Randy has always included lots of data from experiments he has done. I think his data holds merit in a lot of ways. Surely a lot of info to mull over. That all being said...we all know locomotive weight has a lot to do with traction. IMHO manufactures should include the weight of their locomotives along with other info they list: Scale dimensions and details Directional lighting DCC / DCC Ready Blackened metal wheels Dual flywheel equipped 5-pole skewed armature motor with a low friction mechanism Factory-installed knuckle couplers Endrails Rivet detail Ready-to-run Locomotive Weight xx.xx oz. Of course listing the weight of a locomotive may steer buyers away if its to light. Therefore I dont see many manufactures including that data...unless the thing weights a ton and they are proud of that fact. ;-)
Randy,I would think all of that goes out the window on model railroads.Yes,I run superelevation,I sand it right into my roadbed,but I doubt many guys bother.Even with it,it's more for looks than anything else.The actual relative speed of a model certainly won't push the car to the outside by centrifugal force,if anything,the probably more than likely get pulled to the inside.And model wheelsets are certainly not consistent,some are just plain flat,others have tapers that are greatly exaggerated.Even if everything else was actually "right",the radii of our turns are usually so tight compared to the real thing,you'd need 25 degrees of superelevation to match everything up,LOL!!! Would look like Daytona...
Anyone who's been in N scale for a while knows that the later LL locos will out pull pretty much any other similar loco. The ones I have are much heavier than my Atlas and Kato locos, and that's no doubt a large part of the reason. But DON'T overlook the difference in the wheels. Straight out of the box, LL wheels are very grippy, whereas Atlas wheels have a shiny surface and are very slippery. Once you've worn that slippery surface away, your Atlas locos WILL pull more cars. After many hours of running, my Atlas SD24s now pull upwards of 50% more cars than they could straight out of the box. Regards, Ron