Train Length

[sd75i]

   Those that are so blessed to have train layouts, I am wondering what size trains you run?  Is all your trains the same length?  I am thinking of building a layout to run 40 car trains.  Of course autorack trains would be less as well as doublestack trains.  All my stuff is modern, so I would probably base the cars off of 50' to 60' car lengths.  Every opinion out there would be much appreciated!  Thanks



 dave t

[esa123]

I run all modern stuff and find that 25-35 car trains work out pretty well for a midsized layout. For my through trains, 25 cars works very well for coal trains (especially with DPU units). As you mentioned the TOFC and well cars will require less but everything is generally about 15 "real" feet in length. For local switching runs 15-20 cars per train is very acceptable in a bedroom sized layout. I would caution against having every train either the same length or very long. For starters, you can clog up yards and sidings very quickly and the distance between towns or switching centers has to increase proportionally with train length which means you have to give up real run length to accomodate the increased length. Typically most people focus on the beginning and end of the train so if you throw plenty of mind or gentle curves in your layout that gives the illusion of trains being longer than they actually are. Best of luck!

Erik

[conrail98]

I based my design off of the following train lengths:

3 engines + four 5 unit 48' articulated container wells (1996 era) -> ~9 1/2'
2 engines + 20 100-ton hoppers -> 8'

As a result, I planned on 10' minimum for all my sidings and A/D tracks in the yard,

Phil

[m301]

What? No coalporters, Conrail ?

[Ian MacMillan]

I generally run about 40-50 car trains.

My rack trains are about 50 cars, and thats based on what I have seen CSX running on the Boston Line as of the last few years.

[wm3798]

I can handle about 30 car trains based on my sidings and staging track lengths.

Lee

[conrail98]

What? No coalporters, Conrail ?

Actually, they were coalporters now that I look what I pulled out of my stock to test train lengths,

Phil

[VirginaCSX]

I run one some locals as short as 12 and some main line as long as 30.  You have to have a lot of track to be running 30-40 car trains and get the buggy out of town when the engine gets to the next town.

[Puddington]

I have been running freights of between 10-15 cars on the Samuel Ridge and Passenger trains of 8 - 10 cars on Northill although right now I have an 18 car "Dominion" on Northhill that overpowers the layout but looks too cool to break up as it creeps around.....

[Nato]

          Train Leingth on my layout is usually 20-30 cars. Much longer trains could be run, but they look overpowering. During OP Sessions mainline freight trains might start out as 25 cars and drop off 5 or six at the interchange to go up the branch . A train might also pick up 4 to 6 cars at the interchange to go back to the main yard and go off layout. The passenger trains can be proto leingth as seen in several of my previous posts, but again they like Pud has mentioned look overwhelming so they are usually about 12 cars long. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[Rossford Yard]

My standard train length is 27-28 55' cars, based on staging and A/D track lengths.  I would like it to be a bit longer, as they still look a tad short compared to proto length trains. 

I have run longer trains, and at some point, the extra problems of broken couplers, string lines on grades, etc. outweigh the satisfaction of train length.

On my layout, with its sightlines, I think I would like trains of 32-36 cars, and longer trains would do no good, since they wouldn't all be visible anyway.

I think the actual layout design influences how long your trains need to be, as above.  If you have a lot of curves (most do) and from any vantage point, you cannot see the whole train, the mind sort of fills in a longer train.  If you have a space for really long straightaways, you might need to design for longer trains.