Running two joined trains

[PomDave]

Hi All,

I'm new to DCC so please bare with me on this. How can you operate say two Class 150 sets that are attached to each other to form one unit. I seem to recall seeing this on a youtube video somewhere that showed this.

Best Rgds,
Dave R.

[Rog (RJ)]

Have a look at consisting, here https://dccwiki.com/MU_consisting

There are various methods. Which method you use will depend on what your controller is capable of and what decoders are fitted to your locos.

[Steve M]

Either give them both the same address but remember you will need the change one to another address if you want to run them separately later.
The other way is to set up a 'consist' on your controller - refer to your controller instructions for this. I don't know for sure but some may not support this function.

[PomDave]

Thanks guys, I'll look into that.

I know that trying to run two trains together on DC causes problems where one unit will inevitably run faster than the other, especially if they are different classes or makes.

Best Rgds,
Dave R.

[one man and his dog]

A friend of mine plays with steam trains at 12 inches to the foot scale, he has been a fireman for a while and has recently qualified as a driver. He showed me a video of two steam locos of the same class consisted to pull a train. What I noticed was that the conrods of both locomotives started off in perfect synchronisation and quite soon they were 180 degrees out of phase. Apparently the front loco is the primary one and the second one is there to help as required. So, the front one decided when they are starting for example. The driver of the second loco doesn't get a lot of information from the driver of the front loco, a few whistles for example, but what he has to do is watch the steam issuing from the chimney of the front loco and try to work out what's happening, so it is really difficult to get both locos pulling equally hard, some wheel slip occurs, and the wheels don't go round at the same speed.

What's this got to do with consisting on a model railway? I tried setting up a consist on my controller but like most things modern and electronic it defeated me. So whenever I consist I start the first loco and set a slow speed (I use DCC) then I start the second one and give it the same speed, then accelerate the first one a bit then back to the second one to set it a bit faster. Yes I do get wheel slip, but both locos contribute to pulling the train and I regard the wheel slip as prototypical.

That's my solution and it works for me. If you don't like it I promise I won't be offended.

[Brian]

Yu should read the DCC systems manufactures literature and also the locos decoders manufacturers literature leaflet and use both to make a Consist,
You will also need to know how to dissolve a Consist too.