I am new to this forum as well as to this hobby! I have a very large Christmas Village that I set up every Christmas in a quilt gallery front window. I have a train set that I set up and run in the village and need to run for an extedned time each day. I have the village set on a timer which turns on at 7:00 a.m. and turns off at 12:30 a.m. I do not know how long I can run a model train without burning up the engine which I did last year. This village has evolved over the years and now includes almost 200 buildings, etc. My wife and I started this as a home hobby but we outgrew our home and now share it with the small comuunity in which we live. This is the 4th year for a public display and I actually doubled the size this year due to donations of houses from a local bank as well as my parents who has decided not to set up at home any longer. I set up during the week of Thanksgiving when I am off on vacation the entire week. MY QUESTION IS OUT LONG CAN I RUN A TRAIN AND WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO SET IT UP FOR SUCH AN EXTENDED TIME FRAME? I know that there are model trains that run around the clock during Christmas displays but have no one that I can ask. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. I have a replacement train coming in over the next few days!
Some of the larger public displays actually run multiple sets of the trains and alternate them so no one set is run too long. The Lionel display layouts back inthe 50’s had service done almost daily and also swapped out equipment. Either someone in the store did the work or it was contracted out to a local shop. They would lube the trains and replace brushes/clean armatures/rollers, etc.
You may want to look into using a motion sensor as a trigger for the trains along with your timers. There isn’t much point in having the equipmet run with no audience.
Welcome! There are many folks who run trains at this time of year for substantial lengths of times. I am presuming these are O gauge trains… Personally, I wouldn’t run a model completely unsupervised for such a length of time, just because I’d be concerned about what might go wrong - but as you’ve noted, there are ways of doing so. I think you won’t find a definitive answer to how long can you run train model X or Y. Certainly, Lionel, MTH, Atlas, and Williams / Bachmann are manufacturers of O gauge trains that are robust and capable of running five hours a day, with ‘regular’ maintenance. I would recommend chatting with the proprietors of hobby stores who have in-store layouts.
When we’ve had O gauge layouts to display at public events, we’ve try to have two locomotives to alternate at about the half-way point at an event. The only recent occasion that wer didn’t have a backup was running an MTH Standard gauge Christmas outfit we ran at the Mad City show two years ago. It ran for two show days and didn’t seem to break a sweat.
When I lived in Seattle, running with the Pierce County club, I’d alternate engines every two hours (my postwar Turbines would always be very hot by that point).
Niagara Hobby in Cheektowaga/Buffalo sells them as “refurbished” & clear shrink-wrapped to a heavy cardboard backing. They use the can-motored Pennsy/NYC Flyer type starter set locos and re-tire them(the traction tires), clean them up, lube/etc., and any repairs. Since the layout is on a button-activated timer, I suspect they remove/disconnect the reversing units for display use, hardwire into forward, & then restore them when put up for sale.
I wonder if they have ever worn out a can motor.
The traction tire residue on the layout is remarkable.
As usual my point of reference is postwar American Flyer, but for extended run times I would use a 21160. The 21160 did not have a smoke unit and the reverse is manual via a throw switch not an e unit. I have run a 21160 for 12 hours straight for 3 days with no ill effects.
There should be no need to remove the E-Unit or hardwire the locomotive for forward only operation. The E-Unit should have a lockout switch to do exactly that with just the throw of a switch, then throw the switch the other way when you want the E-Unit to cycle normally, I don’t think that there are any current locomotives that don’t feature an E-Unit lock.
Someone said something about button activated layouts. If you have a button inside the store to turn on the train at intervals of a few minutes and then turn off until activated, your problem could be solved. If you can only see the village from the store front, you could try a remote starter set up like the ones for garage doors. Im not sure exactly how to wire everything…or if its possible with lionel trains, but maybe some of the guys on here could figure something out.
We used to use a Lionel “Big Red Button” on our store layout back in the 90’s. It was the favorite spot in the Mall for kids, as it was just inside the door, and kids could take turns holding the button or watching the train.
One engine that seemed to just go and go and go was the K-Line twin-motored MP-15. The motor didn’t go, but after several years of start and stop operation the gears did. And I think you’ll find the same problem, with either the electronics or the gearing will go before the motor.
Recommendations:
Use a CAN motored engine.
Look for metal gearing.
Stay away from using smoke units. If it comes with one, leave it “off”.
Lube the bearing points of the axels and drivers.
Don’t use more rolling stock than you have to. It’s better to have an over-powered short train than an under-powered long train.
I heard stories at the club back in Houston of overheating diesel/sound units. The units were TMCC and club members felt that the engine was sealed tight to give a sound reverb chamber below the speaker. At any rate…they ran the unit for several hours and “melted” the insides. After that they changed engines every hour or so. I do not think this would be a problem with post war, less expensive “set” engines (without fancy sounds), or with steamers (as the speaker chamber is in tender away from the motor).
At any rate…I would stay away from Command Control engines for extended running. William’s engines were a favorite of our club as were older simpler units.
The Williams equipment would be my first choice as well. The units should still be swapped out at least once a day, if you could have a second set on stand by and switch at half day intervals that would be best. Quick lube and inspection before starting the new set and you should be good to go.
You may also want to consider switching the direction the units run every other time unless th elayout has a ballance of left and right turns. There have been occasional cases of excessive wear to wheel sets on constant right or left turns (and one report of worn nickel silver rails).
I’ve found that the electronic E-units in these locos(I have many - Lionel & K-Line) are notorious for “hiccupping” and giving direction other than desired even when “locked” with the switch. The mechanical ones are more reliable, so
I am new to this forum, so please bear with me. A lot of the recommendations and advice to your question are great, particularly because some of the respondents have had experience with running trains continuously for extended periods of time as you wish to do.
The first thing that came to my mind is the spectacular model train exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The exhibit has been in operation since 1941 and at 2,340 square feet of exhibition space was at the time the largest model train exhibit in the world, with about 1,000 feet of track alone and 40 switches. The exhibit was expanded and currently occupies 3,500 square feet of museum space. The trains run all day every day. And I first got to see it about 50 years ago when the layout was the desert southwest theme running Santa fe F3’s. The current layout took 40 people and 12 years to complete. You can get some great info and photos at msichicago.org.
I’ll bet you could contact the museum and ask if they could hook you up with the person(s) in charge of that exhibit, particularly the maintenance and repair aspect of the trains themselves. These folks work tirelessly behind the scenes but are proud of both their exhibit and the work they do to keep it up and running. And they probably wouldn’t mind sharing their knowledge: what they run and how to maintain trains to run all day long, every day, without trashing the hardware in the process.
Welcome, RockIsland - to add a bit more – the current MSI layout is HO. It was built relatively swiftly (12 mo.) by the Florida professional layout builders with the acronym SMARTT - who also built a mall layout featured in the Dec. CTT - here is a good link: http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/great_train_story/index.html
Usually they run only a few trains at a time - I was told they rotate them every other day.
Oooops, I meant to say 12 months to complete. The original layout first displayed in 1941 was O gauge. I can only imagine what the current 3,500 square foot HO layout is like with 1,425 feet of track.
Another option for extended running are the DC only engines that Lionel made in the mid 70’s to early 80’s. These simplified motors will run (almost) forever with little care.
Some of them are quite nice, like the 8001, the 8007 (both recasts of the PW K-5), The James Gang, and the 8008 Die Cast Chessie 4-4-2