Arnold D. Cribari posted:I find the traditional sized Postwar cars, like the coal/ore dump cars, work well for making unit trains. Their smaller size makes for longer unit trains running through reverse loops.
Arnold
Good work...your videos keep getting better...did you get a different camera? Fendermain
walt
Pennsy coal drag with a pusher
I'm currently rung 3 unit trains:
One with 18 postwar 6464 boxcars
One with 9 postwar 6414 autoloaders
One with 9 mostly LTI chemical tank cars
Putnam Division posted:I love unit trains.
I have a military train; a Tropicana reefer train; a coal train; a TOFC train.......but, I dare say, there has never been a unit train like this!
The "Fresh Fish Express"!!!!!!
Peter
Don't see anything Peter! 
Alumina Unit Train
I was familiar with unit trains as Alcoa used them from my childhood company town, to transport alumina (alumina is aluminum oxide powder which is refined from Bauxite ore and used to feed an aluminum smelter to make the metal) from the alumina refinery in Point Comfort, TX to the aluminum smelter in Rockdale, TX. We loaded and shipped 25-30, 100 ton covered hopper cars each day, 365 d/y by unit train.
I thought it would be neat to have a unit trains for common commodities on my railroad layout. So I made and collected some covered hopper cars used for alumina and they can be run on the layout even though I do not have an alumina refinery to load them.
The Alumina cars are from right to left, White Ormet car from Burnside, LA, two Alcoa Silver cars from Point Comfort, TX or Bauxite, AR, and Blue Reynolds car from Sherwin, TX or Bauxite, AR. The Ormet car was homemade, the second Alcoa had a homemade individual 8 covers, and the Reynolds car has homemade cover with three hatch covers. I have worked for these three companies (Alcoa bought Reynolds) and also Kaiser Aluminum in Baton Rouge and plant in Gramercy,LA. I need to make a Kaiser Alumina car to complete my Alumina Unit Train.
I made an ORMET alumina covered hopper car although they leased their cars.
I bought a Reynolds Metal covered hopper car without the 12 roof hatch covers. I made a more modern, easy to use center fill cover for the car.
Charlie
In honor of 4014 returning to the rails, I called out 4012 to move an intermodal unit train.
Fendermain posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:I find the traditional sized Postwar cars, like the coal/ore dump cars, work well for making unit trains. Their smaller size makes for longer unit trains running through reverse loops.
Arnold
Good work...your videos keep getting better...did you get a different camera? Fendermain
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone camera for the past 2 years. Very pleased with it.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Fendermain posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:I find the traditional sized Postwar cars, like the coal/ore dump cars, work well for making unit trains. Their smaller size makes for longer unit trains running through reverse loops.
Arnold
Good work...your videos keep getting better...did you get a different camera? Fendermain
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone camera for the past 2 years. Very pleased with it.
Some of the unit trains running on my layout:
Grain train
Coal train
Pipe train
Boxcars
Tom
Rusty
The daily Brewer's Limited on the Free State Junction Railway.
I actually have a 2nd layout squeezed into a closet opposite Warrenville.
Two levels; the top level loops into my workshop through two tunnels openings, the bottom is a tight O27 loop. Here I am running a unit train of giraffe cars.
Western Maryland all boxcar Merchants Limited.
The only "unit train" I run: ABBA Santa Fe freight F3s and a SFRD refrigerator block.
Some Coal
Some Tanks
And Some Hookers
Unit trains! My favorites.
Autroracks, PFEs and Pacemakers
Boxcar unit train with merchandise cars, milk cars, and operating boxcars (little man opens door), pulled by Williams Penn Central F3s:
Arnold
For me, the appeal of unit trains is that they are so realistic. Real freight trains often have many of the same train car, such as oil tanker cars, hoppers, boxcars, refrigerator cars, gondolas, etc. Seeing a long unit freight train can be breathtaking.
It can be challenging for an O Gauge model railroader to assemble a long unit freight train. Some of the freight cars are expensive.
