How Much of Your Stock Do You Actually Run/Use?

[Sir TophamHatt]

For me, probably less than half.

 

It tends to be the same models running around. I think mainly because the others have all got problems one way or another. Whether it be pickup problems, the front wheels coming off or just general noisiness, the newer locos I have tend to favour my running.

 

As for some of the wagons and coaches, some of them have never turned a wheel under me.

 

Makes me wonder why I invested heavily in them!

[Harry Lime]

An interesting thought.

 

As someone who mainly runs their stock on a club layout, I tend to keep to specific items for Loftus Road, which means that much of my remaining stock stays in the boxes, therefore limiting what I see and use. This is compounded also by only having a few shows per year with LR, so I suppose that most of my stock rarely sees daylight.

 

Although all my stock is relevant to LR, we tend to share out the fiddleyard between us, so we tend to keep to 'known runners' - i.e. ones that will entertain the public at shows AND which are in good running order.

 

Naturally, this is not thought to be financially sensible by other members of the household...but there lies another line of domestic argument!

[Clive Mortimore]

I have far more stock than my layout needs, which is appropriate for it and then way too much which was acquired for other projects in the past. I am not very good at downsizing when I change direction.

 

What do I run regularly, my DMUs which are the backbone of the layouts stock. My layout is based in the early to mid 1960s but because things changed rapidly in this period, if I run it at the start of my time period , I have far more loco hauled trains and more steam locos. If the end of the time period then only a few steam locos and very few loco hauled trains. so most of my models allocated locos and stock allocated to Sheffield Exchange do run regularly. I have since getting the layout operational gone through all my loco boxes and run every mainline diesel I have, some have not run for 15 plus years and others have only trundled in and out of my loco depot layouts, never hauled a train until recently. I think I will make it a six monthly exercise to run every thing at least for one day. 

 

Pig Lane (Western Region) has a small number of specifically allocated locos and I intend not to buy any more for it , or if I do it will be a replacement not an alternative.

[birdseyecircus]

I had thick end of 100 locos in 00 gauge spread over 3 eras.

Removing them to run another era took nearly 20 mins.

So I sold 3/4s of them and went o gauge with a more manageable half dozen locos. I am very much happier and enjoying things a bit more instead of becoming a box collector.

Going to o gauge makes you think twice about purchases!

 

Paul

[40034_Nick]

I have around 55 Locos. 70% British rail and 30% DRS (all have ESU sound apart from a couple of 08s and a class 22).. so swap between the 2 Eras which is easy.. I use all my stock as i have a massive layout and do exhibitions with my club..

Not one of my locos has problems, i look after them and repair and maintain where needed at all times including wheel cleaning.. that goes for rolling stock as well, all have lights and 1:87 people in almost every seat.

Everything i own is weathered apart from one of my 2 37025s.. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by 40034_Nick

[SRman]

I try to give most of my stock a run at some time or another, but I do have certain favourites that get a lot more running (particularly certain sound-fitted locos and units). My layout has the capacity to run six trains at once (with two each sharing a common track on the upper level), with storage for another eight full trains, or even more with shorter trains sharing the same fiddle yard road.

It may be possible to run even more trains on the upper level, but that would require one or more extra operators to keep tabs on them.

[birdseyecircus]

Just to add to my post above I also bought several locos and stock in 00 gauge which I never even ran. These were the first to go when I started selling.

Most of the OO gauge was built up over 10 years. Soon mounts up before you realise you can't move!

 

Paul

[daftbovine]

I have far more than I can run, at the moment I am building a layout in N that can only take three locos, I have ten times that many. I also quite a few 00 locos and a fair amount of rolling stock and no layout at present.

 

My problem is that I get attached to locos and stock, most have been bought a good prices and have a story attached to them and I find it very difficult to part with them. Most do get run occasionally.

 

I also have quite a mixture of scales, 000, N, 0 and 0.

 

I suppose I’m a collector with one small layout.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

All, apart from a few 'breakers' for spares, one per key loco class  (purchased when I realised that sparing had to be a DIY job due to batch production) and some rebuilding/kitbashing fodder not yet gone into works.

 

Surely this is part of modelling the railway accurately? They didn't purchase stuff they were never going to operate and get the value out of over an economic lifetime, (alright, bad decisions excepted, but that wasn't the intent) though for certain classes there were a spare set of frames and a couple of boilers held at the works.

[njee20]

Most of my stock is on the (home, non-portable) layout all the time, I've got a few rakes I've never even taken out of boxes, which is pretty shameful!

 

I have probably 5-10 trains I use frequently, ie most operating sessions (out of 70 or so), another 50% gets used 'regularly', the rest are pretty infrequent, some have probably not moved from the fiddle yard in a couple of years.

[Nearholmer]

I realise that my strand of the hobby, old-style three-rail 0 gauge, is a bit different from most, but my approach to this might work for others: I run all my stock, or at least everything that isn’t under resto, but not all at once, because the layout would need to be about five times bigger.

 

The method is to run “themes”, and to change theme about every six weeks or so. My core theme is Southern, then I can run ‘pre-grouping south of england’, or early-BR, or “all clockwork”.’

 

Now, I don’t have to change all the scenic accessories, because I have barely any and am pretty good at turning a blind eye to anachronisms, but the same principle can be applied, even by changing the date-line by as little as, say, two or three years.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Big James]

Not s lot now. A recent house move means I’ve put all my south western region stock into storage. So I’m now I’m using just my South Eastern region stock. I’ve had to be harsher then I wanted to be but it’s just on of them things.

 

Big James

['CHARD]

None of it until I create the right space for layout building.  All being well, that may happen by the end of 2019!

