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Offline shamrock  
#1 Posted : 09 April 2014 16:43:39(UTC)
shamrock

United States   
Joined: 11/12/2013(UTC)
Posts: 206
What is the general number of coaches used behind Marklin locomotives in HO? Number of rolling stock/cargo behind a typical Croc in a model layout?

Also, more than just eyeballing, what is the right speed for some of the typical passenger trains (i.e. express vs city) or cargo locomotives?

I am sure there is a scaled method and formula for timing my trains from point to point to calculate speed and also the typical speed used by the prototypes. I only know the max speeds, however.

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers,

Tim
CS2/C-Track digital turnouts/Collection back to 1948/Current favorites on track: KPEV T16.1 37166, BR 53 37024, Ae 6/6 11453, Krok 39560
Offline rmsailor  
#2 Posted : 09 April 2014 20:01:38(UTC)
rmsailor

Scotland   
Joined: 20/01/2006(UTC)
Posts: 569
Location: Kirkcaldy, Fife
The number of vehicles you put behind a locomotive depends a lot on the size of your layout. The larger it is the more you can add without it looking ridiculous.

A useful rule of thumb for calculating speeds is that one foot per second, actual, is almost exactly sixty scale miles per hour, or perhaps easier to measure ten feet in ten seconds. Actual speeds reached depends both on era and prototype but it is worth remembering even modern trains accelerate quite slowly compared to say a motor vehicle. It is also worth remembering ,keeping the speed down is one way of making your layout look larger. Most people tend to accelerate to quickly and run to fast. Apart from expresses and modern container trains, typical speeds might be up to sixty for a passenger train and half that for goods with the average speed being a lot less.

Bob M.

thanks 4 users liked this useful post by rmsailor
Offline shamrock  
#3 Posted : 09 April 2014 20:31:01(UTC)
shamrock

United States   
Joined: 11/12/2013(UTC)
Posts: 206
Thank you. The timing seems to reflect the approximate speed I have been using as I test my new layout.

I agree, it is very easy to run models way too fast. Now that I have fixed landmarks near the track the trains appear much faster at the same speed versus when running on my open layouts. Probably why I just started to think about appropriate speed ranges!

Cheers,


Tim
CS2/C-Track digital turnouts/Collection back to 1948/Current favorites on track: KPEV T16.1 37166, BR 53 37024, Ae 6/6 11453, Krok 39560
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by shamrock
Offline mike c  
#4 Posted : 10 April 2014 19:27:00(UTC)
mike c

Canada   
Joined: 28/11/2007(UTC)
Posts: 7,880
Location: Montreal, QC
As Bob said, the number of coaches depends on the size of your layout. You specifically mentioned the Crocodile, which was used in Era II and Era III. During those periods, short two axle freight cars were the norm, so a train would have many more cars than a modern freight train using four axle bogie cars. As far as passenger cars, the maximum length of an international train in Switzerland and Italy was 14 (26,4m) coaches. This limit was determined by the length of station platforms and tracks in most stations where the train was scheduled to stop.

If you are using 30 cm (1/87 exact scale length) coaches, you will probably have to limit your train to four to seven coaches
If you are using 28 cm (1/93) coaches, you will probably still have the same limit
If you are using 27 cm (1/100) or smaller (24 cm) coaches, you may be able to add one extra coach to the consist.

If you are using freight trains, use the length of an average passenger train as a guide to see how many freight cars take up the same length.

Regards

Mike C
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Offline rmsailor  
#5 Posted : 10 April 2014 20:09:51(UTC)
rmsailor

Scotland   
Joined: 20/01/2006(UTC)
Posts: 569
Location: Kirkcaldy, Fife
When I suggested that speeds around 30 mph were suitable for freight trains, I was of course generalising. Even in the steam era there were time critical trains which traveled at near passenger train speeds. These could include commodities like milk fish and bananas. I can remember seeing the Aberdeen to London fish trains going past in the 1950's headed by pacifics up to and including the streamlined A4's and at that time quite a few of the East coast drivers were known to be runners.
By way of contrast, if you have access to American magazines like Trains you may occasionally read of a short line as being good for 10mph. In American terminology a short line is a branch or secondary line which operates as a separate company.

Bob M.
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