Connecting two different Locos

[Anonymous]

I've had no trouble running 2 or 3 locos in a train and I've seen 3-6 run together at clubs. I have tested all of my engines against each other to see which run together best, fastest one in front. If an engine outruns another quickly in a very short period of time, I won't put them together. I'll run units that match speed somewhat close together at start up & up to speed, and they don't get hot. I run N scale and found these models run together pretty well, though sometimes the same engine from same manufacturer will run at different speeds too. N scale consists I've run: ***Atlas SD60 with Kato SD40-2 and SD9040 and SD45 and Dash 9. ***Newer Atlas slow motor Dash 8 with GP38 and B36-7. I have Older Atlas and Life Like engines that have to go solo because they are too fast or too slow. I've been doing this for a while with very clean track and no problems with any of these engines so far. It's better to pull that push!
Later, Pete

[Anonymous]

Mike,

The problem should be considered like this:

Consider the front loco by itself and the second loco pulling all the cars. When you cut the power on, the front loco is going to take off and the second loco is going to start off slower because of the load of pulling the cars. As soon as the front loco pulls the slack out of its coupler, the load it pulls will increase until it is sharing in the full load of the train. It doesn't matter which loco is faster. Either loco, in front, will take off faster than the other because the other is pulling cars by itself until the slack is run out. The only problem I have experienced is that sometimes these locos will uncouple because the slack in this coupler comes out very quickly. - Ed

[Anonymous]

Ed,

Thanks very much. From what little I know about electric motors, it seemed to me that they would reach an equilibrium where they were each doing about 50% of the work and drawing about the same current, but I wasn't sure there were any other issues involved. I have two BL-2 locos from Life-Like, but the older runs much faster that the newer. If you have more info, I would be interested.

Mike

[Anonymous]

Michael,

There should not be a problem with this. Either loco in front will be fine. Let me kow if you want to know more detail. - Ed

[Anonymous]

Kato HO dash 9 dont run with my ATLAS C30 dash 7 got the two to team up together so i went and got matching pairs.The new Atlas is better than the old C 30 DASH 7 ATLAS line.

[Anonymous]

I have found my Lifelike E7's, PA's and Walters F40PH's are not identical but the electrical draw is
per model so I will double head with the faster unit
as the second loco.
There's enough variance in electrical starting draw
between manufacturers(AtlasU33C versus Lifelike) that it's not practical for me to operate. I have
a MRC 9500 series pack that gives me an immediate
read out of amp-voltage usage.

[Anonymous]

I found that Atlas and KATO engines are a pretty good match. But I'd still check if they run hot.
A slow engine will basically get dragged along.
I've only done it for short periods with no harm to the locos.
Adding some resistors in parrallel will take more current away from the motor, but I'd run it without the shell on to check they don't get hot enough to melt the plastic.

[Anonymous]

I believe if you connect the fastest engine in front it may work Im not sure though it could messup the slower engine's motor. You could just reengine them with the same one.
Hope this helps,
Pierce

[Anonymous]

I've never seen this question come up, but I've wondered about it for some time. If I have two locomotives from different companies and they do not run at the same speed for a given voltage, will it harm them to connect them together for the same train? No DCC involved, just block wiring.