Does it hurt to have two engines in the same train? Does the two engines compete against each other, like one might be a stronger motor than the other? Does it matter if the engines are from the same manufacture or not?
As long as the loco’s run at close to the same speed then you won’t have any problems. If one is slightly faster make it the lead locomotive. It doesn’t matter if they are from different manufacturers. I’m guessing your using DC? With DCC you can match the speed of different locos just by changing CV’s. Once you do it a couple times its very simple to do.
The fellows I operate with use 3 to 4 locos per train pulling 40 to 50 cars running DC in HO! Most are rebuilt Athearns, Obviously these are big layouts with sweeping curves. Your best bet is to use diesels from the same manufacturer matching them as closely as possible for speed.
Yes, you can do it. I have several lashups that I run with DC, but they are usually a similar model (GP40, GP50, etc.) made by the same manufacturer. I keep Athearn RTRs together, as well as, Genesis units, Proto 2000, etc. Even then, there can be slight differences in speed at the same throttle settings.
Running two engines together is wonderful. If one stalls the other will nudge it.
Try different products together. If they do not want to play well together they will let you know about it.
LION has tied Atheran F7 A-B-A units together with draw bars and jumper wires, they run very well.
Same with PA1s in A-A configurations.
Now that the LION has gone 100% Proto-1000 subway cars, they are all connected with draw-bars (to bring the cars realistically closer together) and jumpers that provide 48 wheel pick-up and interior lighting circuits. Some units have only one power car, others two, since I run six car trains and they come in four car sets.Single power car trains get Bullfrog Snot on their drive wheels.
Even though they are all Proto 1000, they were built at different times and have different speed characteristic. I have to keep cars of the same type together.
ROAR
The answer is a resounding “Yes!”, LOL! As some of the posters have mentioned, it can be done in DC, also. I have a number of DC steamers that are geared very close together, and I ordinarily double-head them on heavy trains over my layout–I have some pretty steady 2-2-4% grades. I’ve even been able to add helpers just in front of the caboose like the real railroads did during the steam era.
Steam or diesel–multiples are very easy to do as long as the gearing is similar.
Tom [:D].
I also run using DC and most of my trains need to be doubleheaded, as the layout is mostly curves and/or grades, with long or heavy trains. Most of my locos, even though they’re from different manufacturers, run well together.
If your train length or layout design, like mine, necessitates the use of multiple locos, even ones that aren’t closely matched may run decently together. The key is that their tractive effort is necessary to move the train. If you’re running such mismatched locos merely for show, chances are they’ll give you problems.
Wayne
Running analog DC, MZL system, I routinely doublehead steam, and diesel with steam, have some big catenary motors with two separate drives in parallel, run a six car DMU set with three separate power cars and frequently add a pusher if the doubleheaded x-6-xT-kettles on the point have one car too many to take up the 4% uncompensated grade to the collieries.
With small, light locomotives, short cars and short trains, I haven’t run into any problems. At part throttle I don’t encounter wheel spin, and I NEVER operate at full throttle (track speed limits won’t allow it.) If you’re pulling long cars at Acela speeds, all bets are off.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
In DC I found that Atlas diesels tend to all run together well, with other makers the speed is a bit hit-and-miss. You can sometimes add resistors to slow down an engine so it runs better with a slower one.
However it’s a lot easier in the long run to just switch to DCC and use the CV settings to make the engines run at exactly the same speed like these.
BTW with true steam doubleheaders (as opposed to a steam helper temporarily coupled to the front of an engine and train) normally the lighter/smaller engine would be in the lead.
While I run my trains using DC, I’ve often thought that many DCC users have overlooked an opportunity for more prototypical operation when multiple operators are available, which is to assign however many steam locos are necessary to move a train, each with it’s own “crew”. These could be run as double headers or as head-end helpers, or even as pushers. Don’t cop-out by “consisting” them, either. Instead, run each as if it were a distinct locomotive with its own characteristics and it’s own crew, just as the prototype did. Three locos, three operators, and three controllers - if I can run a double header with a pusher using DC, surely somebody can take it a step further.
Wayne
Just like Wayne and Chuck, I double and triple head DC powered steam with no problem, mixing brands and wheel arrangements quite a bit.
The following list of locos all run together just fine - Proto 2-8-8-2, Bachmann 2-6-6-2, Bachmann USRA Heavy 4-8-2, Bachmann 2-8-4 (which I have converted into 2-8-2’s), Bachmann 2-8-0, BLI Reading 4-8-4 (no sound or decoder).
As For diesels, most of my multi unit setups are matched sets, but many of them will run with the steam listed above and/or other diesels of various brands/types. And the one brand they do not include is Atlas - because Atlas makes so little in my era.
“easier to just convert to DCC” is a matter of opinion and personal situation. I have over 130 locos - buying and install decoders, rewiring a large layout and speed matching all or most of them would be anything except “easy” - long run or short - what I have works fine without all that work and expense.
I operate on a number of DC and DCC layouts in our local round robin. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. But nothing about DCC has me wanting to change over.
Sheldon
Wayne, on several of the DCC layouts in our local round robin, we do just that. Rear end helpers, steam or diesel, are controlled by a seperate crew, not consisted to the lead locos.
Sheldon
That’s heartening to hear, Sheldon. That possibility was one of the few things about DCC that seemed of interest to me and perhaps, had my layout not been designed for one man operation, might have swayed me to investigate DCC further.
Wayne
That’s the way it SHOULD be done. For steam locos, it should be done that way even for doubleheading, there’s no MU controls on a steam engine! (OK, some excursion ones have been so fitted so as to control a diesel helper…) And if said steam locos have sound - the crews should use whistle signals to communicate back and forth.
Even diesel helpers - need to get over the hill? Call out a helper crew. That means someoen ELSE drives an extra loco or two out to hook on to your train for an assist, not that you activate the MU feature of the DCC system and just add another loco. I do this even for solo operation but that’s because my Digitrax system has 2 knobs on the throttle so I can control two independent locos even by myself. I don;t actually have any (worthwhile) grades on my layout but when I doublehead my steam locos - one’s on the right knob and one’s on the left.
–Randy
This is interesting. I’ve thought about doing it, without mu’ing on a 3 per cent grade on my layout during ops sessions but just haven’t gotten around to it. It being using a rear end helper. How do you best handle it? The lead engine starts out first to take up the coupler slack etc and the helper gradually starts to push? Seems like the helper driver would have to be good on the throttle… 
Jarrell
You have to be good, just like the real thing. It’s even more fun with live loads - loose coal or ore, instead of cast loads, so if you DO goof and shove some cars off the track, you have a real mess to clean up, just like the big boys.
–Randy
I think the real ones first gather slack, either the lead loco backing, or the pusher tightening things up. Then it’s whistle signals and listen to what the locos are saying.
Yeah, part of the reason that I doublehead locos or add pushers is because I do use live loads, and trains can be quite heavy, even if they’re fairly short. Somewhat like real trains, a short train is easier to handle, especially when using a pusher. The reason for this, I think, is because there’s not a lot of slack with which to contend. My coal trains need two locos to handle the layout’s grades and curves, as a 12 car train, plus caboose, weighs 100oz. The locos are always doubleheaded, as they’re needed for the entire run.
One of the same locos can handle 20-24 regular freight cars (at close-to NMRA recommended weights) around the same track. If the train gets longer, it uses either a head-end helper or a pusher. As train length increases, so does the amount of slack. I’ve run a train of over 70 cars (no live loads, though [swg] ) with all four locos on the head end, and the same train with some on the front and others on the rear, a