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[Anonymous]

How many cars,can my atlas gp40,pull,useing 18"radius curves,without any derailing.p.s I plan on useing 22"curves,just curious how many I could pull if I onley used 18".with 4-6,feet straight-aways.or possible 8,feet straight aways.thanks

[michaelstevens]

If you go over to the Model Railroader (General Discussion) forum you'll find a topic which discusses your subject in considerable detail.

Good luck !!

[guilfordrr]

Just make sure the rolling stock can navigate your curves. For good looks, I wouldn't go over 15 cars. The engine should be able to pull more than that, but having 20 or 30-something cars doesn't exactly look great ,and also affects speed and smoke output. Out of curiosity, what type of track do you use, and how big a layout do you have ( or plan to build) ?

[Anonymous]

I plan on haveing around 12 cars behind my 2,atlas gp40,s,and I plane on the layout being,4X8,or 4X12,with 22",18",and maybe a few 15" radius curves,Code 83 is the track I use.

[JoeKoh]

your six axle and steam locomotives will appreciate the 22"radius curves.my atheran engines pull about ten cars.my atlas engines can pull 20 no sweat.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

my one GP60M can pull 20 or more cars fit in 22" radius some time less cars about 5 or 6 cars for my ex- 4 x 9 Feet layout too many of cars

[Junctionfan]

I was at a club which was HO and we ran a train one time that was 70 cars long pulled by to BNSF Proto 2000 engines. Our layout was about 24x105 ft circle with track running into the middle. Our radius was 36 inches though. My advice though is train even half that which is what we normally ran, make sure the couplers if using HO, are Kadees; damn McHenry's snap like a twig;we found that out the hard way. Wider the radius the better and make sure the cars are weight or they will de-rail or tip over such as double-stacks around a bend. Strong beasty engines help. For excessively long trains say over 50 cars Kato, Proto 2000 or Athearn Genesis are the best bet. I must say though those Broadway Limited engines seem like they could pull a big train. Particularly their AC6000CW.

[philg]

Getting even 6 or 4 axle locos pulling a dead loco & 15 cars to navigate 18" is pretty easy or even 16" curves are possible, even in advance of some pretty good (3%) grades.
There will be nay-sayers but before you poo-poo the idea try some attention to detail like how much rolling resistance the locos & rolling stack have, a little super elevation on the curves, you can do it.
If anyone is interested, I will send an email attachment of the details and one can decide for themselves whether it's worth the trouble. I thought it was and the results were very satisfying. If you're going to do it, do it right!
good luck!

[Anonymous]

You might be abel to ask someone at the UP,Thay might be able to tell you,hell thay can't even keep their own power running......It's a joke.
BNSF railfan.

[Anonymous]

I have a layout and I pulled a 100 car train with 2 athearn SD70M's and a dummy.
Them have alot of horsepower compared to them GENNISS loco's.
I burnt out a SD40-2 pulling 15 loaded grain cars(I load my cars fakely).