Bachmann Online Forum

Discussion Boards => General Discussion => Topic started by: conradin on July 21, 2007, 07:35:37 AM

Title: number of trains
Post by: conradin on July 21, 2007, 07:35:37 AM
I'm curious how many trains do you guys have?  How many trains are bachmann?

No, this is not a contest, I am just curious about what is the average collector has.

For the record we have 118, all Bachmann, N scale.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Terry Toenges on July 21, 2007, 10:59:46 AM
If you're able to count the number you have, then you don't have enough. ;D
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Mike on July 21, 2007, 11:17:58 AM
Are you asking number of trains, or number of individual units (cars, engines, ...)?- Mike
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: nhmanhere59 on July 21, 2007, 11:55:39 AM
Lionel: Tinplate "Zephyr from 1938
            O-27,0-4-0 Yard goat from 1948
            O-27, 2-6-4,with 15 freight cars from 1950,and misc lionel locos from the early 1940's,with lithographed freight cars.

Marx:Misc. passenger set with Cornelius Vanderbuilt loco.

Various Roco and Liliput German trains in HO scale
 
Bachman: Orient Express set in HO scale
                Iron Duke set in N scale
                Empire builder set in N scale
                2-8-0 Consolidation loco in N scale (B&M)
                Polar Express set in G scale
                3 additional "Annie" locos in G scale
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: LD303 on July 21, 2007, 12:38:55 PM
Well, since a ''train'' is made up of the locos [for power] and the rolling stock [for freight], provided you have enough motive power, and the current railroad rules don't apply....then I have one train......a very, very long train with WAYYYYY more power than it needs. But I suspect what you wanted to ask was ''How many pieces of equipment do you guys have, i.e. locos,rolling stock, MOW equipment,trolleys and etc.''
I have 40+ powered locos....[yes I know I don't need that many, but good deals seem to find me a LOT!], 30 or so dummy locos, and about 200 pieces of assorted rolling stock,passenger cars and equipment. I've accumulated way too much stuff for my little layout.....guess it's time to start building phase 2.....ain't that what basements are for????
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Summertrainz on July 21, 2007, 01:29:26 PM
I have 3 loco's
2 steam consolidation 2-8-0 and a baldwin
1 diesel  (conrail)
i have plenty of cars
3 union pacific cars and a baltimore and ohio one
all are lighted
i have some life like freight cars
and 2 oil tanker cars.
they go around the 4 by 8
piece of wood
there is a depo for cars not in use.
And that takes me to another question
how would i get bachman connected to life like cars
because i have tried an unorthodox way of taping them together while moving
and i reallly should find a way to keep them together because there "connecters" (forgot what they were called rite now)
are different and come off from each other easily...
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Craig on July 21, 2007, 02:09:34 PM
I have 11 HO trains at present consisting of 18 locomotives and 300 odd pieces of rolling stock. 4 of the locomotives are Bachmann, while Stewart, Kato, Genesis, Atlas and Proto units make up the balance. The rolling stock is fitted with metal wheels and all couplers are sprung, mostly Kadee brand.

I also have two Bachmann large scale passenger trains and an On30 passenger train.

Craig
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Conrail Quality on July 21, 2007, 03:08:36 PM
Well, I have several E33's,an Bachmann F40PH, a Walthers GP9, a Life-Like GP-38,a Tyco 2-8-0, an Acela, and various types of rolling stock. All the diesels are currently being harvested of useful parts, except for the F40. I've tried repowering the Tyco with the Acela motor, but I've given up. That Tyco's not going anywhere for a long time.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Summertrainz on July 21, 2007, 08:47:41 PM
its me with 3 locos
(about 2 or 3 comments up)
:P
i feel small compared to you people with 300
i forgot to mention the boxcars 4 and the 2 coal hoppers
and also
2 flatbeds for cars and such.
you people really devote your lives to to trains
do you make a profit or have people pay?
or is it just so you can be in your basement and do an evil laugh as you watch your trains go around your 30000 dollar basement
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: thirdrail on July 21, 2007, 09:04:07 PM
I don't have any "trains". I have about 35 locomotives, of which 5 are Bachmann (the only one I use is the Spectrum 2-8-0), and 300+ freight cars, of which three are Bachmann. I have one passenger car, made by Sekesui (Kato) for Con-Cor. All of these are N scale.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Craig on July 21, 2007, 09:30:24 PM
Quote from: thirdrail on July 21, 2007, 09:04:07 PM
I don't have any "trains".

