Large Scale Central

Scale speed: do you follow it or don't you?

Operations
#42

David Maynard said:
Didn’t they also use boxcars they passed on spurs? If it takes a second to travel the length of a 40 foot boxcar, then your going about 27 miles an hour. Actually a tad more at 27.27 MPH.

Can’t you narrow it down a bit? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

#43

Steve, Well I don’t carry a stopwatch. And I don’t carry one of them fiberglass tape measures that surveyors use, so, no, no I can’t. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

#44

Ric Golding said:

The ole time Engineers, and anyone else, used telegraph poles with a mile marked off in a certain area. put that against your watch and you had your speed. I believe there was a conversion chart in most Employee Time Tables.

Timed miles are still printed in the timetable, and are a legal way to run if your speedometer fails en-route. The timetable also lists short miles, long miles, and missing miles so that you don’t accidentally time the wrong mile post! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

#45

Did that the first time I traveled on the London to Paris (Waterloo/Gar du Nord) Eurostar train, around 1996. On the French side they have clearly marked km posts, I counted them while going.“one Elephant, two Elephants…”. Sure enough it came out to 300 kph or around 180 mph. I was impressed at how smooth and quiet it was as it accelerated up once it had emerged from the Channel Tunnel. On the UK side the train could still only go a max’ of 70 mph at the time. It took them over 10 years to fix that. We can now get from city centre to city centre in about 2 1/2 hours. Gave up flying there. Max.

#46

David Maynard said:

Steve, Well I don’t carry a stopwatch. And I don’t carry one of them fiberglass tape measures that surveyors use, so, no, no I can’t. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

He uses the Smoot method! https://alum.mit.edu/news/AlumniNews/Archive/smoots_legacy (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#47

from another perspective on this, taking the grandkids on a tour here in the Phoenix area last spring, the 8 and 10 year olds both said they thought the trains were going too fast at a couple of layouts, the 8 yr old said that they “looked like toys not real trains like the last place”. I have had the same thoughts and as I have drug the kids around different layouts they have picked up on this on their own. When my empire is built , I think they will be at slow to medium speeds, unless that dang cat from the neighbors is on the right of way, then there may be that famous cry from Spaceballs, “I don’t want light speed, I want ludicrous speed”

#48

Pete, I do suggest that you set up a timed distance, just so you can see how slow is right. I use my bridge.

The reason I suggest that is on our HO club set up I thought I was running trains at a good scale speed, then Dave Bodner brought his scale speedometer. Assuming that his speedometer was correct, I was running scale speeds of 50 to 60 mph. Fast, but not unbelievably fast. So I slowed my stuff down a bit.

#49

I try to operate at what looks like scale speed to me. I don’t get too scientific about it. However, those of you who do the calculations and present it here, I find interesting and informative.

#50

All my locos have custom speed tables (yay DCC), and the speed step is the actual scale speed. So if it says 35 on the throttle, it’s going 35 smph.

It does make your layout “larger”.

Greg

#51

Greg, once I get a DCC set up at home, I will have to try that.

#52

I scale my speed by loco type. There’s nothing worse than a Shay flying around at non-scale speed. Real life for a Shay was about 13mph.

#53

some of the smaller branchlines in germany used to have signs in the passenger cars, that said, that it was forbidden to pluck flowers during travel.

i try to run my trains at a speed, that corresponds to these signs.

#54

I like to run my trains as slow as possible. For one thing, it makes the layout seem a lot bigger when it takes a half hour to make one trip around the loop. Besides, my narrow gauge Choctaw Coal and Railroad Company route is a mining and logging branch line with lots of curves and elevation changes.

“Just how slow does it run?” you ask. Well, consider the following news clipping from the Choctaw Gazette:

Tragedy Strikes the CC&R - A young man was run over yesterday by the CC&R daily mixed train from Choctaw. It seems he was riding in the combine, but became annoyed at the dreadfully slow pace and decided to walk to the next station. He had proceeded only a short distance when the train, headed by Climax #6, overtook him and knocked him down. As he fell, he exclaimed that the thousand dollar accidental death life insurance policy in his pocket should go to his fiancée. But alas, the poor girl never got the money. Before the engine got past his knees, he caught pneumonia from lying on the cold ground and died a natural death.

Bob

#55

LMAO. Mine don’t run that slow.

#56

Korm Kormsen said:

some of the smaller branchlines in germany used to have signs in the passenger cars, that said, that it was forbidden to pluck flowers during travel.

What kind of flowers and was it all types or just certain ones.

#57

That’s another great feature with DCS. All loco’s show actual scale speed. You can also set the max speed at whatever you choose.

#58

It can be hard to run live steam at scale speeds unless you have radio control. Fortunately, 7/8th scale stuff is big so scale speeds are a bit faster. With r/c speeds can be kept within reason… Though I did have fun racing my little two foot gauge Forney against a NYC Hudson and the 20th century limited! Probably a scale 50mph on good track! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#59

A good point about DCS, you are ALREADY speed matched and see the actual speed, a very nice feature.

On DCC you have to set that yourself, and only certain systems can maintain that speed, i.e. relate motor rpm to speed.

The QSI is one of the few that can and does actually count motor rpm, although as of right now, there is no way to make the speed constant irrespective of grades. The motor rpm is used for sound system and chuffs so that they are exactly synced.

David, once your locos are speed matched, then you can consist ANY 2 locos together with no fuss no muss, they run the same speeds together.

Great features on DCS and DCC… so many times on a DC layout, I hear: "oh I can’t consist Aristo diesel with the USAT diesel because they run so differently in speed.

Greg

#60

Since we moved into a condo, the trains are all gone now but I set train speed based on what I liked, not what it scaled out to. I had some USAT aluminum passenger cars with track powered lights. I ran up the track voltage until the lights looked right to me and the resulting speed looked OK. The USAT Big Boy (1:29) pulled USAT woodside reefers (1:24?), so what scale should I have used for calculating speed? Actually, I ran it slow enough to really enjoy the wonderful Phoenix sound (drivers in and out of sync) and the sight of all the links and rods moving slowly. Other engines, like LGB Moguls and Forneys ran fairly slowly because that looked most realistic.

At one point, I measured all my track loops with the idea of calculating speed. Then I realized I didn’t care what the scale speed was. It’s My D*#$ Rail Road and I’m going to run it at speed I like best, so I never timed any trains.

#61

¿ ɹəʇsooɹ said:

Korm Kormsen said:

some of the smaller branchlines in germany used to have signs in the passenger cars, that said, that it was forbidden to pluck flowers during travel.

What kind of flowers and was it all types or just certain ones.

i am not that old!

i suppose, the flowers near the track.