Longest running (time) train?

I imagine the old O scale railroad and the current HO scale railroad at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry have racked up quite a few hours of continuous running time.

Rusty

James May's Toy Stories - The Great Train Race (1/6)

This was a true endurance test of HO trains on 10 actual miles of model track specially laid along a trail on a former railway grade in England. Most of the trains did not complete the entire run.

Also discussed here:

https://ogrforum.com/d...nt/12129987941538999

The Great Model Train Race

More info could be found with a search on:

James May "Great Train Race" between Barnstaple and Bideford  2009   2011

You must have missed Lee's 24 hour endurance run.

This one? I believe that test was about electrical rather than mechanical endurance.

Test DONE: Railking Y6B on a CW80 - for 24 hrs

So, a test: run a Railking PS2 Y6B for 24 hours continuously, powered by a CW80.  Will it run well?  Will it suffer any damage?  Will the CW80 suffer any heartburn from powering a loco made by a rival company?

And something else from 1965 (?)

I run a Backmann HO train on a 36" circle 24/7 for work. The company I work for make Video Surveillance software and for one of our mobile apps we use the train set with clocks to demonstrate the real time and smoothness of the video (no breaks).

The sets I use are Backmann (Santa Fe Flyer set and FT diesel). I only use the engine and one piece of rolling stock. I save the others for truck replacing. Since this is a circle and the wheels of the rolling stock are straight they tend to wear out (you would have to see this to believe it). The engines last about a month with the electrical contacts on the wheels wearing completely off. Track has to be dusted off from the plastic dust from the wheels about once a week. I called Backmann and tried to explain what we are doing and they suggested not to run it unattended (they wanted no part). Went thru about 6 sets of trains, 4 extra diesel engines. I do not send them back to Backmann even with the lifetime warranty (not the right thing to do). I tried a steam engine but the side rods worn off, diesels are best for the 24/7 operation.

Would like to do this with Lionel but the price would exceed the budget.

Has anyone done this before?

“ONSSI EXPRESS” FUN FACTS.

Train Operates 24/7.

Track has a 36 inch Diameter, circumference is 113 inches.

For the train to go ten revolutions on the track it takes 1 minute.

1 minute (10 revolutions) = 1,130 inch.

1 hour = 6,780 inch.

24 hours = 162,720 inch or 13,560 feet or 2.57 miles

30 days = 406,800 feet or 77 miles (train only last about a month, then needs to be replaced)

365 days = 4,949,400 feet or 937 miles.

Scale miles traveled:

HO train is 1/87 in scale.

Take 5280 (feet per mile) and divide by 87.

So, 1 HO mile = 60' 8 1/4" (60.75 feet).

 For scale miles traveled for 365 Days:

Divide 4,949,400 feet by 60.75 feet which will equal 81,471 scale miles.

I know it's no real record, but at the Chesterfield County Fair in 2011, I ran my WbB C&O ABA E7 pulling 47 cars for an entire "shift". This was 8 hours give-or-take. What did impress me is despite running in an unconditioned building in August, the locomotives were barely warm to the touch when we took them off the tracks.

Gilly

I usually run three whenever I am in the trainroom - usually for several hours a day: just set them running at a reasonably slow speed and listen to the chuff as I work on the layout, etc.  The are sort of like pets - keep me company.  The longest I have ever run a train continuously was about 25 hours - I ran a RK Y6B all day and overnight once to test something.

Back a few years before I got sick I would fall asleep under the platform while working on it and leave a train or two running. Mostly MTH starter sets with the sound turned down. I would wake up the next morning and just continue on working where I left off and never shut them down. I think the rail/wheel sounds put me to sleep. I guess on occasion they have run 30 or so hours with out a stop. I did notice that after that time I would have to clean the track, as it would have speed control drop outs and be erratic in operation as in the whistle might sound or the bell ring but mostly the whistle. I started running those sets in 2001 or so and they still run like the day I took them out of the box. Don’t have DCS to check the time or mileage so I don’t know the exact numbers. As a note I do leave engines running in neutral at every running session for the company/ ambiance.

I also do something weird, I run the engines backwards every other time they run like that to even out the wear on the parts and then I change the direction of the train route in equal intervals. I think its some form of A.D.D.

Just my two cents