# Model train speeds.



## Chaostrain (Jan 27, 2015)

I see it pop up in different threads about a model trains speed so I thought give everyone a chance share their choice. What speeds do you like to run your trains? I don't see a right or wrong, just a personal choice. 

Personally I run mine based on my mood. I'll run them anywhere from barely moving to attempting to set a new speed record. Usually, though, I run them at a kind of brisk pace but still smoothly enter and exit curves. I don't want to throw the freight or passengers around.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I go for moderate speeds, the real ones go pretty slow and it gives a sense of mass. However, I'm not above light speed runs or the occasional slow race. I have an N scale Mini-Trix 0-6-0 that goes thirty seconds tie to tie, as well as an Athearn Hustler that I've clocked at just under 400 scale miles an hour.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

For freight, I usually run from 25 to 35 SMPH. For passenger, I usually run from 55 to 65 SMPH.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

I like realistic-looking speeds. Too fast defeats the idea of a model RR.


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

Mostly slowly.. although that's freight. I think passenger trains should zip along.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I run passenger trains at a max of 45 MPH because of the size of the layout. If I had 20 or 30 foot stretches of track I'd up that to 70 or 80 MPH which is still slow for most European passenger trains.

I run freight at 35-40 MPH or slower.

Rhätische Bahn runs at 15-20 MPH, sometimes slower.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

It depends on several circumstances. The era, for example, means modern diesel vs mid-20th Century steam and first generation diesels. 

If the layout is on the small side, scale 'limited' speeds on passenger trains will have your models careening around the oval or figure eight inside of 10 seconds or less. This would not satisfy me. So, I build considerably larger layouts with double mains in a 'folded loop' configuration that takes scale 80 mph passenger speeds about 2 minutes to complete the loop. 

Coal drags also operate at realistic speeds, about 40 mph, less on grades. Often my Y6b Mallet is shoving behind a long coal drag headed by a Class A 2-6-6-4. On the flats, the Class A can pull 1200 tons easily at 60 mph. But on my 2.5% grades, it is barely going to keep that mass moving, and will stall unless the Mallet assists. With it's smaller drivers, and much higher tractive effort, I can get the two of them to move the consist at about 25 mph or more.

I don't often run my passenger trains quickly, in truth. To get the durable, and prolonged, satisfaction of watching it run and seeing the churning valve gear and rods, I tend to run them nearer to 50-60 mph. Freights always run between 20-50 mph, depending on my mood.

One last case: I often build custom-built turnouts and need to test them. They're oddly configured wyes, or two-ways. I desire to prove them with all locomotives in forward and reverse motion, including moving rolling stock in trailed or shoving cases. I do this slowly and at breakneck speed. If all combinations work with no derailments, I consider the turnout to be satisfactory.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

I don't have a large layout so I try to keep speed about 45mph but it just has the appearance of being too slow so I tend to let it get away from me just a little.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

My longest loop is a 140 foot folded dogbone. If I run a freight at a scale 30-35 MPH, it takes several minutes to make it around, which looks good. Passenger trains get maybe 40-50 scale MPH.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Fairly slowly, as a norm. But because we are generally doing switching operations while trying to keep clear of an "orbiting" passenger train that completes one lap every 3-ish minutes, sometimes one of us gets a little excited and really cracks the throttle on a freight drag.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Scale 25-35 MPH usually.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I like to run freight at about a scale 25-35 mph, passenger at a scale 50 - 55 mph. I like that speed because the trains look real and I can look at them well, but also, as GRJ says, it takes them a while to come around. My big loop is 135 feet around, just slightly shorter than GRJs. At a scale 25 mph it takes 3 full minutes, and at 35 mph a train takes a bit over two minutes to make a loop. At 50 mph it takes a minute and a half.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

It takes two minutes, 47 seconds for the RhB 4/4 III to make s lap at 20 MPH. Two minutes for a freight or passenger at 40 MPH to make a lap on the mains.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I don’t have a massive layout by any stretch of the imagination but to me it depends on the motive power. I usually run a passenger train between 55 and 60 on my layout which makes a quick loop around my layout but freight I have going around 25. With most of my locomotives being steam I tend to run them where they look more realistic than an actual speed. Some locos like my y6 I’ll run relatively slow when if I have my challenger or my 5011 2-10-4 with bigger drivers I’ll have going faster. Passenger locos like my Hudson’s or Pacifics Or a warbonnet I’ll have going at a pretty good clip


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## BigEd (Oct 28, 2014)

I think each to their own on running speed - I have different types of trains from bullets all the way to the slowest freight so I guess I can run any speed.

