So, up until last month when I bought a bunch of discount cars, I had hit the point where I owned more running locomotives than rolling stock.
Have any of you ever been to that point?
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
Oh yea by far. However I will always have more locos than rolling stock as my interest are the locomotives of the Texas Railroads from two different eras. Rolling stock is just props for me. Although I do have some holes to fill, tank cars, flat cars and more seventy and eighties stuff. I think a few orders to Exactrail and tangent will fill that.I just enjoy swapping out locos about once a week and enjoy watching the trains run. A different area of the central texas corridor each time.
SB
Not by a long shot although I haven't counted all the rolling stock. I do have a lot of loco's to be sure, but probably 2 to 3 times as much rolling stock as engines.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
At last count, locos and self propelled rail cars - 130
Freight and non revenue (caboose and work train) - 1,100 +/-
Passenger, all types - 230
Since I only buy based on the equipment needs for the desired operations, the percentages generally stay in check. If anything I could still stand to add a few more freight cars.
But considering that my average freight train is pulled by three diesels or two steam locos, and the operational scheme calls for power changes as part of normal through train operation, that means each 40-50 car freight train needs 4-6 locos, so the ratio is about right at present - one loco for every 10 cars.
Sheldon
No, and I have never been there. I have always accumulated two or three engines per year in my ten-year time in the hobby, but I have slowed down drastically. Meanwhile, I have several passenger consists, about 10 boxcars, and some other rolling stock...oh yeah, about 22 coal hoppers and some closed hoppers. I doubt I'll ever catch up to my car numbers since I acquire two or three of them each year as well.
Proportionately, many of us (me included) have many more locomotives than a real railroad would...that is, a real railroad maybe has 100 freight cars for each engine, us modellers probably are more like a 10:1 ratio. But it's pretty rare to actually have more engines than cars.
Nope, I definitely have more rolling stock than engines - i.e. roughly 5 cars to each locomotive. If stictly prototype locomotives, it would be closer to 10:1.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I suspect the focus on 'engines' is typical for most modelers(we all want to be the engineer). In my case, I am down to about 100 locos, and 350 freight cars. I was up to 300 locomotives and 600+ freight cars at one point. I have been much more focused on era/railroad over the past 5-6 years.
I spoke with a friend last night. Has never had a layout, but has been buying for 40+ years. He is planning a layout. He has over 100 Atlas 'yellow box' engines from the late 70's(never run). He bought them for '2 for the price of 1' years ago from places like Trains for Men and SMC(Sal Marino Company). Lots of work ahead for him to make them layout ready(digging the dried lube out of the trucks will be a project).
I have gotten rid of all of my Athearn 'BB' engines years ago, I have newer Atlas/Kato/P2K diesels and BLI/Spectrum/Proto steam. What I really need to run the layout is something like 25 engines and 100+ freight cars...Oh Well...
Model Trains - It's a condition with no cure...
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I have more freight cars than locomotives.
I got more BNSF cars than locomotives, the same amount as Conrail, more Union Pacific locomotives than freight cars. NYC 1 locomotive and 5 freight cars in the 1950s and 1960s.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
I have much more rolling stock than locomotives.
14 locomotives and 200+ cars in S, which is my primary scale. Comparable ratios in other scales.
My interest is more in running trains. Obviously others have different interests.
Enjoy
Paul
Jim wrote - "Model Trains - It's a condition with no cure..." oh my gosh that is so funny !!!
I am not sure but I think I have about a ratio of 3 to 1.
YGW
I've always had a locomotive shortage, except for Metrolink. Metrolink coaches are hard to find and always costs double the retail price. At one time I had three locomotives and only three coaches.
Other than that I have about 300 cars and used to have 50 locos but I recently thinned out my collection down to about 30, getting rid of some Union Pacific and Southern Pacific locomotives which had been impulse buys and not really needed.
I have 67 locomotives and 358 freight cars..That's roughly 5 cars to every engine.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
At this time the number of rolling stock is more than locomotives, however, I am sure, that this will change within the next few years.
All the best.
Reinhard
Joe F
Brakie. I have to ask. Do you model the trains you worked on or another era ?
I started with lots of locos - DC - not very good ones at that. Once I got the hang of making them run properly I added some rolling stock. Then I progressed to DCC and bought more locos. Then I decided to go almost completely for PRR and bought the cars to match the locos. So for me it was a journey of learning.
Now I only have 6 locos - 2 PRR T1's, PRR GG1, PRR F7A, Santa Fe F7A, ES44AC.
To accompany my PRR locos I have 35 plus Bachmann Spectrum heaveyweight cars that run behind my PRR locos and about 15 freight cars that run behind the Santa Fe F7A or the ES44AC.
So I'd say the ratio is about 1 loco per 8-9 cars. I don't really want or need surplus cars. This hobby is expensive enough without having tons of extras that you cannot run on the layout. I am not a "collector" - I want to run what I own.
Chris.
