Does anyone know if using two of the same HO locomotives actully makes the train more powerful then just using only one? I cant relly tell that much espeically when going up a hill. They both seem to slow down. I know they use the exact same amount of track power. Anyone have any ideas about this. thanks
Assuming that your power pack has enough juice to power both, yes, you do get more pulling power. If there isn’t enough then the available power gets split between both engines.
I am now going to be using DCC. Do you think decoders would make any difference?
See: www.comrail.org , which I used to belong to.
A new Atlas GP40 or SD35 or C425 could handle 12 to 15 cars each up the helix, so 40 car trains required three locomotives to get up the hill, and three was not enough for a fifity car train - it is a real bummer to stall on the hill — you have to get the dispatcher to send out a helper – and it ties up the whole road.
Why don’t you just pu***he train up by hand? Is it worth the trouble sending another locomotive when you could do it by yourself?
Every once in a while I see a Union Pacific (Mopac) train stall on Kirkwood hill near St. Louis, MO. Whenever that happens, a giant hand drops down from the sky and nudges the train over the hill.[:o)][;)][:D]
To answer your question, pushing the train by hand is not very realistic. Yes, modelers can pu***he train, but calling for a helper locomotive is much more realistic and fun. It is also an excuse to run another train to assist the first over the hill. Also, not all helix’s are easily accessible, and so using a helper loco is much simpler and easier than trying to crawl into a closet or other location where the helix is positioned.
Dale B.
I have never had a probalem when at least one of my locomotives couldn’t pull the 20 car trains. Got to love the atherns. my Bachman locos on the other hand would have trouble. So u send in one the atherns to assist the bachman right… wrong, why not just use the Athern from the start.
ShaunCN
In addtion to Dale’s answer, because you could not easily reach it to do so.
I seem to remember a question similar to this in Model Railroader (I think!). Anyway, the questioner had asked about running a pair of locomotives in a lash-up, even though one was admittedly less powerful than the other. If you put the less powerful locomotive in the second position, it will assist the other locomotive even though it isn’t as powerful. Any tractive force that eases the load on the lead engine’s drawbar is beneficial. Granted, the second locomotive isn’t doing as much work as the lead, but it is assisting by adding its power to the draw.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to add a fourth unit when running long trains over the hill?
What you can do is draw up a chart of “tonnage ratings”, which indicate how many cars a given locomotive can haul over your layout’s profile. (You can also adapt this to reflect the prototype locos capabilities as well.) So when your trainmaster finds he has a 50 car train, he knows to have a four-unit engine assigned to the consist, and three units for 40, and two for 30, and that yard switchers are limited to 7 cars., etc.