Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
I can't believe this question.
You put a locomotive on the track and you begin adding cars for it to pull. Sooner or later this locomotive will stop moving. When that happens you turn the power off and you start counting: one . . . . . two . . . . . three . . . . .four . . . . . When you run out of cars to count that's how many cars this one engine can pull.
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
R. T. POTEETI can't believe this question. You put a locomotive on the track and you begin adding cars for it to pull. Sooner or later this locomotive will stop moving. When that happens you turn the power off and you start counting: one . . . . . two . . . . . three . . . . .four . . . . . When you run out of cars to count that's how many cars this one engine can pull.
That being said, there is no one correct answer to the question. I don't have any Z-scale, but I do have N-scale, and I have engines that will pull as few as 5 or 6 cars and one that will pull more than 70. I am sure you would get the kind of variations in Z-scale from egnine to engine(although I doubt you could find one that could pull 70). If you have a particular locomotive or even a particular type of locomotive, someone may be able to answer your question more precisely.
Hi Boyd,
I think the amount of cars a engine can pull depends on the same factors as in any scale, including Z. Here is a link to a MR file where they product tested a GP35: http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=519 mind you they do not say how many cars this tiny locomotive can pull except for a decent length of train. Go to http://www.cwrr.com/nmra/Layout-ZN.html and check out the layouts there and see what those locomotives are pulling.
Hope it helps
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
I think the question is misstated. It should be, "How many cars can you afford to put behind a Z scale engine?".
Being a Z scaler (among other scales) I can answer from my own experiences.My MTL locos will pull 15 cars.around curves 17 on straight track.They could probly pull more but my layout is 2'x4' so the curves come fast.
R. T. POTEET I can't believe this question. You put a locomotive on the track and you begin adding cars for it to pull. Sooner or later this locomotive will stop moving. When that happens you turn the power off and you start counting: one . . . . . two . . . . . three . . . . .four . . . . . When you run out of cars to count that's how many cars this one engine can pull.
Nice answer.
This is one of the reasons I am really losing interest in this site. The guy asks a legitimate question , then he gets beat down like this.
N Scale Diesels......I like 'em
da_kraut Hi Boyd, Here is a link to a MR file where they product tested a GP35: http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=519 mind you they do not say how many cars this tiny locomotive can pull except for a decent length of train.
Here is a link to a MR file where they product tested a GP35: http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=519 mind you they do not say how many cars this tiny locomotive can pull except for a decent length of train.
To be totally honest, one thing I really like in a review ( and appears to be missing from recent MR reviews ), is a general comparison of how the reviewed product performs in comparison to the class average - I feel it helps me stay away from poorer performing equipment
Greg H.da_kraut Hi Boyd, Here is a link to a MR file where they product tested a GP35: http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=519 mind you they do not say how many cars this tiny locomotive can pull except for a decent length of train. To be totally honest, one thing I really like in a review ( and appears to be missing from recent MR reviews ), is a general comparison of how the reviewed product performs in comparison to the class average - I feel it helps me stay away from poorer performing equipment
I totally agree. It is a great reference system.
Jimmydieselfan R. T. POTEET I can't believe this question. You put a locomotive on the track and you begin adding cars for it to pull. Sooner or later this locomotive will stop moving. When that happens you turn the power off and you start counting: one . . . . . two . . . . . three . . . . .four . . . . . When you run out of cars to count that's how many cars this one engine can pull. Nice answer. This is one of the reasons I am really losing interest in this site. The guy asks a legitimate question , then he gets beat down like this.
Look there Jimmydieselfan, my answer may have been just a little tongue-in-cheek and when I made it I should, perhaps, have been in Bed Springs giving perusal to the inside of my eyelids. Look, if you will, at the title of this thread and tell me what is wrong with my answer. Boyd did not specify two things that are essential to giving an exact answer to this question namely what Z-Scale engine are we talking about -- are we talking about an F7 or are we talking, perhaps, about an SD40-2? -- and what is the environment in which this engine is going to operate -- do we have 2% ruling grades? or 8" radius curves? what type cars are we talking about? passenger cars? 89 foot flat cars with trailers? I'm not a Z-Scaler! How in the living h*** am I supposed to know how many cars a Z-Scale engine will pull? Half the time I don't have the slightest idea how many cars my N-Scale locomotives are going to pull. Except in rare cases I always operate with a minimum of two diesels on the head-end of any train. I just keep adding units until my train moves and then I balance the consist.
I have a number of Kato's original N-Scale SD40 offerings from the early '90s. One of these lokes will pull a string of 39 40' cars; I have another one that struggles with 36. Don't ask me why -- and please, lets not go off-topic to provide an answer to this predicament.
I will admit that I maybe should have left things alone since I really didn't have the slightest idea what the answer to Boyd's inquiry may have been but I still think that my answer, as tongue-in-cheek as it may have been, is still substantially correct -- keep putting cars behind a specific engine and see how many it takes to generate a stall. Either that or set yourself up a multi-thousand dollar dynamometer such as MR uses for their locomotive tests.
I did notice there Dude that you offerred nothing substantial with your response; all you could find time to do was find a critique for me and my answer. Your
one of the reasons I'm really losing interest in this site.
By the way, your not the guy that bellyached to the moderators about the quotations in my signature are you?
