Well, most of my stuff is packed up and I don't have a written inventory, but of the stuff that I have on hand now, I have 2 engines, 5 wells, 4 chip cars and an insulated Boxcar. So 1 Engine per 5 cars. But that's not entirely fair, because I run exclusively at my club and there are club cars. Also, I doubt the ratio would improve if I had all my stuff, but many of my engines are currently unfinished projects whereas the cars are good to go. Also, most of my engines are stuff I've had for 15-20 years whereas the cars are newer.
I am currently about 1:1. Without a layout I have been building locos to pass time. My layout room is now complete except for carpet so I will start building soon. When my layout is built I will fill out my freight car roster a little better. I plan on 3 unit diesel consists pulling 15 car trains.
After the first Albuquerque layout was built out, I had about seven years of running, and kept a few notes about pulling power. This layout was DC, and had a limited roster: 2 Kato E-8s, ABBA Bachmann F-7s, 6 LL SD-9s, ABBA LL FA-1s, 4 Kato RSC-2s, and a few singles. And I had about 60 freight cars and perhaps 12 passenger cars. So it was relatively easy to figure out pulling ratios. The mainline run was about 200 feet. I had fun adding cars until a consist stalled, and then added an engine, and added more cars, etc. I think you need a fairly large layout to do this. When I built the current Albuquerque layout, with about 1200 feet of mainline loop, I started doing the same, but other tasks (DCC'ing all those legacy and many new engines) took precedence. Still, there were readily observable rules of thumb.
I currently own about 120 rail cars (all freight with the exception 18 passenger cars) and I currently own 63 locomotives not counting those I have ordered. So my current ratio is 1:1.9
Well, let's see. If you're talking about ratio of cars to locomotives that I OWN, I'd say it's definitely in the 'car' category--about 400 or so to about 50 locomotives. If you're talking ratio to what my locomotives are expected to PULL on the Yuba River Sub, then it depends pretty strictly on the type of loco, the particular train and the number of cars I choose to put ON that particular train. I have a rather large garage layout with maximum 2.2% grades, but relatively generous 34-36" radius curves, and the grades are not constant. With my non-articulated steam, I generally run between 10-20 car trains over my Sierra Nevada mountains. With my articulated steam, I generally run between 25-30 cars, which is about all the layout can handle and still look relatively 'realistic'. Passenger trains are generally 5 to 8 cars long, generally no longer, simply because scale 85' cars still etnd to look 'awkard' even on my fairly generous curves. As far as power--the biggest percentage of my steam locos are reworked, re-balanced and re-weighted brass (simply because of the two railroads that I model), and are pretty much capable of hauling 'prototypical' loads if need be. So longer trains are generally not much of a problem for me. Either one articulated or double-headed (or even rear-train helpers) work well for me. Oh, BTW, I'm strictly DC. And yes, 'multiple' motive power works just fine for me, thanks, LOL! Tom
Tom, those are some great signals I see there! If you hurry, you might be able to make the deadline for this weekend's Modeling Photo Challenge "Signals" (Has to be a photo taken over this weekend). My owned ratios are based on cabooses. For ever 1 caboose, I have 1.75 locos, 1.75 passenger cars, and 4.75 freight cars. 4 Cabooses 7 Locos 7 Passenger Cars 19 Freight Cars My Running ratios vary depending on the type of train, the time of day, and the direction. In the morning, my passenger excursion runs a ratio of 3:7:1 over Thunder Ridge. After lunch time, the excursion returns 2:4:1 with the 1/2 day tourist. Then in the evening after dinner, the remaining loco and 3 passenger cars bring back the rest of the crowd. Freights either run 1:16:2, or 1:16:1, depending on which caboose type (I always run my SP Bay Windows double. ) Once one of the freight locomotives gets some repair work finished, it will be lashed up with the other diesel of Thunder Ridge to run 2:16:1(2).
I would hardly say I'm an engine'aholic. I only have 8 engines and 86 pieces of rolling stock. On the layout I will maybe have 3 (at the most) at any given time, so my operating ratio is closer to 1:30 or 1:40.
Twhite: my first idea was to question people about the general ratio they own but the effective train ratio is interesting too:thumbs_up: btw nice pics!
I own a Car to Engine ratio of 7.4:1. I run a Car to Engine ratio of 12:1, and I usually run 3 diesel consists.
With narrow gauge I have one engine (still to finish) and 11 cars. With standard gauge I run different trains. Transfer trains usually with two engines and 20 ... 25 cars. Local with one engine and 10 ... 16 cars. Wolfgang
I think that I misunderstood the question the first time around. I have 1 loco for every 8 cars. I'm a tad bit power heavy. Gary
I don't really have one, but it's: 10 cars or less = 1 loco 11 cars or more = 2 locos And if the train is struggling, I'll add a third. Most of my trains run about 20 cars or so. BTW I model N scale and I have a 3% grade in my layout.
If you like that dash 8 you know that Atlas just released the YN3 version of that loco. I have two CSX YN2 dash 8's and a CSX YN3 dash 8.
In my total "roster" I have about 1 engine per 5 or 6 cars. This is based on cars that I have built. If I figure unbuilt carkits, I have abut 1 engine per 8 cars. On the "former" HO Albemarle Division, I ran about 15 to 18 cars per train. As I am planning the V3 of the Albemarle Division, I would guess I could easily run 20+ cars per train. As an aside. My ABSOLUTE favorite train to run was the Sunday morning mail/newspaper special. I would run a mixed train of about 3 or 4... or 5 cars. Usually a C&O Consolidation or Geep7 pulling a loaded coal car or 2, a box car, and pulling up the rear a passenger combine. I would run that sucker for a couple of hours, in each direction while I "piddled" at the layout or workbench, sipping on several cups of morning coffee. Gaaawd, I miss having my layout. Can't wait until construction is done here.
For G scale USA Trains locomotives, they are really powerful. The USA Trains SD-70MAC can pull a 100 car train with a single loco. Other USA Trains locos will vary from 50 to 75 depending on how heavy the freight cars are for single loco running Me personally, as long as I had my layout I never ran a single diesel loco train. I will always run at least two, I like locomotive lash ups and just like running multiple loco trains only because it looks impressive. The most locos I have run together on one train is 4, my Bridgewerks 15 amp 24 volt transformer can't really handle any more than that. If I wanted to run more I would probably have to use battery power. I myself have made a 50 freight car pull, but it was with 4 locos, so I guess to really answer the question my ratio is at 10-12 per loco.
