I would like to lash some of these together for a long haul and would like some input as to which engine spec to use for all of them. Yes, I know they are from two different manufactures but it's my railroad and I can do what I want. With two different engine specs they might be working against one another. I'm thinking of using N8phu's (Chris) specs. His ES44AC spec is kuid2:473973:100597:1 or his SD70ACe spec kuid:473973:100609. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks to both Dave's, Chris and the others who I forget their usernames for making and reskinning these fine locos.
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ES44AC & SD70M-2 Compatability
- Thread starter stouthm
- Start date
I'm not pdkoester, but no, you don't need all locos to have the same engine spec. They don't, after all, in real life. However, in the case of the two loco's you are using the engine specs should be similar, and prototype railroads in the US do use the two types of locomotives together in the same train on a regular basis, for example, as in this picture.
ns
ns
AMTRAKwannabe
Norfolk & Western Lives
Yep, they do it all the time. I have a feeling that you come from the model railroad world (more specifically the DC side) where everything about the locomotive matters, in Trainz & real life, none of that comes into play!
Some more GE/EMD lash-ups:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/16558280866/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/15445114144/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/15447753893/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/16698993049/
Some more GE/EMD lash-ups:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/16558280866/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/15445114144/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/15447753893/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thevarailfan/16698993049/
I remember the olden days though when it was a problem due to some AC motors and DC motors having issues when working together. This wasn't due to the voltage differences, but due to engine specifications and operation. Today though it doesn't seem to matter as has been pointed out. I've seen both SDs and ESs in the same consists frequently as well.
John
John
In poiint of fact, railroads do face certain compatibility issues with locomotives. Chief among them are gearing, which determines the maximum speed of the diesel locomotive. Further discussion of gearing is beyond the scope of this response, but for more information, see this post on an external thread. Otherwise, railroads have common practices they generally try to comply with when mixing locomotives in a consist. For example, I remember from the Rock Island, that if a turbo charged unit (GP40) was in a consist with non turbocharged units, the non-turbocharged units were to be ahead of the turbocharged unit. The reason for this was that if the turbocharger failed, the unit could be easily cut out of the consist; if the turbocharger failed on a lead unit, then it was necessary to run the locomotives to a passing track, and switch the order of the units. There were other protocols about how to order units but I've forgotten all of the details.
ns
ns
Thanks everyone for replying. Yes, I do know in real life there many different types of hookups but I was referring to in game. I've had issues where I had different types of locos lashed together and with the speed limit at 70mph I could not get them over 50mph until I changed the locos to the same type. My two examples each have a different engine spec in the game and was asking if that was going to effect the performance of the total consist. I'm getting the impression that leaving the engine specs as they are should be okay.
there's the solution, matching max speeds. However, in real life, if the max speeds are different, I have no idea what kind of influence that has. Maybe in real life they are geared accordingly to compensate for this.
In the real world the gearing determines the max speed, also DC vs AC is a factor as the AC motors can crawl longer than the DC motors without over amping.
John
For those who have been following this thread and are interested. I checked the max speed for the following engine specs: 9000:51040 = 29 (T3P GP38) rather old, 473973:100609 & 100610 = 31.30 and 2:473973:100597:1 = 33. Kuid 473973 is n8phu's and is more up to date I believe. I've been running the recent CN & CP Tier 4 and SD70's on Roy's route and they look great. With some grades at 2.5% I wanted all the locos to be working together so I used n8phu's 2:473973:100597:1 engine spec in all of them. Not much trouble changing out the engine specs and now I know I can use different locos together and not have any problems. Again, thanks to all who have helped with these locos.