Is there any way to multiple unit my Wisconsin Central 3547 and say an older 80s Lionel steamer of #8632 so they can run together off of one reverse unit? The 3547 is the can motor type and the 8632 "I think is from the 80s and would be the older tall/skinny a.c. type motor. I plan on modding one for a coupler on the front. Or would it be much easier just to buy a newer starter engine of the same design as my 3547 and wire them together.
Boyd, your WC steamer and the other are both the standard starter steam loco used in nearly all Lionel starter sets since 1992. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise… they are decent, well running locos for the money. The only real difference between the many over the years Lionel has made, is that some of the earlier 4-4-2’s have a cast in water boiler above the front headlight… the later 4-4-2’s do not. The DC motor and everything else are still the same.
I’ve been running these locos for years and they’ve been great.
The circuit board in these steamers is a little smaller in size than others. Most of the basic small circuit board reverse units will run two small DC can motors. BUT I would call Lionel service and speak to a technician and ask first hand. These steamers have smoke units and the boards may be different enough to NOT be able to handle a second motor. If you have ever opened up the shell on the K-Line Alco’s that had 4 motors (Both A units with a tether wire) you’ll see a much a larger circuit board. And even this larger board is not powerful enough to run a single open frame AC motor. So the reverse boards are different.
You might have to get a larger circuit board reverse unit and mount it inside on of the tender shells. Which will mean the loss of the whistle in that tender and also a lot of tether wires, which you might want to avoid.
It might be just as easy Boyd to just run the locos as is and sync up the “e-units” while you are running since they usually go in a F-N-R sequence. If you have some insulated blocks on your layout, it is quite easy enough to run the locos together and sequence the reverse units on the insulted blocks. You could also use the lock out switch (located somewhere below the cab on the back of the loco) to run the loco in one direction only. You could lock one loco into forward and other into reverse, if you had one loco at the end of a train as a pusher.
I run my layout on DC current and have remo
The “can” motors are permanent-magnet DC motors, which are reversed by changing the polarity of the DC voltage feeding them. The traditional motors are series-connected universal motors, which have a wound field. Although they run well on DC or AC, reversing the DC polarity has no effect on direction. Instead, you have to reverse the connections of the armature or the field, or both. This is what the electromechanical e-unit does.
You can modify a universal motor to reverse like a permanent-magnet can motor. Probably the easiest way is to feed the armature from a bridge rectifier, with the input terminals of the bridge wired in series with the field coil. The modified motor will then run only on DC and can be connected to the sort of polarity-reversing e-unit that would be used with a can motor.
Aside from reversing the motors, their behavior with respect to input voltage must be considered. The can motor wants to run at a speed proportional to the DC voltage. When loaded, it draws current proportional to the torque that it is called upon to deliver. It can be harmed by the extreme current that it would draw if forced to run at a different speed. The series motor, on the other hand, will run very fast unloaded. But, when loaded, it slows down and draws more current, but not to the extent that the can motor would. So it plays well with other motors, which is why it is the type used in prototype locomotives.
So one can motor working with one series motor is a reasonable combination, whereas two can motors together are a problem, unless their speeds are pretty well matched at the same voltage.
Looking on ebay I found more 8632 engines and saw pictures of one with the can motor. After reading your posts I think I will wait for another 3547 WC engine to come up on ebay or find another 4-4-2 made in the same years so I will have a matching duo. Looks like I would have to cut some serious slot in the cowcatcher to make a front coupler. Other wise I could bend a flat rod so it goes under the cowcatcher and then wrap it with black electrical tape. If the engines sit say for 10+ seconds do they automatically start again in foreward?
You could make it yourself a lot easier if you remove the center rail connection on one of the locomotives and feed it through the center rail pickup of the other one. This way their e-units work simultaniously and you won’t need to couple e-units or search for another e-board.
If you make a swith is the second locomotive which makes you able to choose between it’s own center rail pickup or the center rail pickup of the other (leading) locomotive, you can use them both as stand alone unit or coupled to eachother working simultaniously. You only need one wire between the locomotives to make this work, so no thick tethers…
Be sure however that the e-units are in the same “position” when you connect the locomotives by the above description, but that is obvious…[:D]