I am trying to run two model trains on the same track, and I want to weight down one of them to slow it down enough to increase the run time before the fast one catches the slow one. The goal is to have both running on a single track around a tree (yes, it’s that time of the year).
I am using a Lionel CW80 on a basic square track, with the engines from the Pennsylvania Keystone Special and the Central New York Freight beginner sets.
Please advise on the relative traction power of these units, and the scale of weight differentials (ounces or pounds or tens of pounds?) I may need to get the speeds close. Also, will I burn out the faster engine before I get near the planned settings?
Any way to manually dial down the speeds would also be appreciated.
Now I’m going to tell you to go away. At least go to the Classic Toy Trains section of Trains.com. Most of the folks here are in HO and N, sounds like you are in O.
As far as I know weighting down your loco will not slow it down, unless you give it so much weight it can’t move and burns up the motor. Speed is governed by the speed of the motor at a given electrical input and the gearing in the loco itself. Unfortunatly not all locos, even of the same brand have the same speed. The closest you would come is two locos of the same model to match speed.
I still have several Lionel locos one I have to wire to the low powered terminal on the transformer or it flys off the track, if the grandchildren look at the throttle. The other behaves just fine on the higher output terminals.
There is a method where speed matching can be done, but it is done in what is called DCC in HO and N scale, not sure of the terminology in O. It involves different power scorces and decoders in the locos. A bit expensive for just a Christmas layout.
Go over to the CTT forums and maybe some will have some suggestions.