This has no right or wrong answer, and is more a personal opinion thread but, how many locomotives is too many for you?
Myself? I’m at a roster of 14 Wheeling diesels, and at least one for each class of locomotives represented (still need a 4000 series-non dynamic brake). So I’m just curious to hear what everyone else says.
LION operates 12 six car subway trains on a run of 14 miles.
Him has more locomotives, but hose him not runs.
ROAR
Too many!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!
And furthermore:
HA
Ed
Gidday Jimmy, a good question.
A friend of mine reckons, if you have one class of locomotive, then the least you should have, is three; on the basis, a triple header looks better than a double header.
I also have 2 friends that come down to the club on a reasonably regular basis with a locomotive that they had “forgotten” that they bought!!!
I’d suggest that that is too many, but then is that because I’m envious that my railroad budget doesn’t run to such largess??!!
Me, I try to be discerning and only have as many as is required to maintain a reasonable roster for my freelanced railroad. However, try and am have different meanings, so in all honesty, I have too many!!
Cheers, the Bear. [:)]
When you no longer have any room for your locomotives on the layout or staging, and some have to be stored on a shelf, you have too many.
I have no set limit. The Maryland and Pennsylvania in the early 50’s had 4 diesel switchers, 8 steam locomotives (2 retired in 1952), and 2 gas electrics. In S scale I have models of the 4 diesels and 3 2-8-0’s. I have 2 0-6-0’s that are not Ma&Pa but will do for standins. The others aren’t available. What I have is more than sufficient for my future layout (I’m moving in 2 months).
I have more locomotives in S scale as well as some in HO and O from when I was in those scales. I buy more as they appeal to me. Eventually, I’ll display them. But I admit that I enjoy collecting model railroading stuff that appeals to me, even if it will have no place on the layout. At some point I’ll build a couple of small display layouts where I can run them.
Paul
I think it was somebody here bought 44 Big Boys, obviously for each Big Boy built and used. I have acquired a variety of engines, many for my layout scheme, others because I like the engine, its unique whatever. I am not modeling the PRR, but I have the Centipede, Turbine, 4-4-4-4, 4-4-6-4, K4. The DM&IR Yellowstone, 0-10-2.
Wrong! That means you don’t have enough shelves![swg]
I have the locomotives that I want, but like JaBear said, I could always use more to set up consists. I still watch eBay. You never know when a bargain will come your way.
Dave
I’m with Darth Santa Fe on this one.
I have 7 storage tracks and 16 Cab Forwards. It’s the same with diesels, I have 12 E7s. Most of my fleet has been restored from eBay clunkers. I really enjoy restoring old locomotives to run better than they did when they were new.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
When do you have too many locomotives?
Hmmm…
It’s one of two answers…
First option:
In the flavor of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…”
You might have too many locomotives if…
Your locomotive lash up goes from one end of the layout to the other, without room even for a scale sized person to fit between them…
Option two:
WARNING:
Can not compute. There is no known answer. Please rephrase the question.
My my brain now hurts and is shutting down to avoid further damage from this question.
[:D]
Ricky W:
[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Dave
Economists explain their thoery of diminishing returns. They say each additional item acquired will have less value than the one before it. If they are correct, you will get less pleasure for each new locomotive than the one before it.
They could be on to something. If a model railroader owns more locomotives than he can run on his layout, there is no point in adding another one as long as the primary goal is to have each locomotive running on the layout.
It seems to me there are individuals who are in the hobby of “model locomotiving”, and they acquire more and more locomotives even though they don’t have enough cars to be pulled by the locomotives not to mention enough track on their layouts to run them .
I see hope however. Model railroading is a diverse hobby. It can be just as much fun to make a model of a freight car or a passenger car as it is to make a model of a locomotive. As you construct a layout, you can build bridges, buildings and other structures which are also just as fun. Laying track and making scenery are fun too.
My philosophy with model railroading is I get much more pleasure from building models than I do from owning models.
You may have your own philosophies of course. It’s your hobby. Do what you want.
It really depends on your other hobbies or priorities. I have to make sure my kids get certain opportunities they want. One will have to play some travel baseball to get more playing time. His right arm might take him somewhere.
Right now my youngest son still has electric Thomas trains and a BLI hybrid GN 4-8-4 along with a Roundhouse 2-6-0…and a couple old Mantua engines from my youth. I have an Athearn 4-6-6-4 in service and another new in box. That is it. Other stuff up for sale or gone.
We are happy.
What does it take to be happy?
Song lyric from Point of Grace: “Have what you want but want what you have”.
Sometimes I feel like I had too much.
John
When the reasoning behind owning them breaks down.
For instance, I have two Amtrak P42s for my Capitol Limited. I own no excess Amtrak equipment. There’s no utility in owning a third one. I can only run two at a time!
When will I have too many locomotives? Right after acquiring the next one.
If you ak me, well, then the answer is clearly a must - no one can ever have too many locomotives! If you ask my wife, more than three (1 on the tracks, one in the shop, 1 on the shelf) is way too much. Does that “if you buy one more locomotive, it´ll be me or them!” sound familiar to you? If so, you definitively have too many engines!
Seriously, I am in age age when pairing down starts beginning to be the name of the game. I don´t have a great number of locos, as I had to sell most of them to buy food in bad times, but over the years, quite a few have again accumulated. Most of them are now earmarked to be sold - at least those which will never see the track.
All the above.
I am of the opinion we buyers are but 1/2 of an unbreakable symbiotic relationship…
We keep buying them, they keep making them.
If it wasnt a locomotive, youd just buy something else. Money is only printed to spend.
Team tracks and roundhouses arent as appealing - empty. This also applies to shelves.
If you could only eat ONE potato chip out of a whole bags worth, would you?
All else fails, see answer 1.
PM Railfan
Can I point out that inherent in the title of this topic is the assumpsion that there is a right or wrong answer. [^o)]
That theory needs to be modified for American mountain railroading because one freight train can have 4 to 6 or more diesels on it. Right from the git go, you are not devaluing the first diesel by adding a second because you need MU consists to pull a train, even considering selective compression. Just sayin…
Sure, but don’t forget some modelers are building a roster with the notion of staging, which has been more and more popular since the 1980’s. So if you stage trains and run them across the system, it means you may have quite a few trains, each headed by 3 or 4 or more diesels (remember SP and D&RGW and other roads need lots of power to get trains over the mountains).
Undoubtedly the above is a “bad”
IMHO as many as you need to operate your layout beyond that and again IMHO you’re a hoarder or collector.
However…
Seeing there’s hoarder or collector in all of us there is no escape from becoming a overstock hobby shop.