shows two 4-6-2’s leading four coaches on a line with no significant grades. The second engine was being moved to balance power, and the doubleheader was easier to dispatch than trying to work in a light engine run. Cylinder lubrication issues required that it be crewed and under steam, rather than hauled dead.
On the local line, the UP strings together four, five or half a dozen units, almost all Armour Yellow. A hundred miles south, the BNSF routinely runs six or seven different units, bearing the livery of four or five different railroads, on a single intermodal freight.
The most steam locos I ever heard of in a single train (“One or more locomotives, with or without cars, carrying markers.” - Peter Josserand) was a delivery of brand new 3 cylinder 2-10-2’s from Baldwin in Pennsylvania to the Southern Pacific. The train consisted of 20 big locos and a caboose.
Chuck
I had 3 engines pulling 67 cars, in my mind that pretty prototypical… this was at a club layout, which means that there are many slops and slight hills, and they did not seem to be having any problem pulling that. My rule of thumb is that there is ALLWAYS at least 2 engines in a consist.
Depends on engines, hills, cars, etc.
75 ore cars behind 1 Spectrum 2-8-0, level grade.
150 ore cars behind 3 Athearn SD40-2s, or 2 P2K SD60Ms, club layout at Trainfest.
80+ cars mixed freight, all metal wheels, 2 Athearn SD40-2s, club layout.
52 covered grain hoppers, all metal wheels, 1 Athearn F45, club layout. Something derailed, the head P2K grain hopper had the end frames ripped out from the sudden stop.
2 or 3 diesels usually pull more than most any single steamer, and are easier on the track. That is part of why diesels took over. Tractive effort is what moves boxcars.
I run 2 loco’s with 10 to 25 cars on my extention. My normal is 2 loco’s 12 cars. [2c]
I run 1 engine with with over 20 cars and it’s heavy enough to pull all of them.
The most I run is an A-B-A set of Athearn PA-1s, one powered, two dummy. About the most I make anything pull on my small layout is 15 cars.
One time, when I went to a train show, I saw 4 Kato SD70MACs pulling 100 hoppers. THAT was a long train![:O]
I normally run 8 or 10 car trains with one unit.
Nick
The longest train I run is an F7 A-B-A (Milwaukee Road) with a string of 5 passenger cars. Sometimes I put 3 GP-9’s in a consist (1 is a dummy) and pull 8 or 9 freight cars. Those trains about max out my longest passing siding, so I can’t work anything else on that main line if I go any bigger.
Usually one engine for a passenger train ( commuter ), but 2 engines for a freight
(10 - infinity cars long ) No more than 4 .