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I can run in the "Company notch" on my Aster Mikes and depending on my due dilligence to attend to the reverser lever position, I can use one to two less tenders full of water per hour.
Running flat out pulling a short train the engine can use up to 4 or 5 tenders full of water, but if I really work at backing off on the reverser lever and don't do lots of start and stop running and keep the safeties from lifting too much, I can get away with filling the tender only 2 or 3 times. This is all based on a run time of about 60 minutes on a full fuel tank.
The problem is... I seldom have the desire to pay that much attention to the position of the reverser lever or to just run roundy-round without also doing lots of high-speed, then low-speed, then stop and run backwards for a while, high and low speed, then switch cars around using the steam up bay as a siding to hold cars for re-arangement of the consist.
There is also the matter of seeing how fast I can be going when I slam the valve gear into reverse to make the drivers spin backwards while bringing the train under control before it hits the curve at the end of the straightaway!
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Running flat out pulling a short train the engine can use up to 4 or 5 tenders full of water, but if I really work at backing off on the reverser lever and don't do lots of start and stop running and keep the safeties from lifting too much, I can get away with filling the tender only 2 or 3 times. This is all based on a run time of about 60 minutes on a full fuel tank.
The problem is... I seldom have the desire to pay that much attention to the position of the reverser lever or to just run roundy-round without also doing lots of high-speed, then low-speed, then stop and run backwards for a while, high and low speed, then switch cars around using the steam up bay as a siding to hold cars for re-arangement of the consist.
There is also the matter of seeing how fast I can be going when I slam the valve gear into reverse to make the drivers spin backwards while bringing the train under control before it hits the curve at the end of the straightaway!