I do. 11 complete HO trains sitting on spurs and sidings. I pick one to run and throw some turnouts, energize the isolated block and off it goes.
(http://i7.tinypic.com/6hgjxux.jpg)
Eventually most of the locomotives will be located in the engine yard but construction is not yet completed. The large scale and On30 items are also complete trains.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Jim Banner on July 22, 2007, 02:24:38 PM
Quote from: conradin on July 21, 2007, 07:35:37 AM
...  how many trains do you guys have?

I don't know.  I keep a dozen or so trains in staging yards on my H0 layout.  How many more I could make up using operational equipment I don't know.  How about static trains led by locomotives stored unserviceable?  How about trains in which I have a part interest, ie ones belonging to a club or group?

I don't even know how many pieces of rolling stock I have.  Many are on long term loan to other railroads because they do not run well on my H0 layout with its tight (18") curves.  Some are on display in our local museum.

Summertrainz, don't be cowed by the numbers.  Some of us have been in trains for a long time.  For me its 57 years.  I started in electric model railroading with a Marx 3/16 set for Christmas 1950.   Forty-one years ago I switched to H0 and started off with one caboose.  Then it was a locomotive.  After that some used box cars.  After a few years, I had enough of a railroad that I was willing to show it to relatives and close friends.  Pretty soon it was friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends.  And that was when the donations started.  Not donations of cash - I have never charged anyone to see my layouts.  But rather it was people offering me old train sets that they had tucked away in their basements or attics gathering dust.  Some of them were junk, good junk, the sort of thing where you make one good car out of two bad ones, then add Kadees, upgrade the wheels, put in some weight, and finally end up with a great running car.  Some were good right from the start.  A few were down right astounding.  Recently a widow who had been to one of my train shows two or three years ago donated her husband's train set - a Bachmann Spectrum steam locomotive, about a dozen Inter Mountain grain hoppers, a dozen or so buildings very skillfuly assembled from kits, and a table covered with Kato track.  Yes, I am very devoted to model railroading.  No, I don't laugh evilly in my basement watching my trains go by.  I much prefer laughing with friends as we get together to make a lot of trains go by, or with guests as they discover yet another mini scene on the layout, or best of all with children as they see a miniature world for the first time, or with older children, as they run trains for the first time.  To me, this epitomizes the best of model railroading - sharing.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: rogertra on July 22, 2007, 05:58:37 PM
How many trains?

Trains?

A "train" is a locomotive or locomotives coupled together, with or without cars, and displaying markers."

Or do you mean "locomotves"?

Really should, at least on a hobby message bord like this one, get the terminology correct.  :-)
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: brad on July 22, 2007, 06:16:06 PM
   I agree with Jim, numbers really don't mean much. I know guys with over 600 cars and 150+ locos that sit in boxes. For me it's quality and how well they run. I'd rather have 20 cars that run perfectly and run all the time than 200 mediocre cars that sit in boxes most of the time, which is why I'm about to sell off a bunch of my older Rivirossi, Athearn and B-mann passenger cars and replace them with fewer Rapido cars.

     In time, everyone accumulates more than they can use ;D

brad
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: SteamGene on July 23, 2007, 08:18:25 AM
I totally agree with Roger.  Use the term correctly, even if the guys who make model railroad stuff misuse the term. 
Gene
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: lanny on July 23, 2007, 09:43:15 AM
Quote from: Jim Banner on July 22, 2007, 02:24:38 PM
Quote from: conradin on July 21, 2007, 07:35:37 AM
...  how many trains do you guys have?
... No, I don't laugh evilly in my basement watching my trains go by.  I much prefer laughing with friends as we get together to make a lot of trains go by, or with guests as they discover yet another mini scene on the layout, or best of all with children as they see a miniature world for the first time, or with older children, as they run trains for the first time.  To me, this epitomizes the best of model railroading - sharing.

