Reply to "How long do you run trains? Do I need to be concerned about long run times"

My experience both with post war and modern units (bit more limited with the comma nd control types) is that as long as they are maintained right, are lubed and cleaned properly, they should be able to run for 4 hours or more without problems if they aren't running too much load on them. I agree, turn off the smoke units if you can, and run them at a normal operating speed i.e not full out, and they should be fine. I agree, though, that it would be wise to have backups just in case, for example, if an accident happens or a power surge or something wreaks havoc.