Quanity of freight cars

[bwreno]

Hi,
Prototypically, and on NON mountainous territory what quanity of cars  would the following engines pull?  Normal average range (if possible)

(The type that Bachmann models On30)

Porter          Example:  2 to 3
2-6-0                         6 to 10    etc
2-8-0
Forney

(others)
Mudhen 2-8-2
K-28
K-36


I did not want my modelling to be out of a normal range.

Thanx,  bob

[Jonathan MacCormack]

bw....

What feels comfortable to you and your visual enjoyment ? That is what you pull.

[Bojangle]

If you're serious about Narrow Gauge, check this site:
http://www.narrowgauge.org/
Narrow gauge was necessary to negotiate narrow mountain passes, and for relatively short runs.  There are hundreds of pictures on this site that will answer your question.
Good luck
Bo

[Ken]

Bob

  Checkout "Narrow Gauge From Off The Beaten Track" site.
Has tonnage rating's issused by Baldwin covering their various
wheel arrangements and class(size) of their engine's.
   ex Inside firebox 2-6-0 could haul between 815 and 1940 tons on a level
track, based on class of engine. Charts cover tonnage's up to 5% grade.

   Likly more cars could be moved then the typical ng line had<G>. Unless
the line was primary hauling one commodity. I've read that one ng
line here in Canada (Alberta Coal & Navigation Railway) ran 100 car
gondola car (coal) with a single 2-8-0, covering 110 miles with a difference
in elevation of 15ft (cannot get much flatter).

   Ken Clark
     GWN

   

[ollie]

well it depends on curves a nd the grade. The design of the 2-8-0 is much of mountain climber. small drivers sitting close together to give as much power on the rail  with a fairly sized boiler and machinery to provide the energy. Same thing with the mudhens whcih are Mikados, 2-8-2-.s . neither of the engines were any speed records but did good job on those grades.
On the flat line these could easliy pull some 40 loaded acars but when there is a grade the engine could handle at maximum grade only a handfull. The mogul could haul I guess a quite a string of cars on a level route but once there is a grade it is handicapped by one less axle of drivers.  Remember that the 2-8-0 is a fairly small engine but the dimensions on the cars offered by Bachmann are small too   So I could guestimate that on a 4 per cent grade a 2-8-0 could handle some 10 fully loaded cars in maximum, while a Mogul some fully loaded five or six cars...  Then there is the aspect of curves the smaller radius the less the engine could pull on grades.

There is normally no way we as modellers can duplicate everything from the prototype  and I guess one of the aspects towards mountain scenes is the fact to kep the length of trains on the short side, and as it is easy to duplicate patterns from the prototype thanks to modern technolgy with DCC, it is easier to navicate a helper engine on a loaded train over that mountain pass, yet keeping things short and manageble.  One common method to get that heavy train over a grade was to double it. Take that long consist and couple of the other half at the foot of the grade and when you get to the yard at the summit park that section there and get the iother half and resalmble that train at the summit and and continue further to the next stop... 
.   

[Charlie Mutschler]

This becomes a very complex subject.  The simple answer is that with steep grades and sharp curves, trains were pretty short on most narrow gauge railroads.  However, the answers above give some good guidance:  look at what the prototype's rated tonnage that it could pull on a given grade, and then start adding the weights of the cars.  Empty cars weigh less than loaded cars, so the locomotive will pull more empties than loads.  Don't overlook the caboose in calculating your tonnage. 

However, there is a lot of variance in car size.  For instance, the Bachmann box car is a nice model of an Ohio River & Western prototype, which had a light weight of 6.25 tons, and a capacity of 8 tons.  Total for a loaded car 14.25 tons.  The common 30 foot long cars built by American Car & Foundry and others that were typical on the post 1903 Colorado lines were much larger.  The D&RGW 3000 series box cars have a light weight of 11.3 tons, and a capacity of 25 tons, so a loaded car would be 36.3 tons. 

Working from the tonnage ratings for the D&RGW C-16 class, and the D&RGW C-17 class, one can probably get an approximation for the pulling power of the prototype of the Bachmann 2-8-0.  Realize that this is an approximation - the prototype was rated at 17,000 pounds tractive effort, but was a 30 inch gauge locomotive, and I am using ratings for 36 inch gauge locomotives.  On level track it might pull 1,150 tons.  That equals 80 of the Ohio River & Western cars, or 31 of the D&RGW 3000 series box cars.  Subtract a car for the caboose - it's an incredibly long train.  But on a 2% grade this is greatly reduced, and on a 4% grade a C-16 class 2-8-0 is rated at only 79 tons.  That's barely two loads, and no caboose, or 5 empties and a caboose on the D&RGW; using the OR&W cars it's 5 loads or 12 empties.  Subtract one car in place of the caboose.   

The Bachmann 2-6-0 is a beautiful model of C&S 2-6-0's Nos. 21 and 22, which were rated at 395 tons on the nearly level line immediately west of Denver.  That would be 26 of the loaded OR&W cars plus a caboose.  On the 4% grades the C&S rated these two at 80 tons - nominally the same as a C-16, but I suspect that in reality it's about 4 of the OR&W loads, or 1 of the 36.3 ton loads plus one caboose. 

Bigger power?  The K-27s were rated at 183 tons on the 4% grades.  Thats 4 and a half of the 36.3 ton loads, plus a caboose on a 4% grade, 12 loads and a caboose on a 2% grade, and on level track 55 loads plus a caboose. 

I hope that helps -

Charlie
-30-

[ebtnut]

Another example of "big" power.  The EBT's big 2-8-2's could haul 22 loaded steel hopper cars  from Robertsdale to Mt. Union.  The capacity of the hoppers was 30 or 35 tons, plus the weight of the cars which was 12 tons, so the overall train weight was about 1,000 tons.  Ruling grade northbound was about 1.8%.

[Dusten Barefoot]

You know what could solve all your problems? A nice 4-6-0.
I know the ten-wheeler could pull its share of weight around the mountians of Carolina, and could pull 8 passanger cars throgh the gorge, though I am not sure on how much tones the mighty ten-wheelers could pull but I do know they sure did their jobs.

I know I pester the hell out of everyone over a ten-wheeler.

Dusten

[ossygobbin]

(You know what could solve all your problems?  A nice 4-6-0.
I know the ten-wheeler could pull its share of weight around the mountians of Carolina, and could pull 8 passanger cars throgh the gorge, though I am not sure on how much tones the mighty ten-wheelers could pull but I do know they sure did their jobs.)

doesn't mean a model one could tho!!!

[Dusten Barefoot]

It'll solve the problem!!!! It would look nice with 8 freight cars and passanger cars!! It is not my perspective on the trains look, it is bwrenos.