If affordability is desired, I recommend starting with some Lionel Postwar Sunoco oil tanker cars. That was my 1st unit train. These oil tanker cars do nothing, and can be purchased with some rust (very prototypical) for as little as $5 per car. I look for ones that have good couplers and that have wheels that are in decent shape. A cleaning with warm water and ivory soap plus one drop of light oil on the inside and outside of each wheel goes a long way to forming a nice unit train of 8 to 12 cars or more. If there is crud on the wheels, I scrape it off with the blade of a Swiss Army knife.
Although I do not have this yet, another affordable unit train would have 10 or more Postwar Lionel gondolas. They also do nothing and can be purchased for a very modest price (between $5 and $10 per car) at train shows. What is stated above regarding oil tankers applies to gondolas.
Arnold
Here is a video of an oil tanker unit train pulled by an MTH Proto 3 CSX smoking diesel:
IMO, this unit oil tanker train is very realistic. I have seen the real thing on the Western side of the Hudson River at West Point. I also saw this unit train (the real thing) overlooking the Hudson River at the Garrison Institute 2 weeks ago.
Although I'm not 100% sure of what I'm about to say, I also believe that in the real world such unit trains provide a very economical way of transporting massive amounts of cargo like oil and, provided there is no horrendous train wreck, which is very rare, it is also better for the environment than other means of transporting immense quantities of freight like oil.
So, I believe model and real unit freight trains are very good things. By modeling such trains, we are promoting the real thing and well as the models. It could generate a lot more excitement about model and real trains if rebuilding and renovating real train infrastructure finally happened in a big way in the United States. Arnold
Running a milk train with a few stray Boxcars
The only one I have (so far...)
Milk Train:
Boxcars:
Empty Flats:
Coal:
Pat Kn posted:Milk Train:
Boxcars:
Empty Flats:
Coal:
Pat, thanks for sharing your above YouTube videos. They show gorgeous unit trains running on a gorgeous layout with great music in the background.
Love the combination of music and O Gauge trains. Arnold
NASA tank cars from my collection - Charlie
There are at times one or so Unit Train on the layout.
Coal Car Unit Train
I have a coal mine so coal cars are needed and are shipped in a unit train. So I started collecting 3 or 4 dumping coal cars, so I can load them at my coal mine loading station and unload them into one of those Lionel coal bin/trays.
Oil Tank car Unit Train
I have 3 or 4 oil tank cars, chemical tank cars, gondolas, boxcars, flat cars, log cars, milk cars, cattle cars, etc. to make unit trains for each type car.
Below is an example of one, a tank car Unit Train.
Unit train of Milk cars
Auto loader Unit Train
Pictured below are 4 auto loaders operating as a unit train. I have to be careful with these when using heaver metal cars as they are top heavy on curves. I picked up a box of red metal 57 Chevy convertibles but plastic ones are better for auto loaders
So you can see unit trains add interest and fun to the layout and operation.
Charlie
Good evening all:
I have been waiting a long time to share this. Some details were not perfect, but here it is anyway. Enjoy.
The cars are all Lionel 6-26xxx or 6-27xxx class H43 hoppers, which are equipped with die-cast frames and sprung metal trucks. They are filled with rice coal from Tractor Supply Company, and weight about ~4.5lb each. The train is almost 120lb total.
There are 5 motors that power this train, (3) MTH E44s and (2) MTH E33s. They do NOT have vile traction tires, so the power is distributed, and the train needs most of those horses. Two of the E44s are up front, one is right in the middle, and the two E33s bring up the markers. Since the caboose is a steel frame, it can be placed ahead of the helpers. The motors draw about 3A to keep this train moving at 35smph.
PANTENARY;
What’s not perfect??? That was an amazing video. And 120 pounds... incredible. I assume all the engines are powered from the catenary, correct???
Apples55 posted:PANTENARY;
What’s not perfect??? That was an amazing video. And 120 pounds... incredible. I assume all the engines are powered from the catenary, correct???
If you did not notice, I won't spoil it. I am a perfectionist, and I should have waited to get some of the details right. Sometimes though, its better to just share.
Yes, all the motors on my system are powered by the catenary. You will not find any rollers in my house! 
Thanks for watching.
--Nate
Grain Train
Back in 1938, this wasn't called a unit train but, by today's contemporary nomenclature, it is!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp7tNxzwZwI
Here's one of mine:
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