How many locomotives does one need?

[AggroJones]

I was sitting in my room one night and staring at my BLI 3751. And I realized, I'm pushing the limit of having too many locomotives. According to me, I have a huge roster. 23 now, not including the "junkers". Each one has its own purpose and gets a chance to run. Some people on this board have way more, but I wonder how many actually get ran.

If a DMIR M-3/4 comes out in HO, I 'll try my darnest to obtain one. Even though it doesn't fit the SP/SF theme, I still want it. My roster, for the most part, consist of locomotives I thought had cool prototypes. Which explains my N&W Y3, PRR GP-7, SP AC-5, and UP FEF-3 all on the same layout.

My railroad doesn't have specifically designated assignments for engines.(switching units, branch liners, main freight, passenger units) I own the ones I do mostly because they are raw. But thats not to say I run horribly incorrect consist, like a N&W 2-8-8-2 on a Daylights passenger train. Or USRA 4-8-2B on a modern intermodal. Every thing still makes sense here.

What is your reasoning for owning the locomotives you do? You do prototype operations and each fills an operating roll? You own what you like? Only a certain family of roadnames? You take what ever you can get your hands on?

[coal drag]

All of the above [:D][:D]

Seriously though. With the limited run thinking of the manufactures, if you want some, you better get it now !! I do both what I need for consists, and what I like, even though it doesn't "fit" in. Doing mostly western stuff you can and see many of the eastern roads as well. I do mostly '80s to present so there really isn't much that would be out of place. Even if it does, if you don't like it, you can leave, is my thinking. After all, I'm the boss of my RR.

[Fergmiester]

A locomotive for every reason

[Roadtrp]

All you need is three. That's how many I have. [;)]

My locomotives match the time period of my consists, but I don't claim any great adherence to prototype beyond that. I model the 80's & 90's. I have a BN GP38-2 for my freights, an Amtrak F40PH pulling Amtrak dome cars and an Amtrak P42 pulling a set of Superliners. I would like to get a couple more locomotives for my freights and a couple for switching, but I'm doing OK with what I have now.

[Anonymous]

I enjoy Rock Island, CB&Q, Great Northern, and Northern Pacific.
I'll SLOWLY get a decent amount of engines for all 4 lines, maybe about 6 Q engines and 1 or 2 locomotives for the other lines....

[Junctionfan]

Out of all the locomotives that the Great Lakes and Atlantic supposedly has, I only plan to have 25. Some for switching, others for intermodal, manifests, coal drags etc.

In my club that I am in, we operate our rollingstock on a card system (waybills) and we do it with our locomotives too so we get a chance to use different locomotives per run.

[Mikeygaw]

you can never have enough... although personally i try to get a feel for what each locomotive looks good pulling and often will use it for those types of trains primarily

[Anonymous]

Eventually.................I'll have that basement layout I want, ya know, the huge one!!

Until then, the fleet grows a bit every year, between limited runs, deals I can't refuse and the fact that I like to build and superdetail locos.
Besides, having too many locos is like having too much fresh air!
You may be a little giddy, but I hurts no one.[:D]

Current count, 82 .All but 7 with DCC
Plus 1 under construction
and 2 in the paint line
4 more in the planning stages

.......and the beat goes on!......

[railman]

Modeling the Milwaukee Road, every time I see something in the roadname I feel urged to buy it...I rarely see Milw. stuff around here. (central Minnesota.), so when it comes up, it's a cause for celebration.

[CNJ831]

I'd have to say coal drag is probable pretty close to the truth of the matter; 3 to 5 locomotives should satisfy the needs of the average small to modest-sized layouts most of us build. Of course, basement-filling empires do require more but still not the totally yard filling collections often seen.

That said, I'll be the first to admit that locomotives are like potato chips or peanuts...you'll never be satisfied with the just one (or two...or ten!). I have close to 100 locomotives, collected over the past quarter of a century and I still purchase an additional one from time to time. Most don't ever run on the layout but rather are mainly true collector's pieces (old and rare).

CNJ831

[Javern]

hey railman, whats the best hobby shop up there?

[Paul3]

AggroJones wrote:

QUOTE: What is your reasoning for owning the locomotives you do? You do prototype operations and each fills an operating roll? You own what you like? Only a certain family of roadnames? You take what ever you can get your hands on?

I model the New Haven, so that's what I own, for the most part. I will confess to owning one P&W GP38, two MBTA engines, two Conrail engines, a CN M420, and two Quincy Bay Terminal engines, but the rest of my 50-odd engines are all New Haven. My excuse for having these non-NH oddballs is that I either worked or rode on the real thing.

