Their reference was to the Capitol Limited National N-Scale Convention at Chantilly, VA last August, hosted by NVNTRAK and the N-Scale Collectors Association. The "official" layout size was 507 POFF (Plain Ol' Four Footer) equivalants. Separate TTtrak and Nn3 layouts were on display as well. Jersey Central NTRAK had hosted the previous record breaker (some 400 modules) since 2000. See www.bigtrainlayout.org
Can we forget about the Periodic Table and Stick to the Post Subject please.. So what is the Strongest Commercially Made Loco in N-Scale ?? What is the Steepest Grade a Train has ever gone up with out tthe use of a Cogged traction wheel??
Aw shucks, we was havin fun being Mr. Wizard. I remember seeing a set-up at the NMRA National in Atlanta in 1994 where they had a test track that could be inclined by degree. They were having a contest to see who's engine could climb the steapest grade. I can't for the life of me remember who won but it was an N scale engine. In my experience the Life Like E units have the greatest drawbar pull of any engines.
Yeah, shucks! The weight of the loco is a large contributor to what it can pull. 97.48 real Km/h? That's 15,597 scale Km/h, or about 9500 scale mph. In less than 2 seconds? That thing was pulling about 220 G's.
Wow.. I would imagine at 220G's that the body would have snapped off or at least the Trucks would have worked loose ??? It is facinating to find out that these little Trains can actually achieve so much.....
Ooops, I think calculations are invalid...are invalid... are invalid! Danger, Will Robinson! It was pulling a scale 220 Gs. That's more like 1.4 Gs in real scale. That I can believe!
Cotton Brute In Nov. 1982 The Cotton Brute pulled 513 cars from a dead stop for a record single loco mark, the Brute weight was 24oz and did not use traction tires, later that same day they added 2 FP45 locos and the 3 locos pulled 778 cars all with Kadee wheels and rapido couplers, the length was a scale 6-5/8 mile long consist. The locos were 2 feet from the caboose as seen in this photo.
More records At the August 1983 national convention in Houston they made the long train layout 15' longer it was 115' long instead of the 100' on the last long train layout. one lap was 7.58 scale miles. the Cotton brute pulled 560 string of N&W Hoppers they added more for a total of 844 Hoppers and they had a few derailments they than removed some hoppers and added some boxcars behind the locomotives which gave a little more stability and ended up with a total pull of 950 cars. they couldn't go for 1000 since they had no more room on the layout.the 950 car train ran for over 3 hours with no problems. so the N&W hopper that someone mentioned earlier in this thread was 1 of 560 That Jim FitzGearld bought from kadee for the longtain event, they also had yellow Bill "Doovas" hoppers that said "Long Train 1983"
Single steam At that same convention Capt.P.G. Holts cab forward Sagami powered steamer pulled a record 210 cars
U-60 Cotton Brute Cotton Brute was powered by a Sagami 1630 can motor in the long halves of two minitrix U30s hence the name U60 it's weight was 24oz after the extra lead was added.
I'm intrigued by some of these long trains, particularly the Cotton Brute one and the 1103 car train mentioned at the start of this thread. Why are these not listed not world record holders? Surely if such attempts were going to be made somebody would have the foresight to contact Guinness. In 1996, the Australian Model Railway Association ran an HO train of 4 locos and 650 hoppers representing a Pilbara iron ore train at the 1996 Perth exhibition. The length of the train was 69.51m (228ft) or 6.054 scale km (3.76 scale miles). The train ran 16.5 scale km (10.2 scale miles). AMRA invited Guinness observers to the exhibition and they certified this train as a world record. Cheers David
On another thread on this forum, started by Paul Downs of KSONS, we are discussing the Louisville N-Scale convention to be held in 2008. If they get enough money and interest, they may be able to host a new world record NTRAK layout. With DCC and mid-train helpers we could have a train as long as the main line around the layout...
WOW!!! You mean we'll have an 85 mile long train!!!!???? I can't wait to see it! A few technical issues to consider, however: We'll need 11,220 forty foot cars. There could be over 150 feet of "slack" between the cars. We'll need at least 25 Cotton Brutes. Other than that, this will be great!
Umm, I think anyone who can run a 100+ car train is a record-holder. I'm sure there is a prototype long train record, but it's probably buried somewhere in a daily record of operations. 1000+ cars is neat--although I wouldn't want to set it up. You can set records that are pretty meaningless--except for the fun in setting them!
The strongest pullers I ever had were the old LL FA's the ones with the plastic frames and big weights, there were pretty good runners but they could and if I still had them proably still could out pull and Atlas or Kato loco I have ever had. Kevin
Guinness has that one listed too. It was operated by BHP Iron Ore (now BHP Billiton) on June 21 2001. It had 8 AC6000CWs and 682 ore cars with a total weight of 95,000 metric tonnes. It was 7.353 km (4.568 miles) long and ran 275 km (171 miles) from Newman to Port Hedland. Cheers David
Yes, going back to a record set by the N&W on 11/15/67 - 500 cars of coal. ~ The train was 21,424 feet, 9 inches long. ( 4.058 miles ) ~ Gross tonnage was 48,584. ~ Power was provided by six SD45's, with 21,600h.p., 3 up front - 3 as mid-train helpers. ~ The length record was beat in 1989 by a South African train that was 4.53 miles long. ~ The weight record was beat in 1996 by an Australian ore train that pulled 72,191 gross tons.
Is there some 'rule' that limits this to only two engines or could you use just as many engines as you wanted?
