Show your layout sized passenger trains


Espeefan

Well-Known Member
I've often seen posts here and in other groups about "I can't seem to get my 85 ft. passenger cars/my six axle diesels/my 4-8-4 to go around my 18" radius curves." followed by a plea for help, and maybe a stream of invective directed against the manufacturer of the equipment. I think when it comes to layouts we are all real estate challenged, even if we have a lot of space. My club has a 4,000 square foot layout with a 48" minimum radius and we have issues fitting things in to the available space sometimes. It's a universal problem. How to solve it? John Armstrong wrote some pretty good pieces on this. His "Steam Locomotive Frustration Index" was both true and funny. The best way to deal with this is to adjust your expectations. Your frustration level and blood pressure will both go down! You can still have realistic trains and tight curves by adjusting your equipment selection. This little passenger train is both prototypical and it will handle 18" radius curves. 60 ft. Harrimans and a ten wheeler. Not a steam guy? No problem. A single F unit or a torpedo boat GP-7/9 will work just as well! Who else runs small passenger trains? Let's see 'em!
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Not sire how to post photos (don't have good ones right now anyway), but I run mixed 85' and 72' passenger cars, pulled by Proto2000 E-5A/B around 18" radius curves. Truck-mounted couplers. They don't push well, but being pulled, no problem. Steam locomotives? Mantua steamers can form the basis for good operators on 18" radius curves. Mikados (2-8-2's) can be stretched to ten-couple (2-10-2 and 2-10-4) and Pacifics (4-6-2's) can be lengthened to Northerns (4-8-4's), and with some mixing, of the front end of the Pacific and the drivers and frame of the Mike, a 4-8-2 Mountain can be created. The trick to getting such critters around 18" radius is to blind-flange all the center drivers, plus shimming the blind drivers up off the rails by .010". The .010" thick brass shim is placed between the bearings and the frame for the end driver axles, with .010" shim between the underside of the blind center drivers and the cover plate. By shimming the blind drivers you insure the drivers won't catch coming out of a curve. Can't the gap be seen? Sure! If you get right down at the top of the rails, with a light behind the locomotive! ;) I've been tempted to try a 4-12-2, but I don't model Union Pacific, and I would, no doubt, have trouble getting one to operate on anything much tighter than 24" curves. But Union Pacific also had trouble with those on tight curves!:rolleyes:
 
Man, that is a lot of gymnastics! That was sort of the reason for my post. Yeah you can modify, modify, modify, and hat tip for your skills at doing so, but you can also just go smaller and run trains! There's also that issue of excessive overhang. That one bugs me.
 
The first NP passenger train posted is a tourist train taking passengers from Logan, MT to West Yellowstone, MT and Yellowstone Park. My railroad, my rules.

This is another passenger train that I run. The area I model is more of a rural area so long trains are not needed.

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I do have a number of 85 foot passenger cars and all have body ,ounted couplers. I had a few with truck mounted couplers and they did not like backing into the passenger station. The couplers were changed to body mounted couplers and now they can be backed through a number of turnouts without any problem. I ma fortunate to have the room to have broad curves and most are over 40 inches with one exception which is 32 inches.
 
Selective compression can be done with trains as well as scenery. I'm lucky as well, as far as layout space goes. My club has enough room to run virtually anything you want. I have a 1941 Lark, which is my favorite all time passenger train, but the full consist is 19 feet long. Few layouts can accommodate a train like that. Here it is: I need to find another E-7B the AB set struggles with the train on our 2% grade.

 
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It's nice to have a club capable of handling a consist that size, isn't it? My Lark is short two cars in the video. They cut off the obs and one sleeper at San Jose, and ran it to Oakland. I had the Devil's own time finding that sleeper with the twin tail signs, and we won't discuss what it cost me lest some of our more thrifty forum members pass out. The train itself is a mixture of Walthers and brass cars and took me over ten years to assemble.
 
I like them this size. Some of the guys at the club are starting to get into mixed trains as well. Those are interesting, and where you see the combines more often than not.
 
I have the Empire Builder (most of the cars) when GN tried to use the E7 locomotives. They weren't heavy enough and I have yet to find a good pair of F7-9's to make the replacement. I haven't had the cars out of the boxes in 7 years. I gotta get my track running.
 
I have a C&O passenger train. Some I don't have pics (have to do that) it's an ABA Life like Proto 2000. Still looking for a dome car to go with the rest of the passenger cars.
 



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