how many is enough?

i have one of those small layouts 2 feet by 8 foot switcher yard.
I have over 100 cars and over 70 locomotives how much is too much ???
 
N

nachoman

EGAD! doubt you can fit them all on there at once :)

But some have more than you, and don't even have a layout!

Kevin
 

csiguy

Member
i dont think you ever have to much. im just new here but already have 30 conrail locomotives, and six cx locomotives. plus over 100 cars.
 

bnrails

Green is the way to go
My problem is, i have 30+ locos but no layout. I'd rather hava a layout and only 5 locos and cars.

Kon
 

Trainiac77

Member
I think I have 120+ Loco's and 300 or so rolling stock, unfortunately everything is in storage, but that doesn't mean I should stop collecting! :mrgreen:
 

CNJ999

Member
Anything more than can actually be used in one, two, or perhaps three operating sessions on the layout is honestly too much. It seems that many (most?) model railroaders are actually collectors at heart and end up with an absurb, never used, roster of equipment boxed away on shelves.

CNJ999
 

brakie

Active Member
Anything more than can actually be used in one, two, or perhaps three operating sessions on the layout is honestly too much. It seems that many (most?) model railroaders are actually collectors at heart and end up with an absurb, never used, roster of equipment boxed away on shelves.

CNJ999


Absolutely!
However,on my past ISL's I always like to have enough cars so I can rotate the inbounds at least 10 times that way when my G&N boxcar shows up there is no need to think:Gee,there's that green Greenville & Northern boxcar again.

However,other roads like CSX,CR,NS,UP,Railbox etc doesn't seem to matter as much because these roads don't stick out as much because they are more common however,as a warning one should not "flood" his layout with a few road names like CSX,NS,BN,CR etc because those could become boring and even when modeling 2008 one should use the widest selection of road names possible as well.
 

BobGui

New Member
If you find that you have too many ... I'm sure that there are those out there who would be more than happy to help with that problem :rolleyes:

The only "too many" I seem to have trouble with are the too many other demands on my time.
 

csiguy

Member
well this morning i did an official count . i have 100 ton hopper cars. so far i have 22 100 csx cars and 25 100 ton conrail hoppers. plus 30 undec hoppers. they way im starting to look at it, its a hobby and a stress reliever so maybe in a way there is no such thing as to many. long as the hobby is fun and stays enjoyable.
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
... however,as a warning one should not "flood" his layout with a few road names like CSX,NS,BN,CR etc because those could become boring and even when modeling 2008 one should use the widest selection of road names possible as well.

It all depends on the area you are modeling. If, for example, you were modeling my part of Colorado circa 2008, all you would need would be BNSF locos and rolling stock and some UP MOW equipment, because that is essentially all that runs here.
 

brakie

Active Member
It all depends on the area you are modeling. If, for example, you were modeling my part of Colorado circa 2008, all you would need would be BNSF locos and rolling stock and some UP MOW equipment, because that is essentially all that runs here.


Then you are saying NO Railbox,NS,CSX,EEC GATX etc doesn't rumble through your area on through trains? Of course if you are taking about the Colorado coal routes to the mines then I can understand that.However,we are not discussing solid coal operation but,a switching layout which cars for a collection of different freight cars.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
This is a good question that I've pondered many times.

I have a small 4x6 layout that can realistically accommodate a maximum of 4-5 locos at any one time. However, I have 22 locos (4-5 are basic, crappy ones that shouldn't really be counted). And I just gave 2 of my basic ones away to a young boy who seems to have caught the MRR & rail-fan bug big time (he could very well be a future model railroader)!

14 of my 22 locos are British and the other 8 are North American. So I can run my layout in 3 "modes" -- northern British, southern British (the layout is supposed to actually represent southwestern England) and Canadian.

I have about 25-30 passenger coaches and I haven't done a count of how many freight cars. My wife and other family think I have far too many locos and were quite surprised to hear that I recently had as many as 24! Yet, I'm constantly on the lookout for new ones but I have to plan this over time, maybe one a year (or even sell or give away some of the more basic ones).

Rob
 
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