As far as trains you run--

Mixed. I want to re-live the trains of my youth.  Ahhhh.... my happy place.....

Mixed for sure. I agree a whole huge string of boxcars etc is boring. A nice group of passenger cars of course is a different story. JMO

My freight trains always consist of a variety of boxcars and refrigerator cars - different sizes, railroads and colors. I don't have cars from which to make a unit train. Also run short passenger trains.

MELGAR

Both. Mixed for shorter runs. Unit trains for longer runs.

Both for me, too, depending on the freight.  I've only seen coal and aggregate loads in unit trains, so that's what I run.  I also understand automobiles typically are shipped via unit train, so I run a consist of exclusively screened auto carriers from different railroads.

My favorite, though, is the old fashioned toy train consist of hopper, boxcar, reefer, tank car, flatcar and caboose in the unlikely combination of a single railroad's livery.

What, me worry?

Carl Orton posted:

Mixed. I want to re-live the trains of my youth.  Ahhhh.... my happy place.....

Agreed. Been seeking out Erie and NKP equipment the past few years. Remember the Erie commuters with Alco PA'S and the ore drags from Erie Dock in Cleveland with three EL trainmasters pulling hard. 

Lou N

And since you mention it....

TCA 76-10069, LCCA 8188

Definitely mixed for me.  I usually have several accessory cars included to keep me busy and give the consist purpose too.

Rob S

mixed. todays trains are just plain boring to watch. No boxcar heralds to look for,piggybacks,hoppers, and no Cabin Cars!

Mixed, mostly.  I have been doing mini operating sessions on my layout,  I select about 7 or 8 cars that are to be delivered to various customers about the layout.  I run a local using a single road switcher (GP9, RS-11) to deliver and pick up cars from the various customers.  I also have a second line that I interchange cars with.  As the second line interchanges and crosses the main line several times, I have to keep on my toes when having an operating session.  A typical session last about 2 hours.  If I want to just let the trains run without a specific purpose I will sometimes run a unit grain train, coal train or a train of gondolas with pipe loads.  These trains are usually pulled by several high horsepower units MU'd.  I just turn them loose and let them roam the layout.

I guess it all depends upon how much mental effort I want to put into running my trains on any given day.

Tom

Add me to the mixed freight column too.  I consider myself a 1:48 rail fan and simply find manifest trains more interesting to watch.  That said, i will deviate on occasion and run a coal train behind one of my Western Maryland engine sets as that just seems to "look right".

Curt

Steamer posted:

mixed. todays trains are just plain boring to watch. No boxcar heralds to look for,piggybacks,hoppers, and no Cabin Cars!

In the past few years  around the spring and summer.CSX will have forein power show up.I seen up,bnsf,cn,kcs,ns,We even get sooline units that has not been painted over yet.I see an old box car with fading herald on them.

juniata guy posted:

Add me to the mixed freight column too.  I consider myself a 1:48 rail fan and simply find manifest trains more interesting to watch.  That said, i will deviate on occasion and run a coal train behind one of my Western Maryland engine sets as that just seems to "look right".

Curt

Used to see coal trains during the fall and winter.I live about 3 miles from the tracks.Some times they where so heavy the shook the ground.Heres some thing I saw once.I saw a unit coal train that had mixed freight on the end of it.I only saw that once.

I have always had a liken to passenger cars. I do like freight also, 

I only run what I see out on the rails, mostly modern. Plenty of mixed freight, but also unit trains, coal, intermodal, tank, grain, even frac sand.

I have 25 of those 2 bay ACF hoppers, in that silly red Canada grain scheme. Grain would not be shipped in that style of car anyway, those are typically used for heavy mineral commodities. A quick trip to the paint shop, and they'll all come out in a few shades of boring gray. Some generic lettering, and some cool graffiti, will make them very realistic.

Mostly mixed trains........2 unit trains:

1. Coal train pulled by N&W or LNE.

2. Tropicana train pulled by PC or Conrail.

Peter

I love it all!  I'll run mixed freight, long unit trains and lots of passenger trains. 

Mixed freight for me and a caboose on the end is "mandatory" no mater what I'm running! 

seaboardm2 posted:

I run freight trains on my layout.Mixed freight trains thats what I saw growing up.I look back at that time and wished.I had taken some pictures of the trains.Anyway I like mixed freight trains you get different types of boxcars.Hauling different things such as coal,heavy machines,oil,frozen meats,truck trailers,lumber,powdered cement,scrap iron,steelbeams,plastic pellets,cars and trucks.I am just not a fan of unit trains I find them to be boring.So how about you guys?Do you like mixed freights or unit trains on your layouts.

Mixed freights and beautifully colored schemed passenger trains. IF I HAD a coal breaker or refinery a coal drag or "mobile Chernobyl" would also look great. And while I am commenting, what can be easier on the eye than the SP Daylight?

I run freight & passenger trains, but I don't mix freight with passenger. With freight trains I try to run hopper cars with hopper cars or gondolas, and I use a caboose with every freight train, as I think it looks better then the end of train device on a freight car. For my passenger trains I run only a matched set of passenger cars as it looks better to me.

I try to keep my motive power correct for the particular version of freight or passenger train I run.

Lee Fritz

Short mixed freight on my layout. I like to pick up cars and drop them at other locations on the layout. Different lines (ATSF, PRR, B&O, etc), lots of different colors and sizes. Cabooses are a must for me too! A couple of short passenger trains too.

