I was wonder how many cars everyone averages on there layout. When i start running cars, i probably will be running around 12, in 2 trains and as money will allow, get more. So, how many is in your collection/running on your layout?
All my cars are at my layout and in operation. But the trains are too long, so I will have to sell a few cars.
Wolfgang
Currently, I’m guessing close to a hundred cars of various types. I would guess I’m on the low side with many of the people on here in the number of cars. Some people who are in niche roads might be lower, taking narrow gauge rosters for example a person may not have many due to costs, availability, and staying with the themes of narrow gauge in the wild mountains. Most people (including myself) cannot pass up getting a “new” car, even if it’s very similar to the other 20 sitting on a shelf because one day, maybe not today, maybe not tomarrow, but one day it will ride the rails. It’s all about variation. It’s easier to change the looks of the train than it is to change the scenery.
First, I have been in the hobby many, many moons, and most of those, since 1960, have been in HO. That said, my computer on the layout says I have around 950 cars but of those, probably only a 3 - 4 hundred are on the layout at a given moment. I have a lot of staging areas with made up trains in place for operating sessions, which accound for a lot of the cars on the layout. I also have a lot of unit grain trains that cycle on and off the layout.
I keep the layout in a stage of operation all the time, running from a list in order of train departures from the various terminals and staging tracks, and I can operate multiple trains if I don’t get distracted. So between scheduled operating sessions with others present, the railroad stays in op mode.
However, I have been in HO for 50 years now, and I started out buying one engine/car at a time like everyone else.
Bob
I have a very small HO layout so I rotate cars on/off the layout for a few resons:
1} I don’t have room for them all to be on there at once.
2} some are from different eras and so my wooden sided box car and caboose will not look good and would not be appropriate to run behind my modern diesels.
3} some are different parts of the B&O continuing legacy…a CSX car will not be prototypical after a B&O or C&O steam loco, But SOME B&O and Chessie cars can follow a chessie loco,and to lesser extent the CSX locos. I run a few different time periods so I don’t get bored locked into one time frame.
4} I allow "trackage rights " to the PRR so I can run some PRR stuff as well then I have to watch what RR I use. I also allow “trackage rights” to the fallen flag D&H {Delaware and Hudson} as that is mine and other halfs initials so we have started to collect the scarcer D&H stuff- in 2 scales…HO for me and N for other half…
5} when I consist a train, I generally run about 6-8 car trains as I don’t want the tail end of train chasing the loco or the loco chasing the tail end on my little HO pike. ALso, I do have a 4 spur “mini yard” that will hold about 6 cars so I can "consist’ my train from the yard then highball it out on the main line outter oval.
Some day I dream of having even just a plain jane 4x8 that would be a bigger layout than I have now. If I can get rid of some stuff in the train room I plan to build a 4x5.5 layout that will be at least bigger than my current 3.5 foot x 5.1 foot HO layout! [8-|]
I have between 30 and 40 cars currently available for my ~12x16 pike. All fullfil a specific purpose and serve some commercial location actually found on the layout. Since my pike more-or-less represents the terminal end of a branchline and is operated like the prototype and there are no through trains, any excess of cars lacking on-line destinations would be pointless.
CNJ831
About 50 cars are on my layout at any time, I do change them out for others in storage. All together I have several hundred freight cars, but also run them at a model railroad club that I belong to. I have an interchange track area on the layout were cars are swaped out for others, this way they are not just picked off the layout. I like having a large amount of cars to interchange, that way the layout and industries served is never dull.
Let’s see I have 75 HO cars left and 65 N Scale cars.
I generally run about 20. Any more than that makes the layout look quite small.
At this time I have 950 on the layout at all times - but then again I have over 2100 sq ft of layout to fill up.
There are over 150 switching positions not counting any yards or staging tracks.
I figure that I will be needing over 1000 cars to make the layout operate right
I have used Joe Fugates layout formulas to calculate the number of cars needed and I was surprised that what I had originally thought I needed was pretty close to what the formulas stated I needed.
