How long do you run an Engine?

I have ran an engine continuously for 4 hours before. Typically at home I run for about an hour or so. I know another forum member has ran an engine for 24 hours straight as an experiment to see how it would be affected.

I run my modern engines for hours at a time with no breaks and I have a bad habit of letting them sit and idle powered up for hours while others engines are running or I’m working on the platform or doing services. I like the background noise. I have been known to fall asleep under the platform while the engines are running. I’ve also woken up the next morning with them still running.

Blue, you my friend, have been bitten by the train bug bad!!!

Greg

I run mine for an hour or two then switch it out or sometimes i let engine cool off for 30 to 45 mins then run the same engine.    

Up to an hour at a time, then I switch just for fun.

I help out a modular group set up and break down their layout at local train shows.

I have Williams, MTH and Weaver locos that have run for 6 hours with no break.

Luv dem trains!

Bill

I run while working on the layout maybe an hour or two. I just like to see the motion and hear the noise. I even like to listen to them while at idle.

I run them for an hour to an hour and a half. If I'm going to work on the layout I'll shut down the trains. I kind of find it distracting looking out for an on coming train while I'm working.

I guess it depends on how much water the tender holds . . .

*sorry* 

I run trains at a public museum. Our open houses last 4 hours; if I've only brought one engine and nobody else wants the track, I will let it go for the full open house. Usually somebody else shows up to take over after 2 hours, but I've run one locomotive for four hours plenty of times. 

He better be careful or he is going to catch trainfever

I've let them run all night lots of times. I suffer from insomnia and can't sleep due to work and stress so I have a mat and a couple of pillows on the floor. I fall asleep to the sounds of trains running in the background, it is very therapeutic.

Usually an hour to an hour and a half.  When I have a longer running session, I will swap out locomotives.

Wow, that video is something else!

It would be hard to not step on something once in a while.

ummmmmm....do you really get to sit an run trains for as long as you want?,,,,,,,,,,,

I'll just say I run an engine for a while until I decide to run a different one.... might be 10 minutes...might be two weeks....

your giving me idea's..im just running 11x18 in my living room..Would love to run it in 4 rooms in my apartment,but running O72 curves would be a challenge.

I have run my 6 axel W/WBB diesels for up to four hours, without them getting hot!

Our club have been known to run our club engines for periods of 6 to 7 hours at the displays we do (IE the Barbra Bush childern's hospital ,assisted living homes and others ).I should say that these engines are both Legacy and DCS and our Thomas The Tank Train. The best part is that everyone stays happy .

Most workdays, I run what is on the layout for maybe 30 minutes to an hour.

Most Saturdays, I set up something new for the week and set them running and leave them the entire time I am in my trainroom or workshop - maybe 8 - 10 hours continuous.  I don't even stop them if I go down to the kitchen for a sandwish or something. 

Most Sunday, essentially like Sundays on they get a later start: say 4-6 hours.

My original Lionel prewar Std Gauge run 1.50-2.00 at a time. My O-Gauge run about the same. It really depends upon how many cars each engine is pulling.

My El trains run continuously during my operating sessions, so they are moving for a few hours each session. As for road engines, I have several trains staged around the layout, so I run several engines for maybe a half-hour each. When one train pulls into the station, another pulls out. For example, in my last session, I ran the:

> N&W J608 at the head end of the Pocahontas;

> Hiawatha F7 Hudson with Train 101 in tow;

> Commodore Vanderbilt with the 20th Century Limited;

> New Haven EP5 with the New Yorker;

> Long Island G53 Ten Wheeler with a freight train;

> N&W Y6b with a coal drag.

What makes running so many trains without the aide of an 0-5-0 possible is a multi-tracked station like the Jamaica Station on the Long Island Railroad. There's a switch at the ends of each track connecting all to a single track mainline.

clickety,

Awesome vid!  Thanks.

Until my Grandsons say, "Pappy, that trains getting tired".  And then they pick out another one

There's no rhyme nor reason.  I'll take off the huge Vision Centipede AA and replace it with the blue starter set Circus 4-4-2.

mrMacher,

  I have been known to run our trains all night long when working on different parts of our layouts.  The average however is about 1-2 hours at a time when I am by myself.

At the old Iron Horse Train Club we would some times run trains for a few hours,

work on the layout for a couple hours, and then watch a train movie toward the end of the evening.  Sometimes it was just Frank and me and we would run a couple engines all night long, while talking and enjoying each others company, until it was time to go home. 

PCRR/Dave

Testing out the new MTH P2 263E Engine and Tender on the Iron Horse Train Club

layout, with Frank and a couple of the Iron Horse Train Club members.

When I'm running an operating session on the layout they can run for a few hours depending on the car and train movements I may have.

"How long do you run an engine?"

Until it breaks. Then it gets set aside until I get time to fix it.

Usually for an hour to an hour and a half, or longer if the grandkids or neighborhood kids are over. 

The trains run for as long as guests want to remain in the trainroom, which is usually approx. 1 1/2 hrs; that's non-stop.

Wow guys

If you didn't view Clicket Clack video you might want to. I think he has playing with trains down pretty good.    Nice job.

At the Railroad Museum of Long Island we typically run from 10am to 4 pm without changing locos. Williams seem to be the most durable.

Great video, that's making use of all available space.

doug

Now here's an area where there are differences...I never let anything run unattended.

If I am not looking at it, it's not running. If it is not running, it is sitting at the roundhouse or on a siding - powered down (I have TMCC/DCS, but I also have blocks -

and the occasional conventional moment).

The sound is nice, but, honestly, locomotives sitting on sidings and making noise

constantly I find irritating.

If I'm not using it, it is silent. Remember the old saying: unused locomotives should

be seen but not heard. Or was that "children"? Both, actually. 

I usually get to the basement for a couple hours. I keep a list of my engines, and try to rote them every couple of months. On the Christmas platform I do the same.

Until Marianne calls me for dinner!