My reasoning behind the large number of NH engines is that I don't just model March 7th, 1959, or December 3rd, 1948, I model everything I can before 1969. Obviously, I can't do that all at once, so my goal is for my layout to gradually change eras over time, kind of like The Model Railroad Club in NJ, before it resets back to steam.

This means I have to have steam for the 1940's, early Alco's for the early-1950's, GP9's, RS-11's, FL9's and H16-44's for late 1950's, etc. So while I can't run 50 engines at the same time, I will be running 50 engines sequentially.

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[Anonymous]

You only need one. But where is the fun in that? Only one works in very few hobbies like sailing or flying. We just set conditions to keep the 'gimmee, gimmee, gimmee' in line with our pocket book. Currently at several (15 is several, not many), close to many and headed to lots.

[CP5415]

As many as I can buy.
Right now I'm sitting at 42 locomotives.
There will be more.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

i am trying to have a decent roster that represents what the Southern Pacific owned at the time i am modeling.

on the line i am modeling, Beaumont Hill, the SP usually ran anywhere from 4 to 10 locomotives per train so i need lots of power to make a decent looking train.

say the SP had 6 SD45's and 24 SD40T-2's running as helpers on the hill. if i had 1 model SD45 i also need 4 model SD40T-2's so i can try to represent the same consists with the same numbers and types of diesels. it just makes it look better to me.

to be honest, i dont need all the locomotives that i own, but if i have an operating session with 15 trains, i dont want to run the same diesels on different trains all the time (except for the helpers) i want to have a unique consist on each train.

[Anonymous]

Heh... I have (all N scale), 1 Chessie U25-b(atlas), 2 conrail GP-35's(atlas), 2 Conrail dash8's(bachman spectrum), 2 conrail GP-40's(kato), 1 CNW SD40-2(bachman spectrum), 1 Conrail SD45(modelpower), and 1 CSX SD40-2(bachman spectrum)... Yet I still need a bunch more engine's.

[Anonymous]

As few as possible.

The Muddy Creek Northern needs:

1Consolidation for local road service
1 Class A Climax for switching log cars up at the camps
1 Shay to haul logs down to the mill
1 switcher serving the yard & nearby paper mill
1 switcher at the furnace.
Also:
1 doodlebug or rail motor car for passenger service and to follow the old wood-burners during the peak fire season months when use of wood or coal burners are restricted by the State.

The LPBs want all new oil burners and additional switchers for the sawmill and mine but they can hold their breath. The damn NY Central wants us to provide a dedicated loco for fire train service around their Big Shot Director's private forest preserve but he can go scratch, too. You know how much it costs to keep just these few going? Sheesh!

Wayne

[krump]

one more than you currently have ?

(gotta have a goal right - that sounds like an attainable and worthy goal. plus it keeps you interested in the hobby)

cheers,

[sparkingbolt]

My layout could be run as designed with 4 locos. It could handle as many as 7. I only have...well, 30, counting those still far from completion, not counting junkers that will never run.

I like oddball stuff. 4 wheel switchers, Alco C-415, model 44 tonners are easy to obtain, but they're still kinda odd. I plan to probably operate 5 locos on the layout at a time, and rotate the roster as mood and circumstance dictate.

I have around 9 Steam, 21 Deisel My layout will be able to represent the mid 30's to late 60's Dan

[lupo]

for a lay-out as many as the lay-out can handle,
but,
I also like to collect locomotives and put them on display, just to look at.
at one time I will use all on my planned diesel and steam engine maintenance works.
For this reason I kept the collection to the steam-diesel transition period, around 1960,
but some more modern equipment is getting a nicer look every day, and beside bigboys, some other companies ran awsome steamers as well,
I guess there is still room for some more . . .
[:D]
btw: I WANT MORE LOCOMOTIVES THAN I NEED !

[BentnoseWillie]

I plan to start a large layout 5-10 years down the road, and I'm working on a fleet to populate that layout. This means that I need at least four road engines and two shunters - ideally, six and three. With three distinct groups of engines for certain timeframes in mind, that means around thirty engines, with ten or so on the layout at a time. All those engines are getting built now as time and resources allow.

Between completed models, in-progress projects and acquisitions waiting to be started, I'm around 1/3 of the way there.

And don't even get me started on how many freight cars I need to do...the numbers of LPG tanks I need is enough to make me shudder.

"...'nuther dang black tank car..." [:)]

[Anonymous]

Hmm I am going with Noah on thiso ne two of each kind UP had betwen 1944-1955 then I will see where I stand. My grandpa had his own shortline of steamers I would have to say somewhere around 100 in all.

