What would be a reasonable ratio of rolling stock to locos to cabooses for a layout to have? My HO layout has an 8 track yard that holds 5-8 cars each, a 2 bay engine house, a 2 track passenger station that will accomodate trains of 7-8 passenger cars each and then sidings for a coal mine, John Deere dealership, grain elevator and 2 for a military installation that each hold 5-7 cars, plus a passing siding that will hold a 15 car train. I’ve got several locos including some dummies just for show, I’m wondering how many locos to display in the yard versus the number of rolling stock and cabooses? I know a lot depends on taste and how much operating is done, but just a ballpark on ratio of how much you own of each category and how much is displayed at any one time would be interesting to know.
I note that your layout description doesn’t mention any hidden staging. In my case, staging needs and capacity are the main driving force behind both my locomotive roster and my non-powered roster.
My down staging capacity is 11 freights (11 catenary motors and about 140 cars) plus 5 EMU cars that play mix-and-match to keep my commuters happy. If I have all my motors in staging, there will still be two empty tracks. Diesel-hydraulics take up the slack.
My up staging capacity is 7 freights (98 cars maximum.) I protect those slots with 9 steam locomotives, one or more of which is usually deadlined for mainenance. Once again, diesel-hydraulics take up the slack.
My passenger schedules require 4 DMU trains and three locomotive-hauled sets which do some car swapping at my engine change point. All seven consists can be held in staging at once. Two motors, two steam locos and one DD51 class diesel-hydraulic are assigned permanently to this service.
In addition, there are two steam switchers assigned to the main station. At any given time there will be about 27 cars on yard, freighthouse and log/timber loading tracks. (track capacity is much larger, but I prefer to keep the yard fluid.) The pool of available diesel-hydrulics consists of six units, not including the dedicated passenger engine. Those not needed are kept in staging or on cassettes.
I also have a coal-hauling private railway which runs a motley collection of tank steamers, a hatful of coal carriers, four passenger cars and a few pieces of non-interchange freight stock. (And that’s all I’m going to say about that bucket of slimy, crawly things!)
As for cabooses, I don’t have any. I DO have seven full brake vans, plus 20 or so box, hopper and gondola brakes. The container flat-brake and reefer-brake ar
An 8 track yard on the prototype will only need one or two locos to operate, more than that would also be hard for a model rr to handle. A 2 stall engine house indicates a small engine terminal, and no more than 4 or 5 would be needed there, depending on sidings etc. As far as what I have, I never tried to figure that out, and have always bought what I liked. I started collecting my rolling stock in the late '50’s, and have accumulated over 100 locos, 500+ freight, 70+ passenger, and 50+ cabeese - along with at least 50 pieces of MOW equipemnt - far more than I will ever put on a layout at one time - especially my present 4x8!!
I caboose for each local, one caboose for each train that will be running at the same time and one caboose for each train in staging. So if you have 1 local, the yard originates 2 trains at the same time and there are 6 staging tracks you ought to have about 9-10 cabooses.
Zero locomotives should be displayed in the yard. Build a shelf.
And after all the trouble Jeffery-Wimberly went to show how to display an old (derelict) locomotive next to the engine house…[:(]
Seriously, unless you are modeling a major engine terminal, there won’t be any unused locomotives in the area. If one is standing still for more than a few minutes, the crew has probably gone to beans and will get it moving again once they finish their coffee…[dinner]
OTOH, ALL of my coal-originating short line will be modeled - excess and temporarily stored locos included. No derelicts, however - scrap metal was too valuable to waste. (0-4-0T #2 recently broke a main crank pin, and will probably be retired as a nice, well-maintained little display near the company office.)[8D]
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)