I'm still planning my own track too! Hope to get started outside at some future point. In the meantime I have to contend with running trains around a short loop in the garage.

Anyway, to answer your question, the other week I was playing trains and I kept adding stock to my Bachmann 10-wheeler (Annie edition) to see what it would pull. I eventually had a train of 7 freight cars, 6 passenger cars and a caboose - and the loco seemed quite happy. No slipping, no weird noises, no obvious struggling. Even more impressive is that it was running around 4' diameter curves! I'm sure it could have managed a few more cars but I'd run out of stock! Check out my video of this long train in action:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msm3So0RVlI

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for everyday use (might be too hard on the gears) but I was most impressed, especially for a factory standard loco with no modifications whatsoever.

Glen

I just tried fitting some Proto 2000 metal wheels into my Bachmann box cars and the axle is longer than the old plastic ones, therefore the wheels are very stiff to turn.

Would a reaming tool help?

Or should I try a different brand of metal wheels with shorter axles? If so which ones? Are the Kadees or Atlas any shorter?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Glen