While my first generation Rail King Chesapeake and Ohio Berkshire no. 2744 can pull 11 Rail King cars without any problems and started right up after about 10 years in storage.
watch?v=isz9uGu4ABM
watch?v=k0s5guSYhQM
For MTH Rail King Santa Fe Northern no. 2927 (30-1465-1) the limit appears to be 10 or fewer Rail King passenger cars. While I have operated the engine with 11 Rail King passenger cars, it will not operate consistently with 11. It will shut down. It is able to easily move out and pull 11 cars. I am told that when the engine is shutting down due to the load being pulled it could harm the motor. So I am restricting it to a maximum of a 10 car Chief.
watch?v=I4GEMcgTjxs
My biggest train was a few Christmas's ago when we ran a 76 car train around a bid dog bone layour around two trees in the living room. I used 0-27 profile track in 72" radious at one end and 54" radious at the other. I used 5 MPC era diesel locomotives, with three on the point and two more 40 cars back. I ran it with two 1033 transformers and didn't have any issue with derailments. The biggest problem was the knuckle's opening on some of the cars. These were all MPC and newer cars as they pull much easier than my post war cars. I do run a 18 car unit train of Sunoco tank cars and also unit trains of the Lehigh Valley coal hoppers that is also 18 cars. I can pull them with a good 675, but you have to make sure you oil the axles of the cars or it is too hard on the locomotive. A 2046 or 2055 with Magna traction is just slightly better than the 675.
Steve
Dave632 I have trouble with pulling the cars right off the track with 036 curves, especially multiple curves. The 054 is more forgiving however.
Dave.......one thing you might try if you have not done so already is to move the heaviest cars in order of weight to the front of the consist and the lightest toward the rear. That should help things. Some of my son's "all plastic" cars from a later model starter set are just too light.
Also, make sure all of the coupler arms and truck pivots on the cars all move freely and easily.
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
SleeperN06 I’m a little embarrassed to ask because I don’t have any idea, but can you have more than one powered O-scale loco in a consist? I have them in N-scale and I've never heard of it in O-scale.
I’m a little embarrassed to ask because I don’t have any idea, but can you have more than one powered O-scale loco in a consist?
I have them in N-scale and I've never heard of it in O-scale.
I bought a second Legacy U28C "U-Boat" specifically to run double headed. For command operation under O-gauge, both TMCC/Legacy and DCS have extensive capability to run multiple units together. The most I've tried is four powered units, but I didn't have enough track for cars to justify the motive power.
A limit to how many cars you can pull? If you have enough tractive effort and the cars don't stringline, you can do this:
watch?v=U96L1YcuI4o
I was testing the pulling power of my windup Triplex, but didn't have enough cars or a long enough track to find its limits. One more car and the caboose was up against the pilot of the locomotive. That is the only time I ran a train that long, although I do occasionally run trains that go halfway around the track.
- James
Thanks Bob, wow that interesting. I’m still learning stuff every day.
Yes. It's done all the time. The biggest problem in conventional operation is keeping the e-units synchronized. One solution is to lock the locomotives into the same direction by shutting off the e-units. This is quick but makes it impossible to reverse. Another is to wire between locomotives, to power all the motors from a single e-unit.
Bob Nelson
Andrew Falconer The length of the train depends on the number of motors in the loco and the weight of the locomotive. Can the motors move the cars and will the weight help the wheels stay on the tracks? Andrew
The length of the train depends on the number of motors in the loco and the weight of the locomotive.
Can the motors move the cars and will the weight help the wheels stay on the tracks?
Andrew
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
I have trouble with pulling the cars right off the track with 036 curves, especially multiple curves. The 054 is more forgiving however.
SleeperN06Wow, so how long is that, 45 ft? You must have a really large layout. I now have 12 cars on my little track and if I do much more the engine will be following the caboose and I have seen that before. LOL
It was a special case, I actually laid some temporary track through three rooms for the test. The track was around 55 foot total, and the train only had about 6-7 feet between the locomotive and the last car. It ran for about 20 minutes to see how much temperature rise there would be in the locomotive, and how hot the motors and electronics would get. I did have to replace a couple of cars because the couplers kept popping open, and finally I wired the last one closed to complete my little test.
No excessive heat was detected, I probably could have run for as long as I liked, I had less than 10C temperature rise for the motors and electronics when I checked.
laz 57 I had a wise old man here (JIM DUDA), on the forum, tell me to keep your train cars only as long as your longest length of track staightaway. ...
I had a wise old man here (JIM DUDA), on the forum, tell me to keep your train cars only as long as your longest length of track staightaway. ...
there is a local HO club that has an operations guideline of, i believe it's 5 cars per powered axle but i know for sure they have grades to deal with.
of course in 1:1 railroading, the longest train you run better be a tad shorter than the smallest passing siding.
sir james I A drop of oil on the end of a toothpick is usually MORE than enough. Then wipe it off. Enough will stay to do the job.