My layout is circa 1950s, so all freight trains have a caboose. I have a few more modern diesels as well, but all freight trains they pull have a caboose. Most of my freight trains are mixed, but I will run some unit trains with Weaver and/or Lionel TOFCs, Lionel and/or Atlas coal cars or Weaver wood chip cars. 

Mixed freight for me. I like variety. Also cabeese at the end of freight trains. Once I get an old combine I'll really run a mixed train! 

I always run mixed freight, because that's what the PRR freight trains I used to watch for hours were.

But there is an exception: the PRR also ran a lot of very long unit coal trains.  And I like to duplicate those, too.

And yeah, a caboose is a given.

Chris Lonero posted:

Mixed freight for me and a caboose on the end is "mandatory" no mater what I'm running! 

 

Chris, I'm with you. No matter what I run there's always going to be a caboose bringing up the rear. Even if it's a present day consist.

I run mixed trains and unit trains, but my unit trains are so short that they really may not qualify as such.  9 black oil tankers I repainted for a single Co. and 10 two bay coal hoppers.  Until I started organizing my operation system and sequences I ran a string of mixed reefers as a unit train but now they are dispersed in the switching/mixed freight consists.  My idea is to weave the unit trains, passenger trains, mixed freight in with switching operations.  

Mixed, but I like unit trains or consistency in a few areas. 

If it's a special purpose set like the Rocket Motor set, I would not likely mix that with anything else.  Similarly for Tank Train sets with the interconnecting hoses.

I sort of have developed a thing for logging engines and cars.  I wouldn't mix anything else in with the log cars, though I will definitely try to get different types (skeleton and conventional flat as examples) in the same train.  I normally use the same road to match the engine, but I've picked up a few "orphans" for which I do not have a matching engine, so I'd probably sneak those in with another road name sometimes.

Passenger cars I tend to go for matching set pieces. 

-Dave

I definitely like to run mixed freight trains with a variety of car types, rather than unit trains. I vary the consist so i'm not always running the same group of cars together. I strive not to mix cars from different eras in the same train. 

When i run passenger cars, sometimes i run a matched set, but i also like to mix them up, as though it's an excursion train made up of privately owned cars. (gives me a good excuse to buy individual passenger cars that appeal to me).

I'm with a number of you regarding a caboose at the end of a train.  It's been 30+ years since the Class 1's dropped cabooses from the rear of trains and I still miss seeing them.  (And yes; I am aware many still use them as shoving platforms in local service.)

Reduced operating costs and fewer employee injuries are certainly good reasons for elimination of cabooses from real trains but, on the Harrisburg, Horningford and Western, cabooses will continue to run until the current president quits breathing.

And lest someone accuse me of insensitivity to my tiny rear end crewmen, every caboose and/or cabin car on the HH&W is equipped with lap and shoulder belts to keep our 1:48 conductors and brakemen safe from slack action caused by speed demon engineers.

Curt

juniata guy posted:

I'm with a number of you regarding a caboose at the end of a train.  It's been 30+ years since the Class 1's dropped cabooses from the rear of trains and I still miss seeing them.  (And yes; I am aware many still use them as shoving platforms in local service.)

Reduced operating costs and fewer employee injuries are certainly good reasons for elimination of cabooses from real trains but, on the Harrisburg, Horningford and Western, cabooses will continue to run until the current president quits breathing.

And lest someone accuse me of insensitivity to my tiny rear end crewmen, every caboose and/or cabin car on the HH&W is equipped with lap and shoulder belts to keep our 1:48 conductors and brakemen safe from slack action caused by speed demon engineers.

Curt

I to miss the caboose it was like a period on the end of a sentance.In my area southern was the first to drop the caboose.Seaboard was a lot slower about dropping the caboose.Yes I have operated a few trains with out the caboose.But I have a caboose on the end.In my childhood caboose was not red but orange with SCL on it.

Carl Orton posted:

Mixed. I want to re-live the trains of my youth.  Ahhhh.... my happy place.....

Yea its the same with me.I think back to what I saw as a kid.Back then you could still see boxcars with colorful railroads.Heck I even saw wooden gons with steel bracing.And wooden boxcars turned into work train cars.

Hey I would like to thank every one who reply to this.I enjoyed reading your replys.

Mixed Freight in both Steam and modern ares is what I primarily run. However I do run three unit trains

1. Coals drag of about 40 cars

2. Unit Grain train

3. BNSF Husky Stacks

Loooonnnggg coal drags for me. Modern diesels and steam era also. I warm up at 50 cars and go up from there. Narrowed my focus  specifically to that. It helped to thin my collection, whuch was starting to spiral out of control!

I run unit coal trains and grain trains mostly but do run mixed freight trains. 

I run them all (coal, intermodal, grain, mixed freight & passenger ). I switch them up all the time to keep things interesting.

Joe B. 

I run a mix of consists, but really like the 50 car reefer/box sets I run on #1 main.  Also the likes of 26 car dairy/milk with the Niagara pulling; a mix of 34+ "Billboard" cars always looks nice; and long passenger trains from mostly Western lines, or the 23 car NYC Madison Heavyweights pulled by various Hudsons, Niagara, PAs or even PW F3s.  Note:  the F3s are mu'd with 4 pin connectors to have all 4-6 Pullmor motors run off a single E unit.. keeping in sync and pull together.  Oh yeah, the military consist with scale loads and all have a caboose.  Except the passenger... goes without saying, although I did...LOL!!

Jesse   TCA  12-68275

I run mixed although at the moment I am running a string of Gunderson Stack cars with a caboose bringing up the rear.