New 4-4-0 traction tires

[edpb]

I'm wondering if there is any reason why I should not remove the traction tires from the drivers on my new 4-4-0.  I think that there would be enough traction without them and without the tires I could get the wheels really clean, and the wipers on those drivers might pick up some electricity.

[Terry Toenges]

Try it without them and see what happens. Can you remove them and put them back on? I'm guessing your pulling ability would go way down. I don't have a new 4-4-0 so I can't say how good they pull. With the older 4-4-0's with traction tires, I could pull over 30 old time cars going up a 2% grade before it started going down again. About half of them were still on the flat while the ones in front were going up the grade so it wasn't all of them on the grade at the same time.

[bbmiroku]

Still, pulling approximately 20-worth of Old-Time cars up 2% was WAY more than even the prototype would be expected to pull.  On the level!  Your standard Old-Time consist was maybe 8-10 express cars (mail, baggage, people, troops), 5-7 full cargo cars, or a combination of the two.  Plus Bobber-type caboose.

[Terry Toenges]

I just did it out of curiosity to see how much it would pull.

[Trainman203]

Railroading was very different in the days of the 4-4-0.  There were a lot more very short trains.

Crews cost money.  That's the biggest reason engines have always gotten bigger (fewer engines hauling more lading)  and cabooses were finally eliminated (😪😭) (3 employees per train eliminated.)

So now, you have 200 car trains being run by two people, and it's inevitable that the driverless train is in the relatively near future.  Plus each of the 200 cars handles probably 5-10 times more than the old wood truss rod freight cars.

Someone run the numbers.  How many ton miles can one train crew member handle today compared to 1870, the period of the Bachmann vintage 4-4-0?

[Terry Toenges]

I was mistaken. It was 29 cars plus the caboose. Here's a picture.

[bbmiroku]

:spits soda: What?  Dang that's a lot of cars.

[Trainman203]

29 cars and you want to pull more?😮😱😂. 29 cars would go from one end of my layout to the other😮😱😂😂😂

[Terry Toenges]

That was back in 2005. People were talking about the 4-4-0 and how they didn't think it would pull very well so I had to make a point.