What do you do with Duplicate Number train cars?

Change the numbers on all the duplicates.

What Doug McClure said in Shenandoah "Burn the train"!!!:

 

I just run them. The average joe would have no idea or recognize the duplicate numbers. it doesn't bother me either

Ditto for me!

I don't buy duplicates so it's not an issue. 

I don't buy duplicates, if I do by mistake, they have to leave! 

Unless you're running operations with car cards and timetables, I don't see it being an issue...

I don't buy duplicates unless they are really really cheap and something I can't live without.   And then I repaint/renumber them.   A draftsmans electrice eraser can often remove the numbers and they can be redecaled.

I operate my RR with switchists and cars are routed to industries and switched using the car numbers.    I usually operate with 8 people.   Duplicate numbers would screw up the operating system and confuse my "average joes' who are experienced operators and who must read the switchlist and perform accordingly.    That's what the game is about.    Every sessions is different and every train varies somewhat from session to session.

Not an issue here as I do not buy multiples of the same road number.
MTH really set the standard in my mind by offering their freight car sets with all different car numbers, thus eliminating the need to worry about this issue.
If you have multiples I would prefer to run them far apart or on different trains.

I had to modify, paint and decal all my rolling stock. No factory stuff can be used out of the box on my layout, so this never come up for me.
But if I ever modelled standard gauge, yeah, I'd be changing road numbers...

I try not to buy duplicates.  Sometimes with a scarce type of car, that can't be avoided.  In that case, I just run them.  I haven't bothered to change the numbers of duplicate cars - it's too far down the priority list.

 

As has been said above, most people will not notice.

 

George

I have a few duplicates because I never
logged them into inventory. But since
I wanted insurance on my trains and other
collectibles I found a few.

I'll keep them - weather them up and
try to fade the out.

Not a big issue for me.

Give 'em the boot.

 

Chief Bob (Retired)

Melt them down in my BOF.Nick

Ignore it.

 

Peter

You run the duplicate freight cars in two trains headed in the opposite directions on a large track layout where the first train disappears around a corner into a tunnel, then the second train appears from the tunnel a minute later headed in the opposite direction.

 

Andrew

Pretty much this. I have three Atlas O Santa Fe covered hopper cars that have the same road number, but it does not bother me that they are the same nor am I going to modify each car. I own three other similar cars that each have a different number, so I try to use one of the duplicates with those three correct cars, keeping the other two on a storage track or in the boxes. 

 

Similar situation  --  better than 90% of the rolling stock that I own was build and/or painted & lettered by me; there are no duplicate numbers....

Not a hill to die on, IMHO.

 

But, if you find yourself under siege for this issue, here's some suggestions:

 

Whoopee cushion slipped under the nit-picking observant comes to mind.

 

Alternatively,....and if you're so inclined...putting a variety of weathering on the cars, as you suggested, is a good choice.

 

Or, you could run 'em at notch 8 (Mach 3 in O3R terms) and challenge the septuagenarians in the crowd to speed read car numbers.....if that's all they have to grab their attention.

 

Or, as the Navy did in WW-Two.....lay down a smoke screen!  Hit the Max-Smoke buttons on your DCS/TMCC/123XYZ for the double-headed Big Boys pulling your string of idents as they barrel down the track past your pickers of nit.

 

Or, you could do as Terry Johnson did on his layout.....put on a light-and-sound show that knocks the socks off of the unsuspecting......you know, like a fly-by of the Blue Angels at about 100 foot altitude!   Followed by lightning and a clap of thunder that might have your guest requesting immediate direction to the loo.

 

Better yet, if you suspect someone's counting car numbers (based on their penchant to play the cards at the local casinos), push the red 'panic' button that alerts your spouse upstairs with a light or buzzer to yell down to the basement 'Food's ready!!!'   ....always a brain-scrambling, reflexive distraction!

 

Speaking of which....

 

KD 

 

 

Never gave it a thought or a notice, honestly.

FrankM.

Run 'em real FAST so nobody gets a good look at the numbers!  (just kidding...)

Get deja vu every time they go by

I have over 70 K-Line ore cars in a unit train with the same car number. No one has ever noticed.

I just run them.  I do try to sprinkle them out in a long consist if possible, but I don't put much work into that effort.

 

Duplicate numbers aren't an issue for me anymore. It used to bother me when I was a "scale model railroader", but since I moved to O-gauge 3 rail not so much.

 

On most of the trains I have now, the numbers are actually manufacturer's model or stock numbers. Changing the numbers makes as much sense as owning a fleet of Ford F150 trucks and changing the name badges to F150, F151, F152, etc...

Besides the the trains are just old toys. At least mine are.

Those numbers are meaningless to me, and no guest to my layout has made a remark about car numbers. So the bottom line is I take no action to change them.

 

The overall appearance of trains at 2 to 10 feet is what I enjoy.

I just run them. 

Going by at speed 99.999999% of folks will never see......and it don't bother me. 

unfortunately this would be hard without dupes.

 

or this 

Duplicates? Run 'em. It's my railroad and I pay little attention to car numbers. Roll on!

I do not buy duplicate numbers....

Matching numbers?  No problem.  If you suspect someone may find fault w/ your matching numbers just do not invite them in the first place.  That's not the only thing they will comment on!

If it's a car I really like, I may be inclined to buy a bunch of them.  If that's the case (no pun intended ), I run 'em and don't even think twice about it.  

 

Don't sweat the little details in life.

 

David

That's right David, don't sweat the petty things but pet the sweaty things

I'm another one who just ignores the numbers and runs them.  On the High-Rail, 027 & Traditional forum I think we can get away with that.  

I guess it boils down to whether you are running toy trains, or trying to run a real railroad. 

I visited/participated in a large layout once with an actual Santa Fe dispatch office from Lubbock Texas relocated in the first floor of the layout.  They ran consists, yards, working train signals, and had phones at every "town" to call into the dispatch to get permissions to get on the main line, etc.  You couldn't see around any curves or most of the track ahead of you.  It was very realistic, but totally took all the fun out of it for me.

On my layout, I never give duplicate numbers/cars a second thought.  I am much more interested in seeing the cars, the road names and paint schemes than I am what the car number is.  When I look at real railroad cars, there is usually so much graffiti that I can't find the car number anyway, which makes the real life barcode very useful to the real railroads. 

I do have several Santa Fe "map" boxcars and reefers and I try to mix them up so I don't see Grand Canyon on consecutive cars.  I also don't worry about having a steam train running at the same time a diesel is running, or the correct era that each engine was made in. 

Heck, I don't even worry about the size of the milk cans my little guy is chunking out on the platform or the correctness of the majority of postwar accessories. 

 

I got enough real life worries, and the size of the milk cans is currently not one of them.

These days I can barely read the road name clearly; wee tiny numbers have long disappeared from view...

 

I just run everything

Me too.    I have no idea what most of my train car numbers are.   I do know my loco numbers, and that's it.

Yep me too who cares unless they are on display. Same way with car trucks. Do you really look for them as your train goes by?