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 Posted - December 20 2021 : 9:25:00 PM
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Welcome to the Cumberland Terminal locomotive trials, aka "How much will they pull.
The test track is the Cumberland terminal main line, a twice around over and under route. clockwise, the grade is 4%, anticlockwise, it's 3%. The curves are 18" radius and the track is handlaid code 83. That's asking alot of the locomotives used on the line. Which ones are up to the task? Which ones can barely pull themselves up the hill? The results may surprise you.....
The test train is made up of 20 identical Bachmann Silver Series 40 foot gondolas. These cars were chosen because they are cheap, meet all applicable NMRA standards, and are identical in weight and rolling characteristics. Under normal circumstances, trains on the layout will be ten cars or less. Keeping that number in mind as I evaluate the performance of various members of my locomotive fleet.
The locomotives to be tested are a mixture of DC and DCC. Most have had minimal if any modifications to them, other than conversion to DCC. Any modifications made will be noted in the test description. The whole layout is wired so that it can run either DCC or DC at the flip of a switch. Dc power is supplied by a Bachmann power pack from a train set. DCC is powered by a Digitrax DCS51 Zephyr. In cases where I have more than one of a particular locomotive, the results will be listed as DC and DCC to evaluate the effect DCC has on that locomotive type.
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Posted - December 20 2021 : 9:31:14 PM
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![]() ![]() The first locomotive to be tested is a Bachmann Plymouth MDT switcher. It's a tiny thing. 6 wheels all powered. I didn't expect it to pull all 20 cars so I cut the test train in half, then subtracted cars until it could pull the grade. It did respectably well. I was impressed. I expected it to pull 5 or 6 cars, but it did 8 up the 4%, For some inexplicable reason, it would only pull 7 up the 3% grade, though I gave the 8 car train several shots at the hill.
https://youtu.be/6BfdmcPPImk
https://i.imgur.com/tW2wWPD.mp4
Note in the video you can see several attempts to climb the 3% grade with 8 cars before it finally made it with 7.
Edited by - jward on December 21 2021 10:34:59 AM
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Posted - December 20 2021 : 9:34:45 PM
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The video is not displaying
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Posted - December 20 2021 : 9:36:03 PM
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I had to link to it, because I couldn;t get the forum to display the video directly
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Posted - December 21 2021 : 10:44:43 AM
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Part 2.
The next locomotive tested was a Proto2000 SW1200. Just a bit larger than the MDT tested in Part 1, its pulling power was correspondingly more. This unit was able to wrestle 13 cars up the 4%, but once again pulled less up the 3% grade. It was only able to pull 11 on the less steep side of the hill. Notice in the videos how I had to throttle back and slow down when descending the grade. When the trains get longer, more care must be taken to get them down the grade safely. Slack action between the cars, and their free rolling characteristics will send them off the rails if you're not careful.
https://youtu.be/pAVhtqw7Pps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqgcxAPgqf4
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Posted - December 21 2021 : 2:03:49 PM
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Aside from grade, curves also affect tonnage rating. If your 3 percent grade is curvier than the 4 percent, that would keep the train size down. Also, dirt on the rails helps traction just a bit, so a locomotive with surgically clean wheels on surgically clean track would slip a bit more than with just a little dirt on the rails. If the 3 percent grade was materially cleaner than the 4 percent, you could see more wheel slippage.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - December 21 2021 : 3:09:07 PM
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Only rarely have I seen a string of cars pushed up a hill without
derailing. And with that the Kadee's were in perfect alignment/
installation. Looks like you've mastered that art. Thanks for the
vid, I'd wanted to more of this exceptional layout. Everything runs
so fluidly. Is all your track hand laid?
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Posted - December 21 2021 : 4:27:57 PM
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quote:Only rarely have I seen a string of cars pushed up a hill without
derailing. And with that the Kadee's were in perfect alignment/
installation. Looks like you've mastered that art. Thanks for the
vid, I'd wanted to more of this exceptional layout. Everything runs
so fluidly. Is all your track hand laid?