Loco Guy - is a state of mind - not an affinity to locomotives.
Sit back and enjoy your track...
Nope, definitely more rolling stock than engines. But at the rate I'm buying engines from e-bay, I might catch up in a couple of years.
There's plenty more pieces of rolling stock on my layout than engines. I def need 2-3 engines more (currently have one). Purchasing rolling stock is far easier to justify to the war dept. Also, with a young family, spending $100+ on cars at once is not feasible.
Perhaps I can land a great deal at a train show for rolling stock. Of course, my layout can provide a great home for anyone who is looking to downsize rolling stock!
yougottawanta Brakie. I have to ask. Do you model the trains you worked on or another era ? YGW
While I have 7 Chessie units my main railroads is my freelance Summerset Ry and my Slate Creek Rail. I model 78-80 due to the colorful IPD boxcars of that era but,I can switch to the mid 80s and mid 90s.
My second railroad is SCL/Family Lines set in '78/79.
I have several Seaboard System, CR,NS,BRC,IHB and short line locomotives including a Walthers Ohio Central GP7 and that's why I can switch eras.I have the correct cars for my three eras.
Of late I been thinking of Slate Creek Lumber Company powered by a 2 Truck Shay-probably a United Models Shay.. The Shay would be kept busy switching the veneer and finishing mills as well as the saw dust loader.
I do understand that some folks just love motive power so if thats their focus, they could out number freight cars etc. My interest is to build and run typical D&RGW and SP freight trains between 1965 and 1985. That being the case with approx 150 loco's and some 225 coal cars and never counted balance of freight cars but guessing it's at least a ratio of 1 loco to every 3, maybe 4 freight cars.
There are RAILROADS that have more locomotives than cars. Mosdtly because they own almost no cars. New York & Atlantic comes to mind. 15 locomotives, 2 cabooses.
DMVW has several locomotives, no rolling stock.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Lets see.
1x 2-10-2 DCC
1x 4-6-0 DCC
1x 2-8-0
2x 2-8-2
3x Bo-Bo
1x 4-D-D-4
1x 2-C-C-2
2x F7A/B
1x GP38---Got it as a gift and the kids like it, so it stays...for now
So thirteen engines to...nearest I can tell 200 Rolling Stock?
So of the engines I actually run (as opposed to the kids and yard queens) It's actually 8:200.
Some of us in the HOn3 world have to leap at loco's when they appear. I bought 7 blackstone locos, (C-19s and K-27s), in one year due to sheer availability while having only 1 old la belle long caboose model I built back in the 70's. I also bought and converted two old PFM K-28's to DCC and sound with new motors. Now I am glad I did as some of them are no longer offered except as older stock and prices have leaped up.
I have since picked up a few extra cars at train shows and built two more from kits. Right now it is more or less neck and neck engines to rolling stock. Admittedly, a lot of the plentiful rollng stock that is offered, I can't use as my road runs no passenger service, no reefers, no stock cars and only one oil car and two box cars. I run mostly flats, and gondolas.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
At one time I had a large fleet of locomotives in various roadnames, but I started thinning their ranks over the years, focusing primarily on southeastern and northeastern units. I eventually realized that, for me, it didn't make sense to hang on to units that I had no intention of actually running.
Slightly off topic, but is the locomotive below a "Canadian Taper Cab" or "Draper Taper"? I thought that all had been scrapped.
BroadwayLion There are RAILROADS that have more locomotives than cars. Mosdtly because they own almost no cars. New York & Atlantic comes to mind. 15 locomotives, 2 cabooses. DMVW has several locomotives, no rolling stock. ROAR
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
If I was a more typical Japanese-prototype modeler, that would come with the territory.
Typically, the operation will feature EMU and DMU passenger sets, frequently with most or all units powered. There may or may not be a token freight train. If there is, there may be several locos available to move it.
I'm unusual in that I model ALL the movements, passenger and freight, run by my prototype half a century ago. Thus I've always had a few more cars than locomotives, or several non-powered cars per locomotive.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with freight trains)
fieryturboI had hit the point where I owned more running locomotives than rolling stock. Have any of you ever been to that point?
No, I'm not even close to that. I have about 30 engines (nearly all SP) and close to 250 in rolling stock. I now mostly model the 50's to the early 70's so for the last couple years have collected alot more of the 40 footer cars. I still have probably 50-75 cars of the 70s-80's however I don't run them much anymore, but like to put them on once in a while.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years!
Jeff
AntonioFP45Slightly off topic, but is the locomotive below a "Canadian Taper Cab" or "Draper Taper"? I thought that all had been scrapped.
LION knows knot about tapers. We are close enough to Canada, the railroad does operate on former Soo lines, but who is to say. LION liked that locomotive since it looks like LIRR colors. Their main office is in Bismarck, down a the east end of Broadway. I can try to get better photos, or else just go and ask them.
Draper Taper. The original HR616 units were retired, probably scrapped since they were prone to problems. The GMD's and GE's are still running.