I know, kind of a no answer question, or maybe the easiest to answer. "Whatever you want". But I was wondering if there was some simple way to judge how many cars one could put on a layout and still have it look OK, regardless of size. For example, if you have a simple oval, is it "however many will fit on one 'side' including the loco"; or maybe, "how many will fit on your passing sidings". I am sure I'm choking my lines with too many cars. I just now noticed this. So I removed a bunch of them and am having much more fun. Maybe the purpose of this post is just to have my experience out there so others can learn. I very much a beginner and bought quite a few cars and wanted them all on the layout. WON'T FIT! Duh. Thanks for listening.
The number of cars varies with the size of the layout and the size of each train. You do what makes you feel comfortable. It's your railroad.
As Bob said, "it depends" and it really is up to you. But here are some random thoughts. First, you probably want considerable "space" between the end of a train and its front. A train that runs 3/4 of the way around an oval isn't going to look very realistic. Second, you don't usually want to clog passing sidings with unused cars. After all, they are "passing sidings" and are used for, uh, passing, not storing cars. Having an actual train parked on a siding would be fine, but they aren't generally used just for car storage. Then there are industry sidings - it's OK here to have as many or as few cars as the siding will handle, but you probably want to vary the number of cars at industries. Again, having every single industry siding packed with the maximum number of cars probably isn't going to look very realistic. Some should be packed, some should be almost empty, some in between. Now what about yards? Well, a flat switching yard will need an open track (or two or six) to handle classification duties. Prototype yards aren't completely full of cars (well, unless it's the UP during the heydey of the "meltdown" days when trains were stranded everywhere). So what you might look for is balance - you probably want some open space on a layout, and not have every single inch of track covered with cars. This is why most folks consider having "staging yards" to be a "best practice" in layout design these days. The staging yard is where you stash complete trains of cars for trains entering and exiting the modeled layout area. I know some of us just don't have the space, but if you can squeeze one in some way, it sure helps control layout clutter, as well as providing better operation opportunities. John C.
I think that enough rolling stock to cover about 1/3 of your total exposed track would be a good place to start, but that's just me. If your more into operations,cut it down by a couple. If your more of a railfan, add a few, after all, rule 1 applies.
Though, like said above, it is ultimately your call, I found an excellent article some time ago about track plans and operation. I've had to search for it several times, I should just find it and download it. Anyways, the article had you break down your track plan into different components, mainline, passing sidings, storage track and such. You then measure those lengths and from that data you can compute your longest train, number of trains possible, and the maximum number of cars the layout will operationally support along with a few other statistics. I'll make a search for it tonight and see if I can dig it up.
My "Train" of thought...A consist of cars really should not be in 2 'scences' at the same time. Possibly the last few cars leaving one area as the loco and a few cars start into another. It all gives the 'illusion' of distance IMHO. It's kinda why we break up scenes with buildings, rivers, trees, tunnels etc.. Having a somewhat bigger layout I can run about 15 cars before it starts to 'overlap' and look out of place. I also will be having a 'yard' which in itself will dictate the length of a train. But even on a smaller scale...you dont want the train chasing it own tail. My train will fit completely within my tunnel for instance...before the loco pops out the other end. Going through 'THE Pass' it all fits within the pass before coming into the open. A small train on a smaller layout would not look out of place with say 3 feet of train running. BUT...it all depends as you say...what looks right to you. *BTW...running trains through scenery at a slower, more prototypical speed will also give the illusion of distance as it passes from one area into another...give it a try..:tb-wink: .
