How Many Train Engines are Too Many?

Balshis posted:

C W Burfle posted:

With all due respect, what do you think will happen when all of the government debt comes crashing down? Anyone counting on savings, stocks, bonds, pensions, or social security is toast.

And there is always the possibility of a Nuclear war.

Naw, the asteroid impact will come first.

My money is on a zombie apocalypse.

Looks like I don't yet have enough locomotives. There is a thread about a Lionel B6 switcher. After reading the reviews & seeing the pix, now I want one.

balidas posted: 

Looks like I don't yet have enough locomotives. There is a thread about a Lionel B6 switcher. After reading the reviews & seeing the pix, now I want one.

Yes, isn't it funny how we want something that we never knew existed before.    That could be for trains, or anything else we see that is new to us.  

balidas posted:

Balshis posted:

C W Burfle posted:

With all due respect, what do you think will happen when all of the government debt comes crashing down? Anyone counting on savings, stocks, bonds, pensions, or social security is toast.

And there is always the possibility of a Nuclear war.

Naw, the asteroid impact will come first.

My money is on a zombie apocalypse.

 

Looks like I don't yet have enough locomotives. There is a thread about a Lionel B6 switcher. After reading the reviews & seeing the pix, now I want one.

I guess I better add the Lionel Zombie train and an Area 51 set to my 175 search . . . 

Along this line of conversation, since we are talking about locomotives, does anyone know the thought process Lionel and MTH go through to decide who's railroad name, product, television show, cartoon, baseball team, or super hero gets a locomotive, box car, etc named for it?  I ask because I'd like to see an SD70ACE with RJ Corman paint theme.  But as far as I know, RJ doesn't use this size locomotive.  Is that a deal breaker?  Does RJ decide what equipment gets immortalized in model trains or does the company making the train decide that?  Years ago there must have been a run on billboard rolling stock because I have 45 different cars with some sort of food, drink, condiment, cooking product, and baby food painted on the side of it.  Now a days if you aren't DC comics or Halloween or Hogwartz, or this End of the Line zombie theme, unless you are an active railroad you can't find anything new in the Food and Beverage industry.  It's all gas, oil, chemicals, coal, or yet another box car with CSX painted on the side.  I'm just curious, not ranting. 

Yardmaster96 posted:

Along this line of conversation, since we are talking about locomotives, does anyone know the thought process Lionel and MTH go through to decide who's railroad name, product, television show, cartoon, baseball team, or super hero gets a locomotive, box car, etc named for it?  I ask because I'd like to see an SD70ACE with RJ Corman paint theme.  But as far as I know, RJ doesn't use this size locomotive.  Is that a deal breaker?  Does RJ decide what equipment gets immortalized in model trains or does the company making the train decide that?  Years ago there must have been a run on billboard rolling stock because I have 45 different cars with some sort of food, drink, condiment, cooking product, and baby food painted on the side of it.  Now a days if you aren't DC comics or Halloween or Hogwartz, or this End of the Line zombie theme, unless you are an active railroad you can't find anything new in the Food and Beverage industry.  It's all gas, oil, chemicals, coal, or yet another box car with CSX painted on the side.  I'm just curious, not ranting. 

Usually the "traditional" or semi-scale product lines are where manufactures will be more likely to apply an incorrect paint scheme to a locomotive type, scale/legacy/premier/brass models usually don't get the fantasy treatment.

Well I just purchased another one.  A Lionel B6 switcher.  A 4866 silver with red stripe GG1 is coming today.  That will make nine GG1s !  Might as well go for an even ten.  

          a baker's dozen...

Dan Padova posted:

Well I just purchased another one.  A Lionel B6 switcher.  A 4866 silver with red stripe GG1 is coming today.  That will make nine GG1s !  Might as well go for an even ten.  

The PRR built 134  GG1s over a ten year period. Not sure if all of them were all on the roster at the same time.  So 10 not bad , a good start!

I am the one who started this thread where I listed a total of 12 engines which I thought might be enough. In clearing out the mess under my layout the other day where I stored too many boxes I found 2 more engines for a total of 14. One was an old Lionel Erie AA unit decades old (and still runs) and the other was a Union Pacific Diesel that I had got on sale from Trainworld (Williams) still in its original box and shrink wrap that I had put aside until my layout was completed. I have not counted two motorized trolleys and a section gang car. Maybe now 14 might be enough?

John

John F posted:

I am the one who started this thread where I listed a total of 12 engines which I thought might be enough. In clearing out the mess under my layout the other day where I stored too many boxes I found 2 more engines for a total of 14. One was an old Lionel Erie AA unit decades old (and still runs) and the other was a Union Pacific Diesel that I had got on sale from Trainworld (Williams) still in its original box and shrink wrap that I had put aside until my layout was completed. I have not counted two motorized trolleys and a section gang car. Maybe now 14 might be enough?

John

Nope!

Tom

LIRR Steamer posted:

Dan Padova posted:

Well I just purchased another one.  A Lionel B6 switcher.  A 4866 silver with red stripe GG1 is coming today.  That will make nine GG1s !  Might as well go for an even ten.  

The PRR built 134  GG1s over a ten year period. Not sure if all of them were all on the roster at the same time.  So 10 not bad , a good start!

 

Yeah but didn't the PRR have a slightly larger layout than the majority of O gaugers? Proportionately speaking that is.

Maybe now 14 might be enough?

It's enough for you if that is what you want.

Just got another shipment in, so now I have a grand total of 22 locomotives. The latest addition is an NS 1073 Penn Central. I consider this enough motive power for the time being until Athearn’s SD60Es come out, in which NS 911 will be added.

