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Hi. Not able to find much info and/or guidelines about how many freight cars can/should a layout hold without looking too crowded, so I thought I'd ask here. Any ideas about how much a 40 (+/-) sq. ft. layout can have to look "average" ? Does it matter if it's mainly rural/country vs city scapes ?
It'll really depend on your industries/sidings and all. If you're modelling a massive interchange yard, then you'll need loads; if it's just an oval, eventually you'll get the train chasing its tail.
There was an article in MR back in the mid-60's (June 66 IIRC) that had a formula for Storage Car Capacity and some other capacity guides. The guide was 80 to 85%. To calculate the maximum number of cars, you measure all of your industry tracks and yard tracks in inches. Divide by 12 to get to feet. Then multiply by 3.75 cars per foot (assuming 40' cars). Then multiply the maximum number of cars by 80% or 85% to get the number of cars you should have on a layout.
Like any general number your preference will effect the % you want to use. Example, I usually figure out how many 40' cars will fit on the siding and add up those numbers. I use only 50% capacity for the yard tracks to allow more room to work. Over the 30+ years I have been using these guidelines and building operating layouts, I have always tried to hold the % to 80% or less.
Of course part of the final answer depends on how you plan to use your layout. If you are just running, you may find you like a higher number. If you are operating like I do you might like less than 80%.
At the club that I belong to, it was close to 100% with all of the yards used for storage.
Last week, they passed a new club rule saying that yards must be half full when the last operator leaves the club. So, we have to start taking our cars off next week.
For my industrial switching layouts(ISL) I rotate the number of cars needed for a operation session.I found eight 10 car rotations fills my needs without the dreaded "Oh there's that gray A&R boxcar again" syndrome.
My car numbers are based on industry demand, no idea how many are on the layout at one time tho.
On average I go with cars in threes. For example if you have an industry that serves a business there would be one getting loaded, one getting unloaded, and the third en route either to get loaded or unloaded. Some industries might go with groups of six, nine, etc.
My coal trains are three groups of twenty four: again one getting loaded, one getting unloaded, and another en route.
This gives your trains a purpose.
I also have some trains, intermodal for example, that simply appear from and disappear into staging tracks with no actual destination on the layout. The number of cars in that train is dictated by how many fit into sidings.
A friend rotates his cars by placing the boxes in vertical rows. He runs them for a session then puts those cars on top and pulls replacements from the bottom of each row.