Having said that, I normally prefer prototypical speed but I find us N scalers tend to run too fast. I am yet to buy a RR speedometer (quite pricey these items) but in the mean time I use 2 items to help me trim the speed, or keep an eye on it.

1. My iPhone. I bought an app for a buck years ago and you set it up for N and measured 12 inches and you press and hold the button for the whole time the train is in the 12 inches. Not 100% but close enough...

2. Again my iPhone or any video camera. Zoom in close so the train in the picture appears life size and it will give you a decent sense/feel of the speed or your train. Again it's not 100% but most of us have sat at a rail crossing or near an Amtrak train to judge a sense of speed.

YMMV

But most importantly - Njoy!


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## Steve Rothstein (Jan 1, 2021)

When I started last year and posted a video of my beginner's layout, one of the comments was a suggestion about running at prototypical speeds. I thought it was a good idea and bought one of those model train speedometers. I was really surprised at how fast the trains were running over 200 scale MPH. I started programming the decoders to only allow proto speeds where I could find what they were (and guesstimated at the others from similar types). You know, there is something to be said for high speed for fun, but in general I preferred running them at realistic speeds.

And now, as I am trying to run multiple trains and control them and keep up with what I am doing, I find that I am running at half throttle most of the time, if that. I estimate I am averaging between 40 and 50 scale mph now.


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## BigEd (Oct 28, 2014)

Funny enough, every year when our club has its open day I always man the N scale layout (big surprise, I know ) and the most asked question is always “how fast can they go?”

The last few years we’ve had a Scalectrix stand there too, so I politely refer the questions to those guys who doesn’t seem to mind


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Model Railroad Speed Calculator


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I used to drive the guys at the club nuts, my Bachmann Shay does about 12 smph tops. At around 700 feet, the Shay would do a circuit in about an hour. I could pull off into a passing siding and keep going while the faster train passed by, then pull back out onto the main without stopping.


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

Switcher in yard or switching industries -- yard speed (quite slow, almost a "fast walk").

Transfer job -- slow easy pace (faster than yard speed, but not by all that much).

Local freight -- loping along, not quite "freight speed".

Through freight -- moderate pace, perhaps equivalent of 30-40mph (or even 50).


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

shaygetz said:


> I used to drive the guys at the club nuts, my Bachmann Shay does about 12 smph tops. At around 700 feet, the Shay would do a circuit in about an hour. I could pull off into a passing siding and keep going while the faster train passed by, then pull back out onto the main without stopping.


My O-gauge Shay's are low geared, but I think they'll probably do more like 25 scale MPH. They're working real hard at that speed, and I worry about all the gears and universals, so they normally run pretty slowly. Those and the MTH Climax just don't look right speeding down the rails!


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> My O-gauge Shay's are low geared, but I think they'll probably do more like 25 scale MPH. They're working real hard at that speed, and I worry about all the gears and universals, so they normally run pretty slowly. Those and the MTH Climax just don't look right speeding down the rails!


Mine has the steel replacement gears from NWSL, the Botchmann ones split pretty much when I got it back in '04...they actually smoothed out the speeds and probably dropped the speed an additional 1-2 smph from stock. I'd love to get one of those scale speedos for my tinkering work.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

I have Bachmann's steel replacements, but have yet to install them as the plastic ones are still working! A joy to watch!


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Lemonhawk said:


> I have Bachmann's steel replacements, but have yet to install them as the plastic ones are still working! A joy to watch!


you will probably find, as I did, an ever decreasing ability to pull loads. this, in my case, came from the gears splitting. as each one split, the load would catch on the remaining gears, with the split ones simply spinning around the shaft. I got down to one before I figured it out...sigh...


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

O gauge locomotives, all steel gears.


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

One of the things I really love about the switch to DCC is the ability to have a loco smoothly gain speed instead of just instant-on. Someone above mentioned that running at slower speeds gives a sense of mass -- I feel like the gradual climb in speed also adds to that in giving a sense that the loco is actually working under a heavy load. And that's just my initial experience with a small test loop, I can't wait to have a real layout again.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Shdwdrgn said:


> One of the things I really love about the switch to DCC is the ability to have a loco smoothly gain speed instead of just instant-on.


Very true. What I really like about the Lionel Legacy models is you not only have the momentum settings, but you can also vary the labor sounds and smoke intensity to match.


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Hmm I had forgotten about that. The only sound module I've purchased in the tsunami for my two ten-wheelers, and I've noticed they actually have feedback from the motor so not only are the sounds much louder when you first take off, but they vary when climbing hills. It's all really cool what is being built into the models now.


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