Just how fast are Garden railway model trains.

[Anonymous]

I have what i thought was a very fast train, LGB 70600 ICE train, modified with engines at both ends and digital controls. It is fast compared to my other trains and with a number of others that I have seen but after doing the figures i'm not so sure. It did 40 metres around a circular track with two very tight R1 type curves, one slightly more than a right angle the other slightly less.

So men follow my figures and see if you agree 40 m = 0.04 Km / 18 sec X 60 X 60 = 8 km per hour / 8 X 5 = 5 mph do you all agree, if so its not very fast, but it seemed to be really humming along.

But if we wi***o reach a scale speed then 5 X 22.5 = 112 miles per hour /5 X 8 = 180 kilometres per hour not too shabby eh.

What do you think.

Rgs Ians Kawana island Rail Speedway.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ian,
Yep, I agree (4.97 mph)! It's 08:00 here so it took me a few minutes to get the head contents going. Speaking of transport, scale or otherwise, heard on the radio news whilst travelling in that one side of the Manchester circular motorway is closed following an accident. There's a broken down wagon on the Runcorn bridge (over the river Mersey) closing a lane down. The national air traffic controllers computer has gone down at 6 this morning and NO air traffic is taking off from any airport. The price of petrol is going through the roof (over 80p per litre now) and the guys who started the last road transport fuel strike are threatening to start again. All in all not a bad start to what will be, probably, another day of silent inner screaming frustration. Did I mention it's also raining.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[bman36]

Ian,
Now this is different. Funny thing, our trains will go a lot faster (in some cases) than we will run them. For instance my Aristo 0-4-0 will go like crazy wide open but I am afraid of the side rods flying off in the process. Must be the "kid" in us that insists on seeing how fast will it go or how much will it pull. C'mon guys....everyone who has enough rolling stock will string them all together until our loco just won't move! Part of the fun. Thanks for the formula. I had no idea how to do this. Now I will pull out the radar gun! If I only had one.....Later eh...Brian.

[RhB_HJ]

Brian,

We all know how quickly a train moves in real life.
If you have one get out your camcorder and shoot some video of the garden railway. Then play it back if it looks too fast, it is too fast.

BTW this works in any scale, I've done it with N and HO stuff just to show people how "nifty" (not) it looks.
That's one of the first things I notice on model railroad videos: quite often a bit too fast. Never mind how they stop and go when they're switching. There may be super realistic scenery, the illusion is out the window when you watch the trains!

[Anonymous]

Don't know 'bout you guys, but I like to see trains "crawl." Moderate speeds that look aestetically pleasing, now if I'm running a so-called "bullet train" I like to see them blur by.

Its a subjective matter of judgement, in my humble opinion..

[Anonymous]

We have always wanted to know the speed of our trains also. In Feb we purchased a Speed scaler at a train show. It can be set for 1:22.5, 1:20.3, 1:24, etc. Tried it out with different brands of locos at full throttle.

Found that our fast locos that seemed to race around the track hit top speed of 30 mph, the slowest 15 mph.

Is it accurate? Not sure, but from what we have read and seen it appears to be relatively accurate.

George

[bman36]

Hi George,
Where did you find this??? Who makes it? Curious to know more about it. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Brian,

Found it at a booth that was selling Accuraft trains at the Amherst Train Show at the Big E in West Springfield, MA back in Feb.

Address is:

Speed Scaler
P O BOX K
Harvard, MA 01451

No phone or e-mail address.

Apparently it is a bicycle type odometer mounted on a Bachmann freight
truck. It will also give scale distance traveled. Comes with a knuckle coupler. but it easy to change to hook & loop, etc.

Cost about $25.00 at the show. Have had a lot of fun with it on our own railroad as well our Club members railroads.

George[:D]

[Jim Duda]

...in the meantime, try this one...
http://www.mcr5.org/speed.htm

jd

[bman36]

George,
Price is right! Sounds like a neat item. Jim: Thanks for the link. Just need my watch in the meantime. I imagine using this method it would be more accurate over a longer run. Much like checking your pulse over a minute versus 15 seconds x4. Gonna have fun with this one. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Gentlemen and Rene.

Kim I know how you feel, but all is not lost, its actually raining here in Paradise (of a daytime too) it is cold, 18 deg C and the surf is not good and the fish aren't biting. Petrol here is also gone up and its cheaper here than anywhere else in Australia, as the state government absorbs the 10 % GST; about 88C per litre (X 0.39 for UK and X 0.70 for US) I think the Kanuk dollar is about the same as ours. We are on a diet and I actually put on 0.3 KG also not good and Doreen did a lot worse, too bad to mention 1.5 Kg and we don't know why.

Well on to trains; that ICE (Inter City Express) train of mine I believe is actually the Eurostar and I have been on that at 160 Km or 100 mph so it might be pretty right. If you guys don't know this train, it is either electric or Des/elec and it is very fast and luxurious designed to compete in Europe with the airlines and it does too. Went from Rome to Naples then from Naples to Florence on it wow.

Rgs Ian kawana Ilsand etc.

[majnnj]

My SD40-2 runs about 20MPH scaled
mike

[Curmudgeon]

Slot Trains.

[Chompers]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jim Duda

...in the meantime, try this one...
http://www.mcr5.org/speed.htm

jd

there's some thing wrong with the link

[Anonymous]

I don't know how this subject came back but on reading my own entyr I found I was in error. The ICE train or LCE is not the Eurostar, looks abit like it but it is not it.
It is a German Train and i amd actually going on it twice in Deutschland. It will do the 364 kilomteres from Frankfurt Airport to Bremn in 3 hours, wow impressive tilt technology and all.

On our way over to England we are also going on on from Bremen to Hanover Airport, and it is just as fast.


Rgds ian

[cabbage]

I have measured my locos' speed and found (much to my suprise) that they run at near prototypical speeds ie. somewhere between 8 and 15 Kph.... At 'full thrust' the fastest loco I have is capable of a scale 25kph -but does it really look as if it's moving around those bends!!!!

regards

ralph

[John Busby]

Hi iandor
I just wish some one built a train controler marked
acuratly in smiles an hour.
So I could run my Express trans at the scale 25MPH they should be doing
So the railway inspectorate don't fine me for being in breach of the light railway act[:D]
regards John