Originally posted by Chops124Â -Â December 21 2021Â :Â 3:09:07 PM
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Thanks for the kind words. The layout is obviously a work in progress just awakening after a long time in storage. I will be posting more of this layout in the future as it gets further along toward completion. But for right now, I want to get more of these locomotive tests online. I'm hoping my results will be of use to others.
Those cars are all Bachmann cars right out of the box with no modifications. I've done alot of work on other cars in the fleet but not these ones. They are surprisingly heavy in long strings so I have to be careful backing them uphill, or bringing them downhill.
All of the track is handlaid, except the turntable and the radial tracks around it. Most of them peek out from under the upper level, so handlaying them would have been difficult. I do have derailments, but I try to eliminate them where I find them. As I mentioned before, this layout spent 18 months in an unheated storage unit, and it fared rather well. The throwbars on the switches are soldered to the rails, and many of those solder joints broke while in storage. I am trying to find an alternative to soldered joints there, but everything else is so tiny.
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Posted - December 21 2021 : 9:41:31 PM
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Nice tests! Those curves add an interesting dynamic to the grades.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - December 28 2021 : 5:57:19 PM
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Part 3
Walthers Trainline GP9m. These can be found at train shows for relatively cheap, but are solid performers. I believe the shell is the former COX tooling from the mid 1970s that was made to fit on an Athearn GP9 chassis. But the Walthers drive is completely different. This one hasn't run in a while so it's a little hesitent. It's also the first DCC equipped locomotive tested.
This is also the first locomotive tested that will pull the entire 20 car test train up the grade.
Edited by - jward on December 28 2021 6:07:07 PM
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Posted - December 28 2021 : 6:05:00 PM
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Part 4
Bachmann GP7
This locomotive came with factory installed DCC. It is a smooth running locomotive for the most part, but in the video you can see the peculiar Bachmann DCC trait where the downhill cogging action actually causes the motor to stop and the locomotive to slide. Make no mistake, those 20 cars make for a heavy train. Fortunately, the cogging can be overcome by adjusting the deceleration rate (CV4) to add some momentum to it.
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Posted - December 28 2021 : 6:15:27 PM
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Part 5
Atlas Trainman GP38-2
This is one of the most solid, smoothest running locomotives I have. It's a heavy brute of a locomotive, and it easily pulls the 20 car test train around the layout. I'll probably never know exactly how much it will pull, because anything over 20 cars is longer than the upgrade on the layout, and thus moot. This one has a Digitrax decoder installed.
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Posted - December 30 2021 : 6:14:58 PM
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Looks like all your engines are more than equal to any task you could practically throw at them.
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Posted - December 31 2021 : 10:24:05 AM
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Not all of my engines will perform like the first few. I have Broadway Limited SW7 that is so light as to be useless. I bet the Plymouth outpulls it. And most of my steamers won't pull much either. We will see as I dig through the storage buns and pull out more of my locomotives. I will say this: some of the high end locomotives were disappointing, and some of the cheapest ones did the best, like that Walthers GP9m.
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Posted - December 31 2021 : 12:38:39 PM
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| Interesting results. Definitely separating the wheat from the chaff.
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Posted - December 31 2021 : 10:23:32 PM
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Does the Broadway SW7 have any room for additional weight? I'm wondering if it's so light because it has no room for weight or if they just didn't see the need.
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Posted - January 01 2022 : 11:47:39 AM
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The Broadway SW7, and the Bachmann RS3 and S4, suffer this problem. I think it stems from the use of too light an alloy for the frame. There is no room inside the hood for additional weight. But in all three cases these are locomotives others have produced as well, and those locomotives do not suffer the weight/ pulling power problem. I've already tested the Proto SW1200, which is almost identical to the SW7 in size. It pulled pretty well for a smaller engine. And I have an Athearn calf that will be tested once I add couplers that should perform like the SW1200.
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