Large Scale Central

How many feet of rolling stock do you have?

Modeling Rolling stock
#1

Jim Weingart started a thread in the Track and Trestle forum about how much track makes up a small medium or large layout.

http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/25152/layout-size-small-medium-large-track-in-measued-feet

Responding to him and reading what others wrote in had me thinking "I wonder how many guys have more train than track.

SO if you put all your various pieces of rolling stock on the track how long would that train be? Measure coupler to coupler for instance a modern steel sided LGB car is 18" and a wood sided USAT is 16"

Be sure to count all your cars from the shortest to longest. Don’t count anything that is an engine or B units.

My cars ranged from 7" to 32" long and Don’t Tell My Wife but I have a grand total of 170’ of rolling stock !

In my case I have enough track for the train. How about you?

#2

Not sure of the total feet of cars. I have 61 pieces of operational rolling stock (not including locomotives or caboose), and they average 32 scale feet in 1:20. So [insert math here] around 96 feet of rolling stock, give or take, if my math is correct.

#3

I know I have more rolling stock then track. I don’t even have to do the math.

#4

Whoa, have more rolling stock than I thought I did. Passenger cars, 11, with one of them a still under construction kitbash. Freight cars, 17, with 5 being very slow in-progress scratchbuilds, but far enough along to ride on trucks and couple together. Freight cars range from 18 inches long to 7 inches long. Caboose, 4.

Add up to pretty near 41 foot cumulative length.

That may also be right about how much track I have; it is all the indoor train set track from Bachmann; and it is almost all down at our model train club - in a loop under the yards of the HO scale modular layout.

#5

Oh no! Lets not start counting the bashes and builds on my workbench, ok?

#6

David Maynard said:

Oh no! Lets not start counting the bashes and builds on my workbench, ok?

Why not?

Answer to Todd’s question: I have more track than rolling stock. As for total footage of rolling stock …I honestly don’t know

#7

I’m old… I can’t count that high… But::: Yes, I will still see a few feet of track… Majority of cars are 50 footers or longer… Maybe 30 or so of the 40 footers, not counting coal cars… Have a couple of engines…

#8

The longest train I’ve run so far is 50-54 cars and i’m guessing it was around 100 feet long. I still had more track than train.

#9

zoom in on my profile picture and you will see I have 4feet of track and about 18 inches of rolling stock, 1 50’ boxcar plus the 2 ft long GP38, so I am doing good, the loco can move forward and backwards about 3 inches.

#10

For me I pulled 120 cars at Mitch Park Domes in Milwaukee with 4 units 2 GP 38-2 and 2 UB-25 pulling it at 2 hour limt and we would change power and send out 4 units again of 4 GP 38-2 no issues some grades but not real steep

#11

Here’s some of them on the Interchange tracks.

There’s about 20 or so more that didn’t fit in the shed or don’t fit the era; show cars, passenger cars, logging cars, etc. As for how many feet long they all are, I have no idea.

#12

including homebuilts, LGB, Playmobil, Bachmann, Newqida and cheap “no names”, not including locos, tenders and partially builds,

my “ready for run” are:

shorties - 6 freight and 10 passenger (destined for bashing)

one footers - 12 freight and 4 passenger

1.3 footers - 25 freight (most of which are flats, destined for bashing)

two footers - 2 passenger

and 1 (in words “ONE”) caboose from a bachmann starter set.

at the moment i can’t use more than five at any given moment.

when the layout is fully functionally (in a decade or two…), i will be able to run a max of 40 units at the same time.

#13

lol,

I had to laugh. I have 18" of track laid. And since I have three pieces of operational rolling stock I guess I truly do have more rolling stock than track. Thats sad.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

#14

Figuring and doing the math on Dave Maynard’s big box of trains I estimated there is 90.5 feet of train in that one box. That is one long train.

It looks like Ken Brunt has about 52’ of train on his bench. Nice looking station by the way.

Few of us have the capacity to run really long trains. I know on my layout due to tight curves, grades approaching 3% and the fear of destroying an expensive gear box I’m limited to 10’ -12’ long trains depending on what type the cars are and type of engine pulling them.

It would be cool to setup all my cars in a row which would be about 170’ long just to have a look at them.

Who else is willing to admit that they have more trains than track and if you can fit all your rolling stock on the tracks how long would that train be?

#15

I have about 70’ of streamliner passenger cars. Not sure how many freight cars I have. Probably have more than my main loop.

#16

Thanks Todd. I was too lazy to count.

The station is out where it belongs now, in Mancos.

I usually run between 6 and 8 cars, depending on which engine I use. Or if I’m doing an operating session, whatever the manifest has me take out.

#17

Hmm… I’ve got 45 pieces of rolling stock (freight, passenger, caboose) according to my spreadsheet. I’ve not measured them end-to-end, but an average of 30’ seems reasonable, so 18" plus or minus. That gives me around 68’ of total train. Technically speaking, I’ve got more track than train, but my railroad is an end-to-end with reverse loops on each end. I could fit the train on the railroad, but I couldn’t fit around the loops with it.

Typically for an operating session with 14 cars (what’s in my storage shed), my trains end up being 5 or 6 cars long.

Later,

K

#18

I’m not playing, having recently sold almost a hundred pieces of rolling stock and thirty locos. My teeny track is a matter of public record, since it figures on my YT channel.

I’m afraid to say that I see this thread as an excuse for a bragging match.

tac

#19

tac Foley said: I’m afraid to say that I see this thread as an excuse for a bragging match.

But there are so many options for what to brag about, we need to make sure everyone bragging on the page is on the same page. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Are we bragging about:

How much rolling stock?

How little rolling stock?

How much track?

How little track?

How may new cars?

How many second hand cars?

How many kitbashed cars?

How many scratchbuilt cars?

How many complete cars?

How many incomplete cars?

How much commercial track?

How much handlaid track?

How large a curve radius?

How small a curve radius?

How long a long straight track?

How many goofy posts we can make?

#20

My car is bigger than your car !