Pulling Power of Southern 4501 and Norfolk & Western 611 Double-header in Trainz

[jordon412]

I was wondering if anyone could provide me what how many cars can a double-header of Southern 4501 and Norfolk and Western 611 (both from Peter's Trainz and are reskins of Ben Neal's locomotives) pull on the 'Norfolk and Western - Appalachian Coal' route included in Trainz 12. I couldn't find any videos on youtube of the two locomotives double-heading, so I'd like some help figuring out how many cars they can pull together. According to steamlocomotive.com, Southern 4501 originally had a tractive effort 51,638 pounds and Norfolk and Western 611 has a tractive effort of 77,899 pounds. This results in a combined tractive effort of 129,537 pounds. Given this information, can anyone help me?

 

[jordon412]

Here's the link to a video from 1992 of Southern 4501 pulling a 20-car train, excluding the auxiliary tender, with the assistance of two Norfolk Southern Geeps, on a trip between Huntsville, Alabama to Chattanooga, Tennessee:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DneX6NlRNLY

And here's the link to a video of Norfolk and Western 611 also pulling a 20-car train, excluding the auxiliary tender, with assistance of one Geep, running through central Virginia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZKJ3Xq7Bo

So it would seem like they would be able to handle 20 cars together, but how many cars can they handle when running the entire length of the 'Norfolk and Western - Appalachian Coal' route?

 

[Enzo1]

Well 130,000lbs of effort is quite a bit, but there's so much more to calculate as than just simply power. We have to look at what the grades are plus whether those cars are loaded or not. Those two are going to have a large effect on how much they can pull. With a rough guess, I would try 35-40 cars at first.

 

[jordon412]

. . . I would try 35-40 cars at first.

Well, if you count the number of cars behind this legendary triple-header behind (from front to rear) Southern 4501, Norfolk and Western 611 and 1218, there's only about 23 or 28 cars.

I don't think there's been such an amazing triple-header since the end of steam. Also, the train I have now is a total 38 cars, 33 coaches, 1 observation, two tool cars (one for each locomotive), and two auxiliary water tenders (one for each locomotive).

EDIT: A little note about the route. It is not the built-in 'Norfolk and Western - Appalachian Coal' route, but 'Norfolk Southern - Appalachian Coal'. One of my changes was to the problem with the route: Grades up to over 4%. I've since reduced the grades to below 3%, and the route has had some work done to it to make it look more 'present day'. One of the other things I did was adding staging yards in the shape of a reverse loop at each end, plus replacing one portal with an 'in portal' and an 'out portal'.