A question posted a while back about are there ANY model railroaders that have pure passenger(absolutely NO freight) layout?? there were some great replies, it seems there is not one pure passenger layout, although a few came really close, So be it, Now, for all you others, when you do run a passenger train on your layout, does it simply rip around the layout at great speeds and occaisionally screech to a stop at the odd station, then roar off around the layout. I really don’t know, help me.
I think you have fairly accurately described how passenger trains currently run on my layout[:D] I hope however that it will not always be so. I am in the process of planning a main line station based on the Walthers Union Station. I have tried to add some form of passenger service area for turning the Pullman sleepers. One of the problems is the space needed to do a decent job of this with a good size passenger consist. Anyway, my plan is to have some sort of head end freight switching, perhaps and REX agency area and the aforementioned passenger car service area. I am not sure I am going to do it justice, but I wanted to add some sort of operational interest into the equation, as space permits, so as to try and get away from the continuous running with the odd stop approach.
I have seen a few in the past, it seems very few can pass up freight railroading, i hjave seen a layout based on a subway with no freight. Not sure if u consider that a Passanger TRain. As of me i use them but freight is my main service on my layout.
My layout has grades throughout, and they are all within a short range either side of 3%. So, I do have two passenger trains, and as you might expect, neither is going to be capable of great speeds duplicating what the prototype would do in similar circumstances. So, they chug up the grades, and cruise more quickly down them…and yes, I do use the F7 for flange squeel or braking. I also do use the bell and coupler crash. Might as well, I paid for 'em.
If the train is a local or commuter, I would expect that if you extended the signal and indicated you wanted to board at a designated stop, the engineman would bring the train to a halt at the appropriate spot, the conductor would descend from a doorway with a stepping stool, and ask you see your ticket…just like on the big tracks. [:)]
For the layout that I am currently building, I plan on having a passenger train on the Santa fe line that will stop in Alpine, TX, and then proceed to Presidio, TX where it will be turned back north. This will be a fictional passenger train (probably an E unit, baggage and a couple of coaches) that operates from Ft Worth to Presidio. I still need to come up with a name for it (or possibly just a numbered train).
The Sunset Limited will have a stop in Alpine as well on the SP. The passengers will have to make their own way across town to the Santa Fe station if they want to head north or south by rail from there. The Sunset of course will just be a run through train that will travel on into “la la land”. I don’t have the space to model everything between San Antonio and Los Angeles the way I would like to.
I am excited about the Santa Fe train because I plan on running a mix of lightweight and heavyweght equipment in the same consist, and it is the only passenger train that I will have that I will be able to do so. I was going to just go with a doodlebug, but the more I though about it, the more I wanted to have a small passenger train that made multiple stops on the layout.
I intend to use a lot of passenger traffic on my layout once they arrive. There will be one comuter train running to the mines around the layout with people between shifts. That consist of three coaches. Then there are two sleeper trains with diners and a bit of luxury that sort of passes through yet make some stops. Then there is a large all sleeper train. 10 sleepers plus one parlor car. That will just stop once. It will simulate a regular troop transport that the railroad do for the army. It just passes through. The “military” train will be lugged by a 2-10-2 and consists of all Pullman green cars(Walthers). The other three will be run by two E8/9 AB from Proto 2K and one BLI F7. They are all B&O and so are the cars, they are also walthers heavyweights.
Lillen
I run passenger trains on the Yuba River sub, but since it is a mountain railroad with a lot of curves and fairly stiff grades in spots (up to 2.4%), I don’t think you could call any of my passenger trains ‘fast Limiteds’, LOL!
I have three that I generally shedule: The first is the Yuba River Express (which is anything but), a local that stops everywhere (even some fishing holes) to unload and load baggage and passengers. It’s even been known to set out an express reefer or two at stations and do a little switching, while the passenger cars wait on the station track. The consist is usually a couple of express reefers, a mail car, baggage, combine and coach. Motive power is usually one of my 700 4-6-0’s, or if it’s a particularly heavy consist, one of my 800 series 4-6-2’s.
The second is the 9-car Royal Gorge–1950’s version–consisting of a mixture of both Pullman Standard and Budd streamline, with a mail car thrown in. It usually stops at two of my stations, pulled by my 1800 4-8-4. A helper is usually put on at Deer Creek for the grades, either a 1600 series 4-8-2, or a 1700 4-8-4. I’m still looking for a dome car for it.
The third is the 12-car Rio Grande CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR, made up of BLI cars and powered by a Genesis F-3 A-B unit. It only stops at Deer Creek to pick up or unload passengers, and is strictly a ‘watching’ not a ‘working’ passenger train.
I do have a troop train made up of Walthers’ cars that I also frequently run, since my MR is set in the WWII–early 'fifties era. Power is anything from a 2-8-2/4-8-2 doubleheaded combo to a single 3700 4-6-6-4, depending on my mood.
But yes, I like passenger trains. They can be a lot of fun to operate, and they look very cool!
Tom
Smitty:
How about the KCM&O? or just plain ‘ORIENT’ on the sides?
A ‘Doodlebug’ gas electric and ‘Russian’ Decapod (w. ATSF headlamp). would have been more prototypical. (GOTO made one in brass).