Check this out. Might be JUST what you are looking for. Joe Fugate's HO Scale Siskiyou Line - Layout design statistics
Here's an easier method... Get out all your cars and put them all on the layout. ALL of them!!! I don't CARE if they're on tracks or not!! Now all the cars NOT on tracks obviously cannot be run. So take them off! Next, all the cars on switches are fouling everything up. So take them off too!! Next, find your mainlines. Mainlines are for MOVING trains, not PARKED trains! So take off ALL the cars on the mainline!! At this point you should have cars on all your spurs and sidings. Yards are just spurs and sidings enmasse. At this point, think about your railroad like you would a steam boiler. If you want the most efficient steam, you need even quanitites of fuel and fire. Each car is fuel, and each destination is fire. If a destinaiton already has fuel, it cannot have fire. Too much fuel and the fire goes out [too much fire and you run out of fun REAL fast!!] So take off precisely One Half of all the cars still on the layout. There is now space for every car on the layout to go Somewhere. The remaining number of cars left is the ideal number of cars on your layout, plus or minus about one train length. Don't worry about the vault of cars you have in your closet. No, you could not build a layout to hold them all, and if you did, you'd only find still more cars sprouting inside the closet... Oh yeah...Don't even think about locomotive facilities big enough to accomodate all those either...You could build a layout of JUST locomotive facilities and STILL not have room for all of them!!!
The only illusion slow speed shattered for me was the illusion that my little plastic people actually wanted to take the train. I took the rosy colored train goggles off and realized they were holding signs that very cleared stated "I can walk there faster" and "I waited fifty years in a cardboard box to sit around waiting for second rate service." hehehehe The best way to get more time on a route is not slower speed but rather more service. Regardless of your top speed, your engineer better not tip the soup in the diner...but time is money and you're not paying him to smoke his pipe and ride the break all the way!!
I dunno Benny...any freight train engineer caught crusin at 100+ mph may find himself strung up by his (fill in the blanks) from a wig wag...lmao !! :tb-biggrin: .
Think in terms of why is the car there. Real railroads don't just set cars around to look at, they are all there for some purpose. Try to justify the cars with an operating scenario. If the layout is a simple oval with passing sidings then the cars are all passing thru so they can be almost any type, if some are left parked on sidings then they must be waiting for something? Are they stored due to lack of need such as grain cars out of season or autoracks in a depression? If so then they probably should be all the same type and not a random collection of mixed cars. If you have industrial spurs then make the cars match the needs of the customer. If you are modeling a specific part of the country or railroad try to learn what the main traffic was there during your era, some railroads were pretty narrow in their traffic mix, others very broad. Yard use in many locations varied greatly over periods of years, some yards that were very busy in the 1950s are almost empty now days and many are completly gone, same thing for industrial areas. If you can come up with an operating plan your layout and car collection will look much better as it grows over the years........dave
Hey Leoh, Do you have a track plan? I'd like to know more about your layout. Hmm, you bought too many cars.. let me guess, you went into the Train Cellar intending to just window shop but Don convinced you to buy a bunch of MTL at 2 for $20. Am I close? Your formally from Lincoln friend, -Mark
Well, first your Said catcher is going to need something to measure the rate of speed by that old Atlantic!!! What's he gonna use, a Tin can and a string?? By the time he knows how fast that train is going, it's gonna be ten miles away. By the time he gets on his horse, that trains another mile away and the horse is only gonna do maybe 30 or 35, tops. Now if he has a motorcar, sure, he'll be doing 60 in that, if it's tuned up ford flathead V-8, but darn that road he'll be in the gutters on both sides if he's not careful!!!
But you see, the real kicker is, he dosnt need a horse/motorcar/V8. He just waits 30 seconds and the train is back having completed its speed run around the oval layout.
I dunno...As Kenny Price sang it... "Now you might outrun my old Chevrolet but you can't outrun my own two way.":tb-wink: .
Hmmm, it only takes 30 seconds to complete one loop at 100 miles per hour...hmm, so the loop is...0.83 miles long...Well, your timer will only be able to touch the scallywap if that is DC and not DCC in them there rails...which I reckon it is...
Benny gives good advice. Have your yards and industries half full. This at least is good advice for any layout with real operations, or even pretend operations.
It's even good on a layout with NO operations!! There's a place to run, and further, if you're shooting, you can acutlaly look around and NOT see a railroadcar blocking up EVERY square inch of camera scenery!!
