Freight train length

I do my best to keep all trains to 3 cars (not including caboose) on my layout, with a few exceptions

 

My MTH Imperial Y6B runs with 4 coal hoppers and a caboose.

 

My MTH Railking C&O Yellow-belly runs with 4 C&O 60' Streamlined coaches. 

 

My Railking Scale SW1 runs with two cars, a crane and crane tender as a work train. 

 

All other trains run with 3 freight cars and a caboose. My Pennsy Passenger train also runs with 3 coaches, pulled by an Imperial MTH K4. I used to run longer trains but with my preference to run two trains on the main loop and the fact a majority of the cars sat in boxes or on the shelf, and overall aesthetics (shorter trains look better on my 4x8 layout) I opted to keep it to 3 cars. 

 

Back when I had my 7x12 foot layout, I kept trains to anywhere from 4-10 cars. Those days are gone (for now) and I keep it to 3. Another benefit to 3 car trains is less temptation to buying unneeded rolling stock. If I don't have a train specific for it, I don't buy it. 

I run anywhere from 8 to 24 cars and usually somewhere in between.

The six  freight yard tracks hold 12 cars each.

I built my layout with very broad curves and gentle grades. My current freight train is 40 cars and is just under half of the length of my mainline. It looks great but does exceed the length of my passing siding.

We run from 6 to 10 cars at a time.  Like SJC we have a smaller layout 6 by 11 foot and smaller trains look good,  most of the cars are scale too.  We do have a K-Line Big Boy that is not scale and it has 18 yellow reefer cars it pulls with ease.  My son on the other hand has loaded about 25 plus cars before.  Like our coal drags with our BNSF engines.  That is what we see here daily are the long coal trains and if up to him that is all we would have on the layout. 

At home, about 15. On the club's modular layout... 20-25 usually, just for the sake of having to pack and carry it all, when we mess around and combine forces, up to 60. A lot just depends on how many engines are "laying around" and whether DCS cooperates.

I have a large layout, and could run very long trains if I really wanted to, but I keep most to the 10 - 12 car range. The limit is based on grade and siding length. Motive power is always one dual motor diesel. Beside, anything longer would occupy two towns at once.

On my 8 x 16 my freight trains usually contain 6-12 cars.  26 is the most I run and that's when I'm running just Lionel PS-1 boxcars.

I like to run long trains and fortunately 3 of the mainlines allow me to run 60 to 80 cars with MU'ed units on the lead.  The longest so far on this layout has been 92 cars with 5 locomotives....

 

Alan

Generally the rule of thumb is to limit the freight length to the length of the passing sidings.    That way when two trains meet, they don't have to do a "saw-by".   

 

I built my layout with a goal of at least 20 car trains in the passing sidings.   It worked out they will hold more like 23-25 plus loco and caboose.

 

I like to see my through freights run close to 20 cars and the locals be in the 10-15 car range.   However, the switchlist requirements sometimes cause those to be drastically different.    Every operating session has a new switchlist and the movement requirements sometimes cause the through freights to be shorter.   Usually because the industry capacities limit the number of cars required in locals, they do not get too long.

I run two places - a club/museum with a large layout, and at home in 13x13 ft. At the museum, I'm doing one of several things with a freight train:

-- Run a long, impressive train behind a big steamer or a bunch of diesels. This would run 25-40 cars, occasionally more. I once ran over 50 cars with a 4-unit MTH Milwaukee boxcab  on point and a 2-unit helper in the middle, but that's a really special occasion when I go to that kind of effort. 

-- Show an example of a local freight or "patrol" as the Milwaukee Road called them in the steam era. This might be a Consolidation or Mikado with 8-12 cars, sometimes including a combine to make it a mixed train. 

-- Do some kind of specialty train, such as a Schnabel car move or a transfer run. In that case, I'm simply going to make it as prototypical as possible.

 

At home, I don't have much choice, a locomotive and six or eight cars is about all I can reasonably run anyway. I have one loop with 072 curves, but even there I'm only going to be running the big stuff for test purposes. A normal train would be a Mikado or Geep and six cars. 

I run at the club and most of the time I like running short trains (6 cars or less) with a pair of Geeps or RS27's. Before my Mikado went up in smoke (gotta get that thing fixed) I liked running short reefer or box car trains with it. At open houses, I'll run a longer (more than 2 engines/more than 20 cars) freight or run passenger. I'm figuring that whenever I get my home layout built, trains will be short, unless I build something outside.

5 average on my 5 x 9 layout.

Usually 5 cars..maybe 6...on my 8 x 12.

 

- Mike

Depends on the train.

 

My "layout" is what I call the 'test track'. It's a single-track loop around the perimiter of a living room measuring 11x17. I've run trains of ore cars up to 51 cars (26' not including locomotives), and large autoracks up to 22-24 cars (about 36', again not including the locomotives).

 

---PCJ

I enjoy long trains. There are, however constraints. Obviously layout size. The outside loop of the club modular layout is around 72+ feet.

 

• N&W Passenger, I only own 16 cars, so that's the limit there
• C&O freight and the "Train of Sin" (Alcohol/Tobacco) are both 50+ car consists. Two limiting factors. Couplers staying closed (use a lot of Kadee rubber bands) and the time to pull everything out of the boxes, run it, and put it away. The last time I ran the C&O consist, it took right around three hours start-to-finish.

As soon as I finish in the Family room, I get to go back to work on the attic layout. It will be 14x34. I look forward to being able to setup consists and leave them out for extended periods.

 

Gilly

I usually run 5 or 6.  The limiting factor on my 12'x12' layout is the O36 reversing loop off one of my mainlines.  That lets me put on 2 diesel locos A-A, and 7 (railking) passenger cars, and allows the person standing on the observation platform of the last car to wave at the engineer!

 

One more car and we have a trainwreck!

 

Ed

8 to 12 is a good go for me unless I am running PFE with a UP Big Boy or Northerns latched. I have the Western Pacific and the Southern pacific K line cars and will run 20 t0 24 and love to watch them as they go by one another.

RIK

13 cars.

 

Rusty

I usually run 6-8 freight cars on my app. 9 X 15 layout.  The most has been 14, probably.  There's one light-bulb shaped curve, and the train would be chasing its tail in that area.

I like to run 8 to 10 freight cars. I find I can handle running 5 trains that length at once by myself if I really pay attention. My daughter, 10, likes to run huge trains for fun...in the 40 car range! One consist at a time. I just started playing with conventional again. I can run three engines at once and I vary the number of freight cars to keep them at the same speed. Usually 6 to 9 cars. It gets tricky on the inclines running several conventionals at once, I lock them in forward if running more than 2 trains at a time.