141 v 201 Pulling power

Cookie_Monster

So I've been setting up a couple of my trains for the open nights in the local club, which has some reasonable gradients around certain parts. Thought I'd stick 220, a new version MM 201, on the front of 6 cravens and a luggage van for a good length train.

However the thing struggles badly on even the slightest incline and fails completely to make it over the steepest part of the layout. Thought I'd give 165 a go and sure enough with the same load absolutely no problem on any of the hills, easily out performing the 201.

Why do the 141 have such a better haulage capacity than the 201s? 201 are heavier, same number of driven axles (most of the time, the build quality is much poorer and one of mine only has 3 powered axles)

Whizzzz

Very topical post for me !. I'm putting the finishing touches to a small dual level track layout for my Godson for Christmas. I only have 149cm x 113cm to play with and he only has a basic Hornby 00 gauge starter kit / track (oval with some extra bits) so I'd presumed there was no way I'd have enough length in the layout to be able to raise a track from the lower level to the upper level ?
My small bit of research suggested you need to keep it at less than about 1 in 25 of an incline, so I presumed there was no point in even trying to work something out.
Would you agree ?
Do you have any other suggestions on how I could join the two levels in some way rather than having two totally isolated runs ?
Many thanks

Cookie_Monster

nothing to do with my post tbh but:

run a helix to join the levels and gradients should be at most 3-4%

flyingsnail

I don’t know about the haulage capacity, I don’t have anything set up that I can test them on but I agree with you on the build quality. I have 4 x 141 and 2 x 201. Both of my 201s developed faults. One I fixed and one had to be sent back for warranty repairs. I never had any problems with my 141s. I haven’t run in my 071 so I don’t know what that is like yet.