New York & Western Railroad
Train Length Guidelines

       NY&W engineers will adhere to the use of scale/speed restrictions based on prototype realism. This information is from the pages of "The Engineers Handbook" by AlcoGE (circa late 1940's) and represents an Alco GE 1000hp Switcher rated at 115 tons. The original table uses speed and grade as the basis to determine the total trailing tons the locomotive could haul. This will be determined by conductors adding the combined tare weight (LTWT on car sides) from each individual car plus the waybilled load weight including any MOW cars and the caboose.

        As each train is made up and blocked in a yard the appropriate motive power selected will be matched by the tonnage and grade requirements of the terrain. Refer to the car tonnage tables to make this job easier. Note the tonnage conversion to 40 ton cars (as originally stipulated in the handbook) and a 100 ton car chart for ease of use.

      Please note: Grades above 2% decrease the number of cars drastically so that very short trains (3-5 cars) or the use of helpers are required. There will be no exceptions. 

Ardsley Truetrack
Operations Manager - NY&W