Passenger train operations are an important part of my layout and I run everything from limiteds to commuter coaches. This means there will be plenty of switching of passenger equipment. The commuter cars get switched to the coach yard after serving the morning rush and are brought back to handle the evening rush. Mail and express trains do pickups and set outs in my largest station. Even the limiteds pick up their dining cars at this station because it is the first station that is on home rails. I’m considering a night train that will pick up a sleeping car in route. I think it would be boring to just run the passenger trains over the layout doing nothing but stopping at the stations.
In New Jersey, NJ Transit is a commuter road, with no freight that I’m aware of, sharing some trackage with CSX. One of the busiest lines runs right behind the building I work in, and it seems they run at least 2 or 3 “freights” a week. These are MOW trains, mostly hoppers & gons for track maintenance. There are also the occaisional rail grinding/ballast tamping/tie replacement train. So even if a road is “pure passenger”, there will still be that odd freight train![:D]
This is a late '50s layout under the quise that the Santa Fe had some success with that line. Maybe a good name for the train would be “The Orient”, although I don’t know if the Santa Fe would have used such as a name for one of their passenger trains.
I definately appreciate the advice, and may have found the name for my train.
I originally wanted to “do” an Orient layout, but I have a fondness for the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific and for that area of west Texas, so that is why I am doing what I am doing.
Don’t get me started on the doodlebug path again. I have had my eye on a few Hallmark models for awhile.[;)][:)]
My timetable calls for a LOT of passenger trains - about 75% of the trains not under catenary, and 94% of those with electric traction (yes, there are a LOT of suburban EMU trains terminating at Tomikawa.) None of them run very fast - track speed is only 70KPH, thanks to grades, curves and the rules of the prototype I follow. All of them stop at Tomikawa, most for engine changes - everything from limited expresses to stop-everywhere locals.
As for which trains will be where on what day of the month, the public can consult the timetable, while the professional railroaders will get more information from the daiya - an employee timetable presented in graphic form. Everything is scheduled, and everything runs on schedule. In fact, the only real difference between passenger trains and freights is the type of cars and the lading they carry.
Not everyone’s cup of tea, I’ll readily admit - but it IS mine, and I enjoy it.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
My upper level is exclusively psgr and the lower level exclusively frt (a situation the prototype RRs would dearly love to have!). My operational scheme is centered on terminal operation. I have a double ended psgr depot w/ 8 platform tracks and a run-around track, a 3 track REA building at the the east end of the depot and a 3 track US Post Office bulding at the west end. There’s an eng terminal and 3 psgr yards (I’m REALLY into psgr trains). Operation lnvolves (usually) bringing a train out of one of the yards and into a departure track, cplng up an eng and running the outfit out the double track main and into a reverse loop/staging (out of sight). Then it, or another train from staging, is run back into the depot, power’s cut off and run to the roundhouse, the train is then pulled by the depot switcher around the reverse loop, which runs around the roundhouse, and is spotted into one of the yard tracks. The exception to this mode is mail/expres trains which are made up or broken down in the depot, pulling and spotting from the REA or PO tracks. Another option would be to have some mail and/or express cars to add to or remove from psgr trains.
During Ops sessions, we send out the occasional passenger run to confuse the issue.
Passenger trains have priority over all EXCEPT the President’s Business Car, which we also send out on the back of anything we want to, making that train senior.
Our 4% ruling dictates double-head on 12 or 13 wooden coaches, so it gets interesting.
We have a couple of modernized 2-6-0’s (former woodburners from one of the merger lines, upgraded with extended smokebox, straight stacks, oil bunkers, electric lights) that run passenger, or a modernized 4-4-0 and 2-6-0 with all of the above.
We dynamited the last coaling tower several years ago, and finished installing fuel tanks by selected water tanks.
Sometimes we have to split freights up to get them in “the hole” for the varnish to pass.
Midway in the session the CZ rumblels doun the feather, swaps power in Oroville heading west. Next session shes eastbound. I realy dont know of any railroad that only ran passengers, other then the comuter type of passenger service. 
If you model high-speed operations (TGV, ICE, Shinkansen, even the Acela), their tracks are passenger-only. Though many of them run parallel to slower passenger and freight tracks.
I just love to watch a nice passenger train run along behind the appropriate loco(s). I occassionally stop at the station, but mainly just watch it roll. I do not go ultra fast.
I do have alot of passenger equipment also, i enjoy watching them run by and a moderate speed. If i had the room i would have a huge layout dedicated to just passenger with a huge terminal and some smaller towns. For now i will stick to running a mixed layout.
I run 4 passenger trains (2E & 2W bound), commutor line and one freight line. All trains can be kept running at the same time. The passenger trains hide in tunnels to eliminate the appearance of constant looping. The commutor line is set for back and forth operation. All trains pass through one large train station. Yard operations can also be run in a freight yard and in a separate engine facility yard at the same time.
The real fun begins when the commutor train is routed onto any of the 5 other lines. This means a lot of re-scheduling of trains to avoid conflicts just like real railroads do it. Combine that with an occasional freight using the same trackage adds up to a vast number of combinations and hours of operations.
By using separate tracks (blocks connected by switches) if I get tired I can just sit back and watch everything run at the same time without my help. I still like to get eye level with an approaching train and watch it speed by like I did with my Lionel many many years ago.
I model the PRR in HO with DCC control.
Doc
Right now, I have a pair of commuter trains (two coaches and a GP7), plus my Amtrak run (F40PH, 3-4 cars). Local weekend service is handled with an RDC.My layout isn’t big enough to handle much more than that. All of these trains run at reduced speeds due to the many grade crossings and other traffic.