[yelrow]

Perhaps 20%. Have 100 plus locos. Problem selling is   how much to ask, postage from france to UK, Returns would be a pain. Would need a reason to sell, eg, start 0 gauge for example. Now if anyone living in france, is looking to buy, well ................

[Vecchio]

H0e - I run all of it as I have only 3 locos.

H0: I am currently on 43 locos and my layout looks stupid with more than 5 on it. There is always a number of locos having issues, missing rubber traction tyres (makes point crossings interesting...), not running at all for no visible reason, and a number of them are on a list for decoder upgrading (yes I still have a few decoders without proper regulation). But also coaches and wagons - if I put all on the layout you could cover all the tracks... As many of you I try to use a certain group showing a certain period of time and I use also the matching goods stock

00: 6 locos, run them occasionally on the club layout

0: One loco, runs every week on the club layout.

 

But this is the hobby - not only to run your stock but also to collect.... (looking forward to my new class 66 later this year...)

Vecchio

[Rowsley17D]

I had a clear out of locos following a house move three years ago. I model 1930s LMS secondary mainline, so out went the pacifics and any post 1939 ones. I'm not one for models in glass cases. I managed to fund electrics for the new layout.

[Legend]

Most definitely less than half.

 

I don't know how many locos I have but its way more than 100.  Built up from 1965 though !

 

I tend to operate different eras at a time , so I run grouping all together, then BR Steam/diesel transition , then BR blue  and although I had given up on it , spurred on by the fantastic Dapol 68 , Modern Image

 

I also run what I call the "heritage range" , locos that were given to me as Presents at Christmas etc up to about 1980 when I was 18. Quite nostalgic running them at Christmas . That's whats on the layout now .  

 

The only issue with this is its a right pain to package away the previous era and get the new eras models out.  It does also colour my buying habits , thinking is this loco value for money £189 and I'll run it once in a blue moon.  Most recent purchases have been second hand . Models that I wanted as a kid but couldn't afford then.  The new Hornby announcements have me excited though . Even though it will get limited use I really want a new Scotrail HST, quite fancy a Princess too

[Slug]

I have far too much stuff and run very little of it, I would suspect that about 75% has not even been out of its box since we moved home five years ago.

[HonestTom]

I actually run very little - I tend to build a series of micro-layouts with one eye on "The Big Project." The current micro is New Ankh, a fantasy with a vaguely pioneering/Pre-Grouping feel, which currently has two dedicated locomotives and two more in the works.

 

I also have a bad habit of buying locomotives for projects that either never take off or don't really have anything to do with anything. For instance, I recently obtained a Great British Locomotives C class and a battered Airfix 4F to see if the chassis from one could power the other, and I still haven't got around to actually doing that. So that's two locomotives just taking up space.

[The Johnster]

I suppose I am atypical then, which I like; born a rebel and I'll die a rebel, the cat that walks by himself and all that!  I have tried with some success to provide the probable level and mix of locomotives and passenger stock that the Cwmdimbath branch would have actually used in the 1950s had it actually existed, locos being supplied by Tondu shed.  I am limited by space to 3 coach passenger trains (most are 2) and 11 wagon + van freight/mineral. 

 

I have 7 fiddle yard roads which contain a loaded and an empty mineral, an auto, loco hauled passenger, NPCCS and 2 roads for pickup traffic.  The minerals, auto, and passenger are more or less fixed rakes, and the NPCCS and pickup traffic varies.  The fiddle yard is full when the station is empty, and this stock stays on the layout all the time.   There are in addition a miner's workman's, Triang shorty clerestories, and a spare auto, which are 'crane shunted' on to the layout when required.

 

On top of that there is an ancient Lima 117 converted to 116 dmu that is out of period but gets an occasional outing, and half a dozen general merchandise bodies awaiting donor chassis.  So pretty much everything gets used, most of it frequently and in the normal day's WTT sequence.  

 

When my coach building program is complete, there will be a surplus of coaches and another auto, but all will get their turn in running.

[jonny777]

I take the view that the real railway has many more locos than one would ever see in a day at any particular location, and have always been that way. Therefore I have locos which will be run more regularly, because they are allocated to nearby sheds; ones that appear on a less frequent basis but nevertheless their arrival on the line would not be particularly newsworthy; and the down right massive cops which are extremely infrequent (and in real life likely to be once only) visitors. 

 

I don't mind having a few of these latter classes which hardly ever emerge from their boxes, and the main problem for me is dreaming up an excuse (yes I could use rule 1) to run them at all. FA Cup fixtures are a favourite, and movements of military personnel can be used at times, with national scout/guide jamborees another tentative excuse. 

[njee20]

I suppose I am atypical then, which I like; born a rebel and I'll die a rebel, the cat that walks by himself and all that!  

I suspect it's because you have less stock than some folk ;-)

[Baby Deltic]

About 0.0012855865764%

[Colin]

As much as that, Lloyd?

You’re having us on, surely!!

[Guest teacupteacup]

At the moment none, but the layout is still being built. 

 

A year or so ago I had a massive clear out and probably got rid of 99% of my stock, only keeping a couple of unfinished wagon kits.  I designed my in-progress layout as as a fixed era (though I did change that to mixed era, then back to fixed) and started collecting stock that would suit it.

 

Once my layout is built, 100% of my stock should run on it - not all at the same time of course

 

I do have a little amount of stock that I use on friends layouts

 

Oh, forgot about my 7mm stock, the above is 4mm.  I've a couple of locos and wagons in 7mm which have no layout to run on, but as above, the layout will be designed and stock built up to suit.