Is it possible to hook 2 engines, with one facing forward and one facing backward, using only track power? Thanks!
I do not suffer from insanity...I enjoy every minute of it!!! Over 60 and still playing with toys!
Absolutley. The engines will always run in the same direction.
See you at Fairplex. 5 years and going strong!
You can do it with thrack power bet the locos need to be closely matches as far as power and speed goes. Otherwise one loco ends up pushing or pulling the other one.
Try to get engines that have the same motor blocks and that are the same make. We have done two SD70's at the fair and three SD40-2 with our longest train it they have done great. You can check out our webste: fgrr.org to see some pictures.
rpc7271 You can do it with track power bet the locos need to be closely matches as far as power and speed goes. Otherwise one loco ends up pushing or pulling the other one.
I would echo Rogers comment and warning. So long as your transformer is strong enough and your engines are very close as to speed at the same power settings, you can double head, triple head etc. If they are not matched you can damage the drive motors of one or the other OR BOTH!
Tom Trigg
Hi skippygp, As others have said all should be ok, but NO two motors will be the same even if motor block carries same num lett your motor only needs to have a few extra winds on coil and one will move faster than the other. Put both locos on track and watch them run round if one doesent catch up with oter or fall behind you will be ok enjoy lash up
Age is only a state of mind, keep the mind active and enjoy life
I have heard this statement forever about same motor etc. But have never run into anyone that has this happen I was even told by someone that this does not matter in "G" . Has this happen to any of you? just curious
Ed
Hey Ed,
At the fair one of our members put a USA Alco B unit with an Aristo E8, both had similiar engines and blocks but the USA engine was faster and was pushing the engine and pulling the rest of the train. So far we have run multiple engines and as long as they were the same type and from the same company we have not had any issues.
Hope this helps,
Mark
Did the USA engine burn up??????? or something else?????? I understand that the faster engine works harder I guess the degree of diffrence would make a diffrence in how long it would last. I have asked this Q before, no one has ever said that they had riined an engine or how long it took . I am not saying that this statement is wrong, just what it is based on . Doing this can't be good for the faster engine for sure.
We noticed that it had trouble going up the grades so we stopped it and just put two E8 from Aristo and they worked great. We haven't burn anything up... yet anyway. Our longest train is 64 intermodal cars with three USA SD40-2 and they have worked well each year. Usually the faster engine does work harder and that is not good. I have the F3 A and B units from USA and they work awesome together since the train they pull is rather long. Good Rule of thumb is just use the same motor blocks from the same maker.
cool
sorry
So, if I understand what all of you are saying, it is o.k. to put one engine facing forward and one facing backward and they will both go in the same direction due to the way the power is applied to the track?
The motors don't care which way the engine is facing?
All they care about is how the power is applied to the rails?
This is all very confusing to me....I haven't tried it yet but wanted to ask before I damaged one or more of the engines I've got.
Hope someone can explain this all to me as I've got absolutely no knowledge about how motors work or anything like that except that when I put an engine on the track correctly, and give it enough power, it runs.
Thanks, in advance, for any further information.
Track power One rail is + and one rail is -- The moter turns clockwise or countercock wise
depending on which is plus and which is minis if out side rail is plus and the inside is minis if the frist engine is faceing forward the plus rail is on the outsde and engine faceing
backwards the plus rail is still on the out side thus both motors rotate in the same direction
and both engines travel in the same direction to travel backwards you have to swap the plus and minis you do this with you controls the forward or backward switch
I hope this helps
I had it explained to me a bit simpler several years ago. Let's talk of a set of rails heading north - south. If the rail on the east side of the train is positive, all engines on this set of rails will travel north no mater which way it is pointed. If an engine is pointed north it will travel forward, if it is pointed south, it will backup.
But in G, if the east rail is plus the unit heads SOUTH. In HO, they run north.
Art
With track power the all motors run in the same direction as Trigg explained. When running two or more locos together I put the units on the track uncoupled. If there speed is about the same they will work together ok. I have about 450’ of mainline with 2.5% grades and run trains with three lead units USA F3A, B, GP7, and GP7 mid train helper. I also run the USA F units with an Aristo U25B with out problems.
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