Actually, there is no correct answer to the question.  The beauty of this hobby is that there are so many ways to enjoy it.  Some are collectors that do not have a layout.  Some have a small circle of track mounted on a piece of plywood.  Some have enormous layouts with detailed scenery and prototypical operation.  The point is that each individual has their own "limit" as to how many locomotives are enough.  If you ask the manufacturers, you NEVER have enough locomotives.  They dangle carrots in front of us a couple times a year hoping that we need "just one more" locomotive, car or accessory.  Part of the joy of this hobby is the search for a particular item.  Whether it is a scarce piece from long ago or something that has not been produced yet, we enjoy the anticipation of eventually acquiring it.  Part of the search is the connections we make with fellow hobbyist.  The next thing you know we are on a forum asking if we have too many engines.  A vicious circle!

Tom

To quote Mona Lisa Vito in "My Cousin Vinny":  "It's a trick question!" "Nobody can answer that question!"

DAN,  I though my 6 GG1's were allot.  Some day I will line them up and take a picture.  "Army-Navy Game", unless you do it before me.         

always room for just one more engine

Doug-Sr posted:

always room for just one more engine

Possibly when you find yourself being jabbed with tender corners and feed water heaters from the 29 brass engines you are forced to sleep with, in your bed.

*appears after his name is said for the third time*

I’m a big believer that you can have as many engines as you want as long as:

It doesn’t cause friction with spouses.

It doesn’t put your present or future in financial jeopardy.

You have sensible limits.

I haven’t bought an engine in almost six years. It isn’t for a lack of amazing new products, wonderful vintage or great deals. I just have been... content with what I have. 

There’s a short list of things I want and still actively look for. Some of its O-gauge, some is Standard gauge but none of it is something I need to buy right now.

What do you mean I have no self control.  I have not purchased an engine in, well, two days.

When you can't program all your engines in your Legacy Remote, you have too many.

It is time to thin out the engines.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

John, the ones that don't fit in the Legacy remote are programmed into the DCS Remote!

Question: How many train engines are too many?

Answer:  Is there such a thing? 

Wow, six pages of responses! I admit I have not read them all.

My first thought is that this is one of those trick logic questions. Like when the prosecutor asks the defendant on the stand, "So how long have you been beating your wife?!!"

The answer to the prosecutor by opposing counsel is, "Objection! Assumes a fact not in evidence that the defendant actually beats his wife!" Judge, "Sustained!"

The answer to this question would be, "Objection! Assumes a fact not in evidence that there is a limit on how many trains someone can have!"

George

I think you have too many trains when you run out of cabinet space to hold them!

If I take each of my engines and run them for 15 minutes each; it will take me 84.6  days running 24/7 non-stop to run them all for their 15 minutes of fame. 

That is sick!!

NS6770Fan posted:

I think you have too many trains when you run out of cabinet space to hold them!

NOOOOOOOO!  I have too many already by your measurement, that's wrong!

AlanRail posted:

If I take each of my engines and run them for 15 minutes each; it will take me 84.6  days running 24/7 non-stop to run them all for their 15 minutes of fame. 

That is sick!!

You REALLY have over 8,000 engines?  

You only need/want ONE more.

OOPs  forgot to covert the minutes into hours!!! before I divided by 24

so instead of 84.6 DAYS it would be --->only about 33 continuous  HOURS!! 

Sorry, having a bad math day!  And I am feeling a bit better about the number... yeah right.

I can probably muster up 120-130 locomotives, but I'd have to find the last 50 or so that are still in the pile of boxes!  However, I know where 72 of them are...

Is this a trick question? There really is no answer to this as it varies from one train owner to another. I like the answer of "just one more" and after that I would add to that  answer "just one more".

One more than what you have.

I have too many. I'll be selling some off here in a few weeks. TMCC mostly but a couple of Legacys as well. 

200 plus, and I'm starting to wonder about that....  that said, a lot of mine are projects, honestly maybe half,.... sooooo.  Even so I've got a lot that don't find the rails very often so I may have too many.

My shelves let me display about 28 complete sets and maybe another 10-12 on the layout and 5-6 Flyer S on the lower S layout. It got to the point where anything with a box, got put in the box and non boxed stuff gets out on the shelves and layout.

I have a ways to go to catch up. I just bought my seventh.

Here's another issue for guys like me (I may have said this above somewhere, but I forget....) who are Bashers and Scratch Bashers. Not only are/were we as tempted as most of you by the stock, out-of-the-box desirable locos, we will see many things as simply an assemblage of parts that can be turned into something we really want. So - we buy those too, even though, as is, they hold minimum interest. We get to some/most of these projects, but not all.... I bought a running, PS1 RK PRR 2-10-0 a few years ago. I was buying it for the chassis and maybe the tender. I have a Decapod project in mind....the boiler is useless to me. One day I'll get there.

Then there are the locos that don't run, are incomplete or are damaged - or all 3. I buy some of these, too, if cheap, because my labor will go into them. (I have a fully-functional Weaver Little Joe electric chassis, minus F/R pilot trucks. TMCC, cruise, sound - all work. Runs like a dream. Cheap. One day I'll freelance a body on it.)

So the problem is more complex that some realize. 

I have five three-rail and at least two two-rail GG1s. Four of the three-rail ones are going to be traded to a friend; he will then have ten! Note that I am keeping the Weaver Gold edition one for possible conversion to two-rail; that or something to run on a three-rail layout.

Cheryl, Is that you? Still naggin about trains?

  Geez woman we've been divorced over thirty years.     j