How Far in real miles

[Theakerr]

Last night when I had nothing much to do I got to wondering just how far some of my rolling stock had actually travelled over the years. So I sat down to work it out. My basement is 45; long and I run a flattened dog-bone, so I figure each circuit is 120'. A complete cycle of trains is about 16 mins or 4.75 times per hour. I figure that over a year I have at least 30 sessions of an hour and many more of somewhat less. so in a year I figure each loco does about 120 x 4.75 x 30 = 17100' which I round off to 17,500' to allow for the "other" sessions. There are 5280' in a mile so each year my trains will do about 0.3 miles. My automated system has been in place for about 12 years. Thus some of my old stock ( a set of Lima Mk 1s) has covered a total distance of at least 3.6 miles.

[Dagworth]

A complete circuit of Ravensclyffe scales out at pretty close to 4 scale miles, so 19 trips round that equals a real mile, some of my stock has made a LOT more than 19 trips round it. My Lima HST couldn't cope with that kind of distance and expired with a dreadful squeal and has now been retired

 

Andi

[Russ (mines a pint)]

-think I must have time on my hands too as I am now wondering whether a scale mile puts as much wear and tear on a model locomotive as a real mile puts on a real locomotive! -probably only if its got a lima motor

[Grovenor]

which I round off to 17,500' to allow for the "other" sessions. There are 5280' in a mile so each year my trains will do about 0.3 miles. My automated system has been in place for about 12 years. Thus some of my old stock ( a set of Lima Mk 1s) has covered a total distance of at least 3.6 miles.

Your train runs 17,500 ft, at 5,280 ft per mile comes to 17,500/5,280 miles = 3.31 miles, or 39.8 miles in 2 years.

Decimal points are important.

Regards

Keith

[jamie92208]

My Long Preston layout had a main line circuit of 90' and i used to reckon that the main line locos did a full mile at each show that we attended. There is certainly wear on the hornblocks of my compound and I will need to see if I have to adjust them in due course. The layout had 12 appearances and also several extended test sessions in a friends barn.

 

Jamie

[Kris]

I would suspect that some of my oldest n gauge loco's will have done between 4 and 5 miles, mainly due to me leaving them running when I was younger and just watching them go round and round. One of these, a Battle of Britain has suffered some quite significant degradation to the tyres on the drivers, but the class 47 which has been run more shows far fewer signs of wear.

[Stubby47]

Your train runs 17,500 ft, at 5,280 ft per mile comes to 17,500/5,280 miles = 3.31 miles, or 39.8 miles in 2 years.

Decimal points are important.

Regards

Keith

39.8 in 2 years ?? or 12 years ?

 

(Tens are also important...)

 

Stu

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

-think I must have time on my hands too as I am now wondering whether a scale mile puts as much wear and tear on a model locomotive as a real mile puts on a real locomotive ...

Nothing like, because the loading is so small. First thing I will look at if able to inspect a s/h RTR loco purchase is whether the plating on the driven wheels is worn or even worn through. Very surprising how often the plating is stil practically untouched. I once found an old Hornby-Dublo two rail N2 with the tyres worn to the point there was an outside flange developing and the unflanged centre driver was polished by rail contact. The axle bearings were pretty sloppy too, and the crankpin holes enlarged to the point that they would nearly come over the heads. That must have pounded up some real mileage.

[Theakerr]

Whoops. My mathematical skills have gone asunder. Although there would be some who would say they were never there in the first place so how can they have gone asunder? To think I once pretended to be a researcher. It is 12 years therefore some of my stock has actually done about 36 miles.

[Jenny Emily]

I once found an old Hornby-Dublo two rail N2 with the tyres worn to the point there was an outside flange developing and the unflanged centre driver was polished by rail contact. The axle bearings were pretty sloppy too, and the crankpin holes enlarged to the point that they would nearly come over the heads. That must have pounded up some real mileage.

 

On my Father's HD 3 rail layout we used to ponder at exhibitions just how far things ran. We oiled the third rail to reduce wear, and I reprofiled all the pickup shoes with solder to prevent them wearing through a second time (the lead in the solder helped them slide without so much wear). We wore out several chassis over the years, including two N2s which had to go off to Dennis Williams in Northwich to be rebushed and have new siderods put on. There was a rake of low sided BR coal wagons whose couplings were carefully adjusted so that they would run on the outermost line nonstop with any loco without any derailments or slipped couplings which by the time we retired the layout had a groove on each wheel face. They ran very freely too!

 

Most of the locomotives couldn't hack the punishment, and we had a box of spare armatures at all times and a supply of spare chassis. Back then you could get any armature rewound at Hattons for a fiver, and we frequently did. We also had a lot of spare brushes, pickup shoes and plungers (for 8Fs and Castles). At the end of every year one or two locos went to Dennis Williams for a full service.

[28XX]

None of the chaps on here with MPD / TMD planks will have to worry about maintenance and service like Jenny's dad did.