[Anonymous]

I know I have far more locos than I need, or have space to run at once. I tend to rotate my fleet so that three locos are in use at any one time (of a collection numbering well over 20). I've slowed down buying HO equipment of late, mainly due to the fact that I have examples of pretty much every loco and car I want - just buying up the more oddball items now (my most recent HO buy was an E R Models FP7 - wanted one of these for ages and found a store selling them very cheaply, planning to buy one of the Baldwin Sharknoses by the same manufacturer). I'm also looking out for a few locos to complete my collection - another CNW Erie-Built and the CNW DL109, both now out of stock at my LHS so eBay will be watched carefully! I'm also trying to build up usable train formations in the hope of one day building a decent size layout - working on a set of Walthers Autoracks to run with a Dash 8-40B and Dash 9 at the moment.

As a previous response said, it's a case of buying what you can, when you can - I keep forgetting to buy a set of Walthers 53' double stack cars to complete the train I have, though I know if I leave it too long the stocks at my LHS will sell out.

[Jacktal]

What's the definition of "need" in this question?What the layout's operational needs are or the modeller's hunger to own a wide choice of different types of locos?I guess half a dozen locos would operate most layouts quite well for a single operator even with some level of automation,isn't it?

But most modeller don't satisfy with this,and I fall in this category too.To my lady,who doesn't understand but accepts,I already have too many.Is twenty too many?Not to me anyway.I know a fellow who owns 200...well,maybe it is overdoing it a little for some people but yet,it's his pleasure.Personally,my goal sits around 60 or so with 35 six+ axle and 7-8 four axle diesels,mostly freight.Add to this a few switchers and my growing collection of steamers(planning on 15-20) and I feel I'll have an interesting roster.

Some of my purchases are planned but most are dictated by availability and yes,by impulse,so will I stop at that count?I wouldn't dare say that............

[Anonymous]

i'm sitting here a four right now. i need more[^][:D][8D][:)][:P][;)]

[Anonymous]

One needs a loco to pacify an inner desire, After being in the hobby for over 50 years I don't know how many locos I've got. I probably have more locos then a lot of people have cars. If you enjoy them don't worry about the count - that's for the kids and wife to do when I die.

Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[BRAKIE]

When I started out modeling the C&O I wanted a good presentation of the C&O and Chessie(C&O) roster..In my zeal to accompli***his I ended up with far to many locomotives. As a example I have 14 GP7s and 16 GP9s..This of course is far to many of two class of locomotives even though the back bone of the C&O motive power fleet was GP7/9s.Thankfully I limited myself to 4-6 units of the other C&O locomotives except the GP38 and I ended up with 10 of these units.[8][B)]. I also have some Chessie(B&O) units.Now throw in my C&HV units and other road name locomotives you can plainly see that I ended up with far more locomotives then I planned or need.
If I could start over I would only concern myself with my C&HV roster like I did in N scale.It is a true saying :Hind sight is always 20/20..[:D]

[twhite]

Aggrojones: So YOU'RE the reason I can't find any more Missabe 2-8-8-4's! How do you expect me to make up a decent fleet of 'Never Were' Rio Grande 3900's if you keep beating me to the brass websites and swap meets? Seriously, though, this is a good topic--just how many locomotives do we really need on our railroads? I've got shelves full of Rio Grande, SP, GN, C&S to say nothing of Pennsy and C&O, but yes, they do get run. All of them. Depends on my mood at the time. Maybe I'll want an operating session with just Cab-Forwards and reefer blocks, or perhaps a session of Rio Grande drag freights, or some coal trains, or little Consols and Mikes chugging along with way freights, or even a Pennsy triple-header with 2 M1's and a J1. Thing is, I've got the locomotives to do it, and no, I'm not even NEAR finished collecting. After all, isn't BLI coming out with an ATSF 2-10-2 this winter? If you've got them, RUN them. And work on the junkers. I have. Let's face it, we're in the highly enjoyable hobby of model railroading, and which of us DOESN'T get an infusion of 'Squirrel Blood' once we get going? Heck, I've still got my first brass locomotive, a little PFM 1850 Santa Fe 2-8-0, and I bought it in the late 'fifties. Re-built the gear-box about ten years ago and it's still chugging away happily.

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: krump offered: one more than you currently have ?

There you go, someone finally got it right! [:D]

Unless it's "At least one more than you currently have." [(-D]

I don't think it has any relation to the size of your layout or your scheme of operation. It's an addiction............we're talking need here folks.


Regards

Ed (who has way more locos than he can logically fit on a hollow core wood door.....)

[Anonymous]

I suppose if you model inclined cable railways, you would need none. I'm thinking of the 7,000' long Otis Elevating Railway in the Catskill Mountains during the late 1800's. Sure they were owned by the Catskill Mountain Railway that met them at the base station, but no locos ran on the inclined line.

Some logging operations used inclined tracks, raising & lowering log cars via steam-powerd cable winches.

Wayne