Double heading

[laldfordo]

If you have two or more locos at the head of a train do you have to give the second (third etc) loco a driver and the same commands as the leading loco in order to get the pulling and braking effort of the second (third etc) loco? Or do the following locos automatically add their power to the lead loco?

Same question for a second loco placed in the middle or at the back of a long train.

 

[eldavo]

I believe that all the locos in the consist will contribute effort and you only need to give instructions to the one driver.

Cheers
Dave

 

[philskene]

Dave --

True only with multiple unit diesels.

With steamers in cab control you need to drive each individual locomotive - which adds quite a bit to the difficulty and the excitement.

Phil

 

[Harry_James_Potter]

If you have two or more locos at the head of a train do you have to give the second (third etc) loco a driver and the same commands as the leading loco in order to get the pulling and braking effort of the second (third etc) loco? Or do the following locos automatically add their power to the lead loco?

Same question for a second loco placed in the middle or at the back of a long train.

No second driver needed. All you have to do is put one driver on the train and he will control all the locos on the train. It's the same even if you don't have a driver on the train and you're doing the driving. they will all supply power (unless you're using locos that could be started up and shut down and have some in the train that are shutdown - For example, Eldavo's 58s.

regards

Harry

 

[RPearson]

...they will all supply power (unless you're using locos that could be started up and shut down and have some in the train that are shutdown

Harry are you sure about that - I mean by measuring power produced with locos runing and shut down? From what I know if it's a traincar with an engine 1 tag it will add power to the consist.

Bob Pearson

 

[Hillclimber]

Dave --

True only with multiple unit diesels.

With steamers in cab control you need to drive each individual locomotive - which adds quite a bit to the difficulty and the excitement.

Phil

Really? I regulerly driver steam engines in cab mode that are double headers.

 

[Talismana]

Perhaps different locos act different?
However, all the steam locos I have been driving in Cab mode needs to be handled separatly. Quite a challenge,yes.

Håkan

 

[ess1]

Dave --

True only with multiple unit diesels.

With steamers in cab control you need to drive each individual locomotive - which adds quite a bit to the difficulty and the excitement.

Phil

What about in DCC mode?

 

[philskene]

Hi Hillclimber --

In one of my steamer sessions for Austral Bay I placed a banker locomotive at the foot of the incline for the ascent from BesideTheRiver to Anderson.

Trust me as I learnt from bitter experience, unless the second locomotives is crewed it's just dead weight all the way to the top.

ess1 --

"What about in DCC mode?"

Hmmm - us real-skilled top-link drivers just don't use DCC mode!

Phil

 

[Klinger]

I use DCC for testing layouts only

 

[RPearson]

Re steam locos. Like Phil says under user control in cab mode they each behave independently. You have to alternate among all the cabs to handle coal, water and control settings. In dcc well they might as well be diesels anyway so they act like them - any one controls all. It's the same for AI control.

Bob Pearson

 

[ess1]

Hi Hillclimber --

In one of my steamer sessions for Austral Bay I placed a banker locomotive at the foot of the incline for the ascent from BesideTheRiver to Anderson.

Trust me as I learnt from bitter experience, unless the second locomotives is crewed it's just dead weight all the way to the top.

ess1 --

"What about in DCC mode?"

Hmmm - us real-skilled top-link drivers just don't use DCC mode!




Phil

Thanks Phil. Keep up the good work. Am I the only one using DCC he mewed, or is it whinged?

 

[tony125]

I tried double heading a train the other day, I put Alastair in the pilot engine and Dave in the train engine, and then gave each one a different destination.

All went well until they reached a set of points where Dave needed to go off the other way. The train stopped, and I could hear some shouting and swearing, at which point Alastair jumped down from his cab and ran back to the second loco and climbed in. More shouting was heard, then Dave emerged from the cab looking worse for wear. Alastair then went back to the leading engine and continued on his way.
-tony

 

[Mouse84]

"What about in DCC mode?"

Hmmm - us real-skilled top-link drivers just don't use DCC mode!

Phil

Now that's funny. I'm an engineer and run trains for a living. All week long I use REAL controls to run trains. When I fire up Trainz and want to play, I use DCC mode, so that makes me unskilled? Why do I use DCC? Because it's kind of hard to run trains on 3 different computers at once using cab control.

 

[laldfordo]

Moving on

Hey, I started this thread with a simple question, which got answered. Now we're into 'is using DCC non-macho?'

I'm down a rung from any of you CAB or DCC drivers because, along with the 24,499 others who have downloaded it but seem rather absent from these forums, I run with autopilot (on TRS2004) and have no problems with fractious drivers or with turnouts being changed perversely.

 

[Harry_James_Potter]

Harry are you sure about that - I mean by measuring power produced with locos runing and shut down? From what I know if it's a traincar with an engine 1 tag it will add power to the consist.

Bob Pearson

I'll test it and see with Phil_Cs SD70s and a suitable load.

regards

Harry