A drop of oil on the end of a toothpick is usually MORE than enough. Then wipe it off. Enough will stay to do the job.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
rtraincollector Sleeper your suppose to use just a drop not by the gallon even train oil would of resulted the same if you applied that much.
Sleeper your suppose to use just a drop not by the gallon even train oil would of resulted the same if you applied that much.
LOL! I guess I did go a little too much with the oil
That sounds like solid advice, but my layout doesn’t have much in the way of straight track.
Sleeper your suppose to use just a drop not by the gallon even train oil would of resulted the same if you applied that much. I have a couple of antique oil cans that I will use if I need to and there small and have a small hole but I still make sure I get it right just a drop. But I can also see that happening very easy I learned the same way when I was young and used 3 in 1 oil
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
I had a wise old man here (JIM DUDA), on the forum, tell me to keep your train cars only as long as your longest length of track staightaway. Works for me.
laz57
I can’t think of the proper term at the moment for the slack in the couplers, but last night I abruptly stopped the train and the end cars were still moving and banging in to the cars in front of them. It surprised me because I never heard that before on my layout and at first it thought had a derailment in progress.
I counted the cars and was mistaken about the amount. I actually have 15 cars and two more from eBay on the way. I don’t know if this backlash is going to be a problem or not and I’m worried that I may have to remove some cars when the other 2 arrive.
Wow, I didn’t realize how much I bought this Christmas. I may have to build another track, but where?
rtraincollector I had a repair guy that swore by singer sewing machine oil but it had to be singer.
I had a repair guy that swore by singer sewing machine oil but it had to be singer.
I don’t know about “singer” but here is the link to my oil fiasco.
http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/t/165208.aspx
not as much of a problem with modern production, the condition of the rolling stock with postwar and prewar trains will have a huge impact on a locomotive's pulling capability. a single poorly maintained car can put as much stress on a coupler as a dozen cars with clean and lightly lubricated axles and wheels.
as for myself at present I have 2 PA-1's pulling 2 PB-1's, scale boxcar, 7 ( about 17" long) MTH NYC passenger cars, and 2 rail-king ( about 16" long) passenger cars on my shelf layout.
I’m actually impressed by this little 4-4-2. The kids have run it off of the tracks so many times and once even put a hole in the wall. I once almost destroyed it buy using sewing machine oil on it which ended up a major clean up job. My 3 year grandson would pull it off the tracks and carry it around only to drop it on the tile floor when caught. I have to say that even after all these mishaps it still runs like a charm. I was afraid that it would lose some traction especially after the sewing machine oil. Of course I don’t know how it would do on a hill or with a lot of car that was reported here.
My new Hogwarts started slipping after adding only two passenger cars to the three that came with it.
Yes. There is a limit to how many cars on a train. Other than the size of the layout this is determined by how many cars the locomotive(s) of the train can pull. It really is that simple.
Pete
"You can’t study the darkness by flooding it with light." - Edward Abbey -
My approach is different, I do not like to overload my engines. A 2 motor diesel will get about 20 cars. A steam engine 10 to 12. Remember as many of us can tell you. You will end up with way more cars than one engine will pull. They all don't have to be on the train.
Wow, so how long is that, 45 ft? You must have a really large layout. I now have 12 cars on my little track and if I do much more the engine will be following the caboose and I have seen that before. LOL
On a level track, I've pulled 53 freight cars of assorted descriptions with a single Legacy SD-80 dual-motored locomotive. It didn't break a sweat to pull the load.
To SleeperNo6: I find a pretty good clue as what the show's going to be like are the hours of operation. Say, if it's a 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM show, I'm sure it's being put on by a local club and pretty much a swap meet, even if it's open to the general public. If I'm in the area I'll go because hey, you never know, do you? But I won't drive two hours to it. A show that's listed as two-day, OK, for that I'll make the road trip.
Again, I wouldn't have driven 350 miles from Virginia to New Jersey for those two half-day shows I went to, I was going to be in the area anyway, but as I said I did pretty well at both.
Thing is, with shows you don't know unless you go, although I don't wail and gnash my teeth if I miss one. This is a hobby for me, not an obsession.
Firelock76A bit of advice: if you're traveling to another part of the country check the "Coming Events" listing in the menu of the "Classic Trains" homepage, it's down at the bottom, You might get lucky. I was in New Jersey in October and there were two shows that weekend in the area I was visiting. Got some good stuff. too.
Thanks, I used to do a lot of traveling for my job and always seemed to just miss them. Once I was in OKC for a week and didn’t find out about a show until I got back home.
I did manage to go to one in Long beach CA once but it wasn’t what I expected and I was very disappointed.
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