DC loco-lashups?

[Anonymous]

Hello!
I have a question on putting two powered DC locos in a lashup. If you do this, would it draw a lot of power between them? Just wondering that's all!

[cacole]

Yes, two locomotives running as a consist would draw twice as much Amperage as a single one, but the Voltage wouldn't change. If you have two Proto 2000 locomotives, for example, they would probably draw around one-half Amp each for a total of one Amp. This is still well within the limits of a power pack's output. I have ran nine Proto 2000 locomotives as a single unit and didn't overload the power supply.

Of course, older and cheaper locomotives draw more power than newer ones with can motors.

[Anonymous]

The locomotives would draw more current than a single one, but not quite twice as much. Part of the current load is from actually pulling the train, and because they will be sharing the mechanical load, they will each pull slightly less current than if they had to do all the work by themselves.

I would agree with cacole that the current should be around 1 amp for two Proto 200's. For Athearn's I'd expect around 1 1/2 amp of total load, again well within the limits of a power supply.

Mark in Utah