Boyd:
As in any scale, it's going to depend on a great many variables--the type of engine, the weight and balance of the locomotive, the motor efficiency, whether the MR is flat with wide curves, or grades with sharp curves--way too many variables to give a 'blanket' answer.
Just as an example, on my own HO model railroad, which has fairly generous radii and relatively realistic grades (average 2%), I have several smaller locomotives that will out-pull one of my larger locomotives. It has a lot to do with weight and more importantly, balance--where the weight is distributed most efficiently over the locomotive drivers.
So in any scale, I don't think you're going to find an absolute 'blanket' answer. Perhaps if you get more specific as to locomotive type and manufacturer, you'll get a lot more positive input from fellow Z-scalers.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
R. T. POTEET Jimmydieselfan R. T. POTEET I can't believe this question. You put a locomotive on the track and you begin adding cars for it to pull. Sooner or later this locomotive will stop moving. When that happens you turn the power off and you start counting: one . . . . . two . . . . . three . . . . .four . . . . . When you run out of cars to count that's how many cars this one engine can pull. Nice answer. This is one of the reasons I am really losing interest in this site. The guy asks a legitimate question , then he gets beat down like this. Look there Jimmydieselfan, my answer may have been just a little tongue-in-cheek and when I made it I should, perhaps, have been in Bed Springs giving perusal to the inside of my eyelids. Look, if you will, at the title of this thread and tell me what is wrong with my answer. Boyd did not specify two things that are essential to giving an exact answer to this question namely what Z-Scale engine are we talking about -- are we talking about an F7 or are we talking, perhaps, about an SD40-2? -- and what is the environment in which this engine is going to operate -- do we have 2% ruling grades? or 8" radius curves? what type cars are we talking about? passenger cars? 89 foot flat cars with trailers? I'm not a Z-Scaler! How in the living h*** am I supposed to know how many cars a Z-Scale engine will pull? Half the time I don't have the slightest idea how many cars my N-Scale locomotives are going to pull. Except in rare cases I always operate with a minimum of two diesels on the head-end of any train. I just keep adding units until my train moves and then I balance the consist. I have a number of Kato's original N-Scale SD40 offerings from the early '90s. One of these lokes will pull a string of 39 40' cars; I have another one that struggles with 36. Don't ask me why -- and please, lets not go off-topic to provide an answer to this predicament. I will admit that I maybe should have left things alone since I really didn't have the slightest idea what the answer to Boyd's inquiry may have been but I still think that my answer, as tongue-in-cheek as it may have been, is still substantially correct -- keep putting cars behind a specific engine and see how many it takes to generate a stall. Either that or set yourself up a multi-thousand dollar dynamometer such as MR uses for their locomotive tests. I did notice there Dude that you offerred nothing substantial with your response; all you could find time to do was find a critique for me and my answer. Yourone of the reasons I'm really losing interest in this site. By the way, your not the guy that bellyached to the moderators about the quotations in my signature are you?
I do not know how many cars a z scale loco will pull, therefore I didn't try to answer the question.
You , however, feel the need to add your two cents to practically every topic on this forum.
BTW I could care less about all the babble in your signature.
If you search around the net, I suspect you can find reviews (either by RR mags or "user" online reviews) that will answer your question based on what engines you're looking at. Keep in mind that in the US I suspect most Z-scalers model the diesel era, so are often running mainline trains with 2-3-4 engine consists...so sometimes the key issue isn't how many cars one engine can pull, but how well do three of the engines run together. In my non-Z experience some manufacturers diesels all run about the same speed out of the box on DC, while others vary widely even in models of the same engine. Of course in DCC this is less of an issue, but I suspect that the pct. of modellers using DCC in Z is lower than say HO just because of the difficulty of adding a decoder in such a small space.
R. T. POTEET...my answer may have been just a little tongue-in-cheek...
R. T. POTEET Look there Jimmydieselfan, my answer may have been just a little tongue-in-cheek
Look there Jimmydieselfan, my answer may have been just a little tongue-in-cheek
A little?
R. T. POTEET Look, if you will, at the title of this thread and tell me what is wrong with my answer.
Look, if you will, at the title of this thread and tell me what is wrong with my answer.
Besides not actualy giving any usefull information ?
How would you like it if someone pulled that on you, when you were looking for general data for stuff you probably didn't have access to?
I'm going to say that one can probably take at least 10 cars---judging from what I seen from a friends 'office layout'.It is based on a UP mainline run using diesels. Mind, on a flat surface yet. On a 1% grade he had to take 2 cars off.
As for the kvetching about the OP---why answer the dang thing if'n you can't believe the question? This thread might have already been answered a while back----then again I did this---
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
It so happens that my own best advice is to find someone with the engine in question, if you don't already have access to it yourself, and test it on something closely approximating the conditions you expect to subject it to. In that respect, the first response, as another from the same poster recently, is a sound one. It is also as artlessly stated as it was during that previous occasion. It is artless because it gives no consideration to the fact that the asker probably has enough intelligence to have done that very testing for himself...had he the engine in hand. In view of his question, it was most reasonable to assume he had no such opportunity, and was thus petitioning the readership. In view of that rather obvious conclusion, the response was of precious little utility.
To the OP, I am sorry you have been treated this way...most responders seem to feel the same way. I will merely lock this thread and leave it for you to seek private help via Private Message or email to those who directly answered your question. I wish you good luck, and I hope you will feel welcome and confident to post another question in time.
-Crandell