After reviewing the DCC System Comparisons in the December Model Railroader ithe word consisting is included in the comparisons. Pardon my ignorance, but what is consisting and when is it used?
Rudy
From a DCC perspective, consisting is the use of multiple locomotives in a train, and controlling them as if they were one. DCC allows you to create a consist, or MU (for Multi-Unit) out of individual locomotives. You can create a consist, add locomotives to it, remove them from it, and assign whether the loco is going forward or reverse in the consist.
And it’s brilliant!! I have two BLI SD40-2’s that I run consisted, duel diesels reving up and pulling a long train is just the best.
Ken.
For those of us who are steam era enthusiasts, DCC consisting also works for double (or triple) heading heavy freights with hard working steam locos, or adding a mid or end of train pusher, all operating under one consist address.
A young club member was surprised when I ran such trains, not being familiar with the steam era. He was not aware that prototype railways did operate trains with multiple steam loco’s, connected by whistle sounds and hand signals between crews, rather than today’s MU systems.
Ah but with steam locos and DCC, it’s more fun to do it in the prototypical fashion - especially if both are sound locos so you can do the whistle signals back and forth!
Try doing THAT with DC!
–Randy