Next question i have is if i buy the Rio Grande loco, how would i find out if it pulled intermodal containers, and would it pull mixed freight too, like auto haulers, frieght cars, flat cars? What order to the cars go in on a “real” train if i wanted to use a mixed frieght? Would there be one engine or two?
Generally there is no answer to the question without checking photos of trains. Pretty much in a modern era any engine 3000 hp or more would be seen on any train, with the exceptions that 4 axle engines would probably not be seen on “bulk” trains (coal, grain, ore, soda ash, etc).
There is no order to mixed freight trains based on car type other than that required to comply with hazardous material regulations or certain select train placement rules (which don’t affect 99.99% of the cars). the order of the cars in the train are determined by destination, not be car type. So all the cars going to the Denver area would be together, all the cars going to Pueblo would be together, but they could be any type car.
Since the Rio Grande operated through the mountains for the most part so its not a question of 1 or 2 engines its more likely a question of 3 or 4 engines. Really rough rule of thumb is a train needs the same horsepower per trailing ton (hptt) as the grade. So if a train is going up a 2% grade then it needs 2 hptt. So if its a 5000 ton train it would need 10000 hp or 4 SD40-2’s.
OK
Thanks, would you think that i would need to purchace all powered locos? or some dummy ones to put behind the powered ones? Also would it be possible that there would be a Rio loco in the lead then lets say a CSX loco behind it? From what pictures i have seen it seems that many diffrent companys cars and locos are used in the same train.
Your questions indicate you are fairly new in the hobby. My advice would be to join the historical society for the Rio Grande or find a dedicated web site where fans of that railroad gather. I can’t help you because I am into the PRR. Also set aside some money for books and/or videos on the Rio Grande. There are probably several good ones. Get one or two with lots of photos. Studying them is the best way to answer your own questions much of the time. Often railroads did assign certain types of engines to specific roles but exceptions happened all the time. Topography influenced the type of engine also so the route out of Denver to Moffat tunnel could very well have used different negines that a flat land section. Good luck on learning all you ever wanted to know. It is an important part of the hobby. As far as dummy engines my preference at this time would be all powered but they are more expensive. Not too many manufacturers make dummies any more. It may be better to buy a powered engine and remove the drive components so you have parts later for the powered one in the event it wears out or breaks down.
Depending on your grades you can mix dummy engines into your consists. Many manufacturers aren’t producing dummies anymore.
Railroads do pool power so other units would be seen. Genrally you are more likely to see roads the RG interchanged with than roads they didn’t. So I would imagine you would see more BN/BNSF, UP, SP/SSW (maybe CRIP if you are modeling the 1980’s or earlier) engines than CSX . Until the SP merger the only way a CSX engine could get to the RG is over another road. You could also have engines from predecessor roads for the connecting carriers (CNW, MP, MKT, BN, ATSF, WP).
Cars are definitely a mix. You would be pretty close if you had 33-50% home road cars (DRGW), 25-33% connecting road cars (BNSF, UP, SP) and the rest everybody else. Depending on what area you model the mix could vary.
The short answer is that rr’s use “what’s available” for making up a train. As previously mentioned, the weight of the train and ruling grades decided how much horsepower it needed, & the rr then used whatever motive poweer that was available to pull that train.
As for powered/dummy units, today there are almost no dummy units made. In the past, Athearn made dummy & powered locos of just about all the types they made - but the annoying part of that was that both powered & dummy units had the same road #!!! AHM (now IHC) did the same.
Car placement in a train has also been answered. The exception in most cases to “place it anywhere” are tank cars or any other cars carrying hazardous materials. I’m not sure of the exact number, but they had to be placed so many cars away from a loco or caboose or any car carrying people. I’m sure one of our many prototype experts will chime in here.[:)]