Jim,

Very, very well said. This, to me, is the essence of model railroading ... 'sharing' and bringing a bit of 'joy' and 'excitement' to others (specially my wonderful grand kids :D) , while finding one's self able to sit quietly and relax as trains run by.

I have way more locomotives, cars and kits than I need. But I enjoy building kits and kit bashing locomotives. I too, in a few days, will be 'thinning' my rr empire of very high quality HO trains to make room for the kit built stuff that is slowly taking over.

The most recent addition, thanks to my dear son, is one the grand kids are really excited about. It is the UP #844 4-8-4 (last run of this model by Rivarrossi, an absolutely gorgeous model and incredibly powerful, smooth runner) that we recently saw when it ran through central Iowa. I have added 5 con cor passengers cars (72' variety), and have found an old Ambroid H-5 UP postal storage 60' box car kit which will complete the 'excursion' consist when I get it built (I may even add the special UP tender if I can ever find one at a 'reasonable price').

I mainly model the 1945-1960 era (heavy on the steam) of the ICRR, but my son has a three very modern trains which I am currently building staging yards for, so they can be stored. (one is a Chicago Metra train, one will be a 'long' UP grain train pulled by a Kato MAC SD 90 and a Bachmann diesel ... can't think of the model number, but its the big Spectrum diesel that Bachmann used to sell), and the UP #844 excursion train).

I have a lot of Bachman steam and a couple of Bachmann diesels (all Spectrum), three BLI (steam and diesel), a resin HH660 I purchased in kit form and built into an ICRR switcher that is running on a Proto S-1 chassis, and some IHC steam that has been or will be 'bashed' into ICRR style steam.

Except for the modern trains that will occupy storage tracks until they run for 'exhibition' , my rolling stock is being sold off (shake the box stuff ... but nice quality Atlas, Athearn Genesis, etc). They are slowly being replaced with various mfg's resin kits, Tichy kits, Branchline Blueprint kits, Intermountain kits, Red Caboose kits and other high quality, craftsman type kits.

Its all fun and relaxing, even though I am constantly loosing some 'necessary part' on the floor and have to spend 10 minutes searching for it  :D

To me, if mrr'ing gets too technical or heavy on the 'rivet counting' side, I loose interest. But each person finds some area in model railroading that particularly interests them - scenery, DCC operation, special layouts, club, protoype operation, rivet counting, etc.

It's supposed to be fun!  :)

lanny nicolet
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Craig on July 23, 2007, 11:08:28 AM
I agree with Roger and Gene, but the terminology posts seem late and pointless. Most of the entries that preceded those posts quite clearly illustrated conradin's vague choice of words. And if his choice of words wasn't inexact, he may well have 118 trains.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: conradin on July 23, 2007, 08:08:28 PM
OK, y'r right.  It is the cars (rolling stocks, locos, etc.) which are 118 in total (125 at last count).  I actually only have 2 official running train sets, the Thunder Valley and the Explorer.

One person asked how I manage to count them.  I do have the free RRTrains program, which is very very very useful.  Every time I get a rolling stock, I just enter the data.  The program will take care of the rest.  It generates an automatic web page, and also a summary web page.  The best part is that you can mark each entry that you want to sell, and the program will create a selling page.  I highly encourage everyone who has the time to use this program, especially if you either just started out like me, or have a limited amount of entries to do.

As I wrote at the very beginning, this is not a contest, or invite people saying "number does not matter" or "bwahahah, I have the most trains".

I just want to have a feel of how many cars one have.  Because obviously many people have more than the track can handle.  So what people do with the extras?  Put them in a storage box and forget about it?  Rotate the stocks every month?  Put them on display on a wall?  Create a yard and put them all in it and treat them as non-operational? 