Those formulas also calcualte the number of trains that should be able to run during a session as well as the length of the trains - based on the lenght of the sidings.
This helped me get started on my OPs sessions!
While nothing in the formulas mandates I have to use those figures - it did help me confirm my initial thoughts when I began thinging about operations.
BOB H - Clarion, PA
At present there are 39 goods wagons on tracks that can be used by powered locomotives, and another 60-odd residing in cassettes that can be connected to the cassette dock at Mikasa or the ‘rest of the world’ track on my currently-disconnected colliery module. They get swapped on and off the layout as whimsey and timetable requirements dictate. (NOTE - this does not include EMU, DMU or unpowered passenger cars.)
There are still over 100 cars (including unassembled kits) in storage, patiently awaiting an opportunity to join the operating fleet.
When my layout gets a lot closer to completion, I will be able to hold approximately 224 freight cars in netherworld staging, plus cassettes. There will also be a few dozen JNR cars and rather more Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo cars in visible places. By then, I hope to have all of those stored cars activated and in revenue service. I rather expect that my roster will NOT overwhelm my track capacity.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I have about 150 HO 1950’s era cars in storage and about 115 HO 1900’s era cars on the layout. When I complete the steel mill and the branch I will need about 130-150 on the layout.
When I reach critical mass I will add an additional 50-100 cars in staging/interchange to swap out from session to session.
I also have a a dozen or so “stand in” cars that will get retired/rebuilt and replaced by better quality cars.
See… this is where staging comes in. If you don’t have any staging then you are limited in the amount of cars on your layout. I’m starting to realize this as I purchase more rolling stock, my layout is quickly filling up. I can see how it will affect operations by having too much rolling stock.
This is exactly why I will have staging on my extension room layout. I plan to start building this soon, as it’s critical to operations. Staging will not be very big, like 5 stub ended tracks about 6-8 ft. long. So I will have to come up with a storage system under the layout.
When the main layout and extension room layout is finished, including staging, I believe the max amount of cars on the layout would be somewhere around 160.
I have about 175 cars in various stages - can run on the layout now, need wheel change and Kadees, need numbering change, need assembled, need bashed (On30 cars to be converted to S), need scratch built from parts I have such as brake gear, brake wheel, etc.
Until retiring and moving this year I was running one engine and 2 cars to test the track as it was laid and wired. Now everything is packed awaiting the next layout. When fully finished I estimate that the basement layout can operate nicely with 75 cars minimum and 150 maximum. I’ll probably set up a temporary track before then just to run some stuff while I finish the basement.
Enjoy
Paul
I have room on the layout for about 20-22 cars. I have about 80 cars. Some of those cars however, are destined for a display case since they are not appropriate for my era but need to be retained (gifts, etc.).
Over the winter I may put in some off-layout staging to increase the variety of cars on the layout.
Tom
I have 140 cars in total. The industries on the layout can hold 15 to 20 and the yard areas can hold another 20. With another 30 to 40 behind 4 to 6 engines in transit.
I own about 50, all but 4 of which are on the layout or staging. Those that aren’t have been downed for maintenance (coupler, truck or wheel issues).
By now Baker, I am sure you are stunned by how many Rolling Stock some of the folks here have. I know I was. My self, I can pull around 100 on the two mains, and each main has would have two trains running at the same time. I still have room for around another 80 to 100 cars depending on how packed I want the spurs. That leaves around 100 sitting on shelf’s and boxes.
Cuda Ken
I have about 325 cars in service, not counting passenger and MoW equipment, but not all are on the layout at the same time. As trains come into a staging track at the end of their run, the cars are removed and returned to their boxes under the layout. Between operating sessions, new cars suitable for the industries to be served are made up into trains, and dispatched accordingly.
Wayne
2 Trains on 2 ovals–5-12 cars in each consist
Another 100 or so in storage drawers that are periodically swapped out with engine changes