I have a new Williams and Lionel GP38 with matching dummy's, realisticly how may for example boxcars, tankers,and gondola's can I pull without to much stress on the engines. Right now including engines I have a total of 13.
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My MTH NY&A GP38 has been pulling 25 Atlas tank cars around the layout the past few weeks with no problems on the grades My Williams JC GP38 had trouble starting pulling the same grade The lack of speed control makes it start spinning its wheels before the train is moving Once I do get it going it handles the 25 no problem
I HAVE A STORE WINDOW LAYOUT WHERE A GP-38 ROUTINELY PULLS 18-20 CARS MOSTLY THE ONES WITH ERTL DIECAST LOADS.
I limit my engines to about 20 cars, I feel adding the stress is not worth the repair cost.
Good idea , the engine i mentioned ran for a little over 2 years with only an occasional oiling , about a month ago I replaced one of the motors and off to work it went . I only run the one Lionel engine , the other two I run are Williams gp's , all run about 6 hours a day.
Your open-ended question is a bit like comparing apples & oranges. For instance, modern Lionel cars are lighter & the trucks roll much more freely than do the heavier postwar cars with higher friction trucks. Also: the longer the train, the greater chance for random coupler opening toward the front of the train, particularly on cars with the plastic couplers.
Originally Posted by 842:
I have a new Williams and Lionel GP38 with matching dummy's, realisticly how may for example boxcars, tankers,and gondola's can I pull without to much stress on the engines. Right now including engines I have a total of 13.
im pulling 19 with my mth railking SD45..both trains should be close to same in the pulling deparment..
I've pulled 26 Lionel PS-1 boxcars with my Williams GP38...no problem. It could have pulled more, but 26 is all that would fit through my reversing loop.
In three-rail O Gauge, just be cause we CAN, doesn't always mean we SHOULD. MTH engines are notoriously strong pullers in 3-rail, but will typically pull twice what would be a normal load in a prototype environment.
A GP38, while more powerful than earlier predecessors, is still a road switcher, so you'd see it pulling short consists, especially running solo.
On what's left of the Pasadena Sub here in So. Cal., Santa Fe runs two to four geeps (GP30's and GP35's) out to the Miller Brewery in Irwindale, plus switches a couple of other industries. The consist is usually less than 12 cars and runs through around 15 MPH. Santa Fe was a bit of an odd-ball in one regard as at one time they seemed to be really fond of 4-axle locomotives (U25B's, B40-8's, B40-8Ws, C40-8W's, GP60M's and GP60B's,) so you'd see four high-geared GP60M's/GP60B's hauling a string of double stacks at 50MPH through the Fullerton Sub.
UP (and SP before it) used to run pairs of SW1500's, GP20's or GP38's on the Torrance Branch, later switching over to Gensets. Consists varied, but I can't recall seeing more than a dozen cars in the mix. UP also used pairs of Geeps to service a small refinery on what's left of the old PE/SP Santa Ana Branch that ran through Bellflower down to Orange County (LAMTA owns the ROW now, but a small segment is still in use.)
Bottom line is what LOOKs right for the particular locomotive.
