Double heading locos

Started by weave, September 08, 2012, 10:04:35 PM

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trainsdownunder

#15
Quote from: RichardBattersby on September 09, 2012, 08:51:53 PMIs it easy enough to sync two locos' speeds?
Speed matching is not quite as daunting as it seems and I have found it worth the effort. Couple of links I've keep for setting it up.
I used the first one initially as I have a SPROG etc and do use Decoder Pro.



http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn1/y_Speed_Matching_DecPro

http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/loconews/loco_speed_matching_easy.htm

longbridge

Don't know about British stuff but when I modelled American N I always double or triple headed my diesels on DC, I did use the same brand locos for each lash up and had no problems whatsoever.

Although I have great respect for Farish Diesels I don't think they are as robust as the American stuff, heard to many horror stories of broken and mismatched gears, having said that I intend to buy as many British diesels as possible.
Keep on Smiling
Dave.

H

I've been double heading class 73s on a train at exhibitons for many years with no problems. They are both the same class and make so are fairly well matched but not exactly. However, I don't think I'd try pairing, say, a typical leggy Kato chassis mech with a slow running Farish loco though.

H.

fisherman

I double   head a  Union  Mills   2P  and a Union  Mills 3F. Both  run  at  a  similar speed   having  the    same  tender   drive mechanism. However  the   different   wheel  arrangement makes  the  coupling  rods move   at   different rates and  this looks   very  good... well, I think so!
<o({{{<<

macwales

Hi

I regularly doublehead a couple of trains and sometimes run two trains on opposite sides of a long loop. My loops are around a 10 by 8 (feet) shed.

I think its vital to get two locos that are approximately geared the same so they run at much the same speed as each other. My best double header is pulled by two small Minitrix dock tanks. Double heading these looks great and they do not stick at points at all. I regularly also use a Dapol Q1 to pull a coal train with a Dapol Terrier at the back banking. This is on the inner first radius (9 inch) loop where the Q1 (second batch - no traction tyres) has some trouble pulling the coal train at very slow speed round bends and stops on some nearby insulfrog points. With the banker this train trundles slowly round.

When  running two trains on the same DC track I try to get the locos closely matched for the running speed that I want. This relative speed of travel varies with controller setting. So at slow speeds two locos may be well matched but at a faster speed  they may not be and vice versa. I regularly have two trains - one long modern goods pulled by a Dapol Class 67 and at the other side my Engineer's liveried dogfish train pulled by a Dapol Class 26. One issue to be aware of is that the loco speeds differ quite a bit at the same controller speed setting as they warm up. In the above example the class 26 starts off slower from cold than the class 67 and then speeds up so it runs faster so catches up with the goods train and has to be regularly stopped at one section for a few seconds to keep the spacing the same.

A similar tale with two Dapol Class 156 DMU sets.

I have not yet found two Farish locos that will run at the same speed on DC and them and Dapols run at different speeds.

I use a Vortax N gauge 4 x track D.C. controller with no problems.

Is it worth the bother?
You bet - as it looks great when they are all moving together. A very busy railway!

The downside?  Some locos I have do not like being coupled with another loco at all and constantly derail whenever either it or the partner loco stutter a bit on bends, dirty track or points resulting in tension on the couplings.  The worst for this is a Farish Black 5.

When running two trains on one loop you have to watch out for catch ups due to stalls, sticking and just varying speed - so no nattering to visitors or catastrophy will ensue.

Cheers

Mac


   

CarriageShed

Quote from: trainsdownunder on September 09, 2012, 09:50:52 AM
Quote from: bbdave on September 09, 2012, 08:10:48 AM
does that mean it's ok to run two locos on one line on dc? i was always told not to do that by my dad, this could open up a whole new world!

My Dad used to say the same. I reckon it was because things weren't quite so reliable in the early days, in terms of quality  electrical wise.  I do know peple who do run double headers on DC with no apparent trouble. However, it was one of the reasons I went to DCC

I think the advice I received back in the late seventies/early eighties was much the same: don't try it or you risk burning out an engine. As banking was an integral part of the real-life line that I'm thinking about modelling now that I'm back in the hobby, I'm really encouraged to see that things have moved on since then.

davecttr

This is proving very helpful. A number of 2 coach DMU's, for example Farish Class 158's. I was intending to run them singly as I was worried about damaging the motors if I tried running 4 coach units.

If i connect the 2 units together so the two powered coaches are adjacent there should be no problem running them under DC?

Same with Farish Voyagers if i have the two power cars adjacent?

I wonder why Dapol sell dummy units?

Newportnobby

With DC I think the same problems arise wherever you place the power cars, Dave.
Unless the power cars are very closely balanced (such as the Farish Blue Pullman) you will always have one either pulling the other or one propelling the other. Personally I don't know which is best regarding strain on motors, but having run a couple of class 24's on an oval of track to see which ran fastest, I then used the slower loco as the pilot engine in a double headed situation and have had no trouble (or at least I don't think I have :worried:)

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