Hi,
I intend to run doubleheaders on my layout, which willbe full DCC controlled. I would like to control the two locos with one cab. Does that mean, both locos need the same address or h2 synchronize two locos with different adresses?
Help?
Hi david,
currently I tend to go for the CVP wireless system. As I am a bit of a lone wolf in my region, I need to control two locos with one cab...
DEFinetly don't use the same address for both engines. Then every time you want to use them independently you would have to take one engine and re-address it. And if you are using both independent and want to "double head" them you would have to reprogram the address. Even the cheapo starter DCC sets lets you "doublehead" from what I can tell. I refuse to call it consisting though. For one MR just did an article about it on prototypical running. They called it double heading. And a length of rail cars is reffered to as a consist, so consisting is kind of confusing. To me it makes it sound like it has something to do with the cut of cars, not using multipile engines to move that cut.
You'll probably need to do some "speed matching". Even if they're identical models, inevitably one is a little faster than the other. With DCC you can slow the fast one down a touch so the engines start, run and stop as if they were one unit.
If you have two engines that always run together, like an A-B set of F units, you can give both decoders the same address and they will both respond when you call up that ID number. Otherwise as noted in previous posts you'll need to do "consisting" which will seem complicated at first but will become easy with some experience.
BTW technically in real railroading "double heading" would mean two engines, each with their own engineer and fireman, like two steam engines pulling a train together. Diesels are really diesel-electrics, the diesel engines make electricity that powers the motors that turn the wheels, so you can electrically hook up a long string of diesels and have one engineer control all of them in what (at least model railroaders call) a "consist".
Of course in DCC it's all electric so you can make a "consist" of two steam engines and control them from one throttle, you don't have to have a separate person and throttle for each engine (although some people do run things that way, to recreate the feel of real steam doubleheading).