I just returned from an afternoon at my model railroad club running trains. The Club is known as the ETMRC, East Texas Model Railroad Club and is located in Commerce, TX. The layout is approx, 20 x45 feet and has several peninsulas with fairly wide aisles. Today we ran a 100 car train on the layout with 3 different sets of power. Set one 2 Atlas H-16-44s and one Model Power F-7 (metal body) using a CVP DCC system. Set two was 3 Broadway Limited Blueline SD-9s powered by an MRC Control Master 20. Set three was 3 Broadway Limited Blueline RSD-12s powered by MRC Control Master 20. All three sets were able to negotiate the layout for several laps with all of the cars in tow and the Broadway Limited units all had sound.
One of the real impressive sights was watching the train go up a 2% grade while transversing three 180 degree curves one 90 degree curve and two 45 degree curves. The train actually seemed to be slowed more by the curvature than the grade. Two of the Broadway Limited units nearly pulled the train over the grade but stalled in the last curve due to wheel slippage three units had no trouble and could run up the hill faster than was realistic. The cars are all heavily weighted to nmra standards or slightly heavier and equipped with metal wheels, some of them inter mountain semi scale. The noise the wheels make is very impressive when traveling at speed. The minimum radius on the layout is 30 inches on the mainline and the loop in the yard area is 27 inches, the rail is code 83.
On occasion we moved the train by hand just to feel the resistance the locos were pulling against and it was huge. The previous record was 85 cars set the day before with just the two H-16-44s. We were also able to run the train backwards around the layout as well. It seems that the forces involved in pushing the cars puts the limit at about 85 cars as greater loads will force a car from the rails when pushing around the turns when going up hill.
The three unit sets from Broadway Limited could easily pull more however we are not sure the couplers can take much more strain. The Kaydees seem to be ok but the plastic ones and some of the metal knock offs do not seem up to the task as we had several that had to have the offending car placed at the rear of the train to prevent break in twos. On a couple of occasions we had a coupler pulled free from its coupler box do to the heavy strain on the grade or on the grade and in the curves.
It is a great deal of fun to run such a long train over a hill and dale model railroad with lots of curves and quite strange to watch the slack come out of the couplers before the train begins to move. I can only imagine what it must be like on the prototype to run a train that does not allow you to see the other end of it while operating it. It is certainly strange on the model railroad.
So if anyone is in the area you can stop by on Saturdays between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon or on Tuesday evenings 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm as there is generally someone in attendance. The club is located in the rear of the old school gymnasium on Pecan Street in Commerce, Texas. The easiest landmark is the police station and new fire house right next door we share a parking area with them.
At our club one of our set-in-stone rolling stock requirements is actual metal KD couplers. #5s and #58s are both fine and both work great, but any knock-offs are replaced before a car goes in service.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Our club has very few in stone requirements, one must join the NMRA if not a member. Most of the few members run Kaydees and metal wheels and the occasional item that does not is tolerated. The knock-offs as well as cars that are not properly weighted sometimes get onto the layout when an individual has not had time to change them or get them into exact height compliance. It only takes a bit of time to remove the offending cars from a train.
This is not to imply that NMRA standards are not held in high regard. Several scales are located at various locations so cars can be accurately weighed. A test track for checking coupler height and rolling resistance is also set up and operational. The majority of equipment is up to these standards and occasionally one of us will have something new to try out and we find that it is a bit light or comes with something other than Kaydees so it may sit around for a wile before it is completly up to speed.
With the usual 20 to 30 car trains the other items seem to work very well. They only seem to be an issue when running the longer trains.
The club has some very talented modelers in it's small membership, one of which has had several articles published in the national magazines. The general high tolerance for differences and camaraderie make this group really special. I have seen several debates over various issues and they never get out of hand or seem to result in name calling or hard feelings. The most discordant comment I have heard is I guess I got out voted on that one.
In some groups rigid standards are needed to prevent anarchy but we seem to do just fine with out it. It has the added benefit that should a new modeler show up and want to join he or she will be welcomed in to the group even if their equipment is all of the train set variety. The next thing that is likely to happen will be questions as to how come their equipment does not work as well as so and so's.
Now the development of a new modeler begins and we are accomplishing our goal as a club which is to promote the hobby of model railroading. Once one begins working around modelers that do a better job of something the rest begin to try to emulate or improve their own work. There are a lot of projects going on on the club as the layout still has areas that are under development but that has not stopped the members from going back to a scene or section of track etc. and rebuilding it if improvements were deemed necessary.
The one thing I would suggest to all club members is to remember that a club layout is a shared layout and not your own personal property. This requires one to be both respectful of others property and realize that you will not always have things your way.