count'n cars

IMO Technically no you would count the cars including the Caboose not the locos

I don't count the caboose, only the revenue cars - the cars that make money for the railroad.

So... IMO, the number of cars does not include the loco(s) or the tender if it is a steam loco, or the caboose.

I count the caboose because it has to be taken into consideration for passing sidings.

Rusty

I count the cars and then plus the caboose.

As you can tell, there is no "hard and fast rule" about how we count "cars".  A friend and I were both in HO at the time and the standing rule on his layout was "a STANDARD when building a train is one locomotive to five cars plus caboose."  Caboose were counted as "free tonnage" meaning, they were allowed for in the tractive effort required to "get up the hill". 

Thus the trains on his layout typically limited to three locomotives plus 15 rolling stock and a single caboose.  WHY?  Because that train would fit most staging and pass tracks on his layout.  And we knew which runaround tracks had a shorter clearance point. 

It was not unusual to see a 3 locomotive set pulling 8 or 9 cars and a caboose simply because the train "had work to do" meaning set outs and pick ups and thus what left the yard or staging might not last more than the first industry on the mainline where there was a set out.

But if picking up a car from an industry put you over the 3 locomotives, 15 cars and caboose limit, you left the lowest priority car "in town, not spotted" so it was an easy pick up for the next train going in the direction that one car needed to go.

Yes, we would spot the car for easy pick up because we were leaving work for the next crew...and in real life, Bubba might not appreciate missing his kid's game because he got caught with a couple of pick ups you left him which caused him to sit in the hole until the southbound cleared that station or industry.

But if the next 3 trains had maximum tonnage before then got to that station and that track, it might sit for a couple of sessions (assumed to be a work day).

In the catalogs and other ads, the manufacturers counted every piece at one time.  I remember the Sears Wishbooks that touted the trains by units or pieces with the sets with more pieces commanding more page area and higher prices.

so how do you count double deck, 3 or 5 unit articulated tractor trailer loads?

I count the caboose if it has a even number, odd numbers I don't count. I count the tender if I like the looks of it, others I don't like are out. Box cars are an entire other matter. If the car has plastic trucks, I wouldn't think of counting it. Some metal trucks with tab couplers I count sometimes but not all the time. All wine tank cars are counted, sometime twice. Cattle cars only if they have cattle. Flat cars never ever are counted. They are just too flat. Gondola cars are seldom counted because they are so boring. Ore cars are in the same group of uncounted cars. If you are still reading this, you're a better man than me! 

Don

Well, Don, l read it, twice, still didn't make sense.

LOL - I'm thinking Don is feel'n purtty good right now

I think "Scale Rail" has been checking out the Wine cars too closely  :-)

The tender & loco I see as a team.

To split them in two just seems pretty mean.

You really should count that waycar too.

But I'm not the one telling you what to do.

I won't say a loco with just one car.

I won't say loco with two as par.

I won't add and say three, that isn't for me.

I won't ad and say four, I'll just say say there's more.

Then I'm screwed because....https://youtu.be/n55h0QQXxtE 

Take that Mr Cat

overlandflyer posted:

so how do you count double deck, 3 or 5 unit articulated tractor trailer loads?

In terms of autorack trains, I count articulated 'racks as single cars. If I'm counting cars in a video, I'll repeat the same number for each half of an articulated autorack (45, 46, 46, 47 etc).

For intermodal trains where there is a mix of single and articulated cars, I frame the count in terms of "platforms" rather than cars. A five-section spine car would then be five platforms, even though technically it's one "car" My choice of terminology glosses over the distinction (but that's just me)

---PCJ

Don, the first sentence had me wondering if you had laid out in the sun too long. I caught your drift once I read the second sentence.