Why does one continue to buy even though one has more than enough than one's tracks can handle?

Personally my original intention was to create four consists.  This include two DCs, one DCC, and one DC which is the mouse train for Buzzie.  I have four power districts...hence can create four "train sets".  There are also about two dozen rolling stocks which are not for playing, but for display, as they are promotional items and are meant to be for display.  This include the Chevron set, the Bicentennial set, and the Anaprox set, but also rare items such as Xmas stock cars and dealer-only promotional boxcars.

I do not really forsee myself buying anymore other than extra flatcars to create a longer mouse trains.   :P
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Craig on July 23, 2007, 08:21:01 PM
QuoteI have four power districts...hence can create four "train sets". 

Are you trying to say you can operate four trains? Obviously I was wrong. You do still need some help with terminology.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: Stephen D. Richards on July 23, 2007, 09:27:57 PM
Quote from: Craig on July 23, 2007, 08:21:01 PM
QuoteI have four power districts...hence can create four "train sets". 

Are you trying to say you can operate four trains? Obviously I was wrong. You do still need some help with terminology.


I think I know what he meant but that sure isn't what he said!  I have over 200 linear feet of track.  Twoo main lines in a circuit and one secondary.  These are in DCC.  I have one in DC.  I've tried to run thre trains at the same time and man what a nightmare that is!  I can run one for an hour without any problems but just let me start the second!  I think the little engineers inside the Bachmans and P2Ks just wait for me to do that!  I'm still making, remaking and kitbashing to get rid of the excess rolling stock and locos!  I really don't know how many I have but I have completed over 50 locos and 150 cars and still have at least twice that much to go through!  I think I have too much.....not!   lol    Stephen
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: conradin on July 23, 2007, 09:44:27 PM
Quote from: Craig on July 23, 2007, 08:21:01 PM
QuoteI have four power districts...hence can create four "train sets". 

Are you trying to say you can operate four trains? Obviously I was wrong. You do still need some help with terminology.

Yes, four trains at the same time.
Title: Re: number of trains
Post by: rogertra on July 23, 2007, 10:41:56 PM
Number of trains?

First off.  I'm one of those guys that try to run my GER as closely as possible like a real railway.

I use Car-Card and Waybill for freight car forwarding (And for passenger cars, when I use them).

The GER is a point to hidden staging railway with one main staging yard of eight tracks, one through staging yard of two tracks and two single track staging yards.

The GER runs 16 trains, eight each way, every operating session "day"

There are two "Montreal" freights per day, which are typically 16 cars plus van.   The "Paper Train", "B&M Transfer" and "Berger Turn" (Wayfreight) are typically around eight cars.  The "NYC" and the "D&H/CV" trains are around 12 cars each while the "Berger Industrial" runs to about five cars max.

One passenger train per day each way.

This requires 7 locomotives.  A "locomotive" is either a single diesel or steam locomotive or one or more (usually two) diesel locomotives in multiple.

Typically, I use seven steam, five road engines and two steam switchers and two x two unit diesel "locomotives" and one "motor" (A doodlebug).  If I decide that the "motor" has broken down, again (It's getting old in 1958) then I require one extra steam loco, usually a 4-6-2 and a baggage car and coach.

The operation also requires something like 110 to 120 freight cars and eight vans (cabooses).  There are usually two spare vans at Granville Junction, the division point and two spare locomotives.  These are usually a 2-10-0 in case one is needed to cover the Paper Train which in theory runs down a lightly laid branch, and a 2-8-0 for all other trains.  There is also a wedge snowplow stored on track one from the turntable.

At Berger Yard there is a small steam crane and its runner, which is used to load coal into tenders.

However, I have something like 200 freight cars and 50 plus locomotives These are rotated on and off the railway to give some varity.  As only three of the main staging tracks are needed to run the schedule, the other four are used to store 16 car freight trains and their motive power so that rotating freight cars, locos and cabooses is made easier and one track is used to store the alternate passenger train.

Other engines, the smaller steam, are rotated off the railway by hand, as required.