Smaller locomotives pull power

Adding weight to a plastic shelled MPC dockside more than doubled its pulling capacity for me. Still not half of 38 though. I cant do over 28 with anything due to layout size constraints and steep grades. The steady low speed heavy hauling up grades by my tmcc Berk makes me grin though.

Probably the one that surprised me the most was Lionel's 0-6-0T Docksider, on a floor layout with 072 and 082 curves, I have pulled 42 cars. I typically pull 55 cars on the same track behind scale and semi-scale articulateds, but just for Grins and Giggles, I put my Lionel Mikado jr on the point by itself, and it handled that train just Fine.

 The docksider didn't seem to mind the 42 car train, ran it for about 10 min with no problems, then added 4 more cars, and after 5 more minutes with the extra cars, it started to get HOT and slow down. I tried it again the next day(with about 30 cars) it did not seem to suffer any permanent damage from being over-worked, so I normally keep it to no more than 20-25 cars, which I suspect is more than the real 0-6-0T's were expected to handle.

Another thing that I found surprising is the K Line 0-4-0T Porters won't pul a huge train, but double-headed(or Triple-Headed) they would pull more than the total that they would pull separately.

Doug

I have a Lionel ten wheeler that is a great little puller. It surprised me how much it could pull.

One year at our club's breakfast with Santa show, I used the Christmas Docksider to pull the eight reindeer passenger cars. I was quite surprised it was able to, as the starter set 4-4-2 they were made to go with could barely do it.

I have also used a 2025 postwar steam engine to pull 25 or so MPC era cars and a caboose. I am sure the very wide radius curves we use on the club modules helps, as does the easier rolling trucks on the cars.

J White

The pulling power (as noted)  of those little Docksiders is amazing. When I got back into trains (after about a 40 year absence), it was one of my first purchases. The sales guy said he had one of his own and it was good for  maybe 4 or 5 cars. Boy, was he wrong (much to my continuing satisfaction with it). 

Roger

A lot of small, heavy locomotives will pull an unrealistic number of cars, especially when traction tires are added to the mix. That said, I don't push the envelope with my smaller locomotives and only run a few cars.

pulled 9 MTH 3 and 4 bay hoppers with Thomas that surprised me so I added more a starter set santa fe 4 cars it pulled that just fine.

One note of caution: Many locomotives with small motors will pull a heavier train than their motors or electronics can support over a long period of time. Motors can overheat and burn out (the K-Line scale steamers made just before they went out of business were notoriously under-motored). Or, excessive amp draw can damage the electronics or even melt the solder holding the power diodes to the board. This is characteristic of ALL QSI and Proto-1 boards, unless they have had their diodes upgraded. The Scaled Tin Rail used to do these upgrades, but the original owner of the business passed on a couple of years ago and I do not know if the new owner or anyone else is doing those upgrades on a regular basis. 

The Lionel Docksiders are amazing, been regularly pulling 20+ cars without and issue. Truly great when you consider the cost factor (Got mine at York for $65)

My Favorites are my MTH Consolidations 2-8-0's. I have 2 H-9's and one H-3. The H-9's regularly pull 40 cars without issue. I keep the drag limited to 20 cars on the H-3 only because too long of a train behind such a small engine just don't look right to me.

Well glad to read that I am not alone on this.I don,t know if its still on youtube.But theres a video of 2 weaver 2-8-0s pulling a long freight at a trainshow.I have thought about geting a lionel mike jr.