MUing Locos, DCC, and Wires

Gary S.

Senior Member
On another note, these two CF-7s just got through pulling 101 40-foot cars weighing 6 ounces each, and this was around two 25" radius 90 degree curves! There was a touch of wheel slippage, but they kicked butt. Now, backing the cars up was an issue, more slippage and some of the cars on the first curve would derail. I guess that is alot of pressure to push them around the curves versus pulling them.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
On another note, these two CF-7s just got through pulling 101 40-foot cars weighing 6 ounces each, and this was around two 25" radius 90 degree curves! There was a touch of wheel slippage, but they kicked butt. Now, backing the cars up was an issue, more slippage and some of the cars on the first curve would derail. I guess that is alot of pressure to push them around the curves versus pulling them.

One of the dynamic problems of backing long trains is that the cars are not designed to push a lot of weight. If the cut you are backing is long enough, eventually you reach the point where a car will derail more easily than it will push. In the real world, a pair of Cf7's would not handle 100 car trains, and I suspect that you don't normally have nearly that many cars behind your set either. I was just sharing the dynamics of pushing long cuts of cars so that you won't "beat" yourself to "death" trying to correct a problem that is virtually impossible to correct.
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Russ, I suspected that pushing the cars around curves would be more difficult than pulling them. I haven't started searchng the track for problems!:mrgreen:

As for 100 car trains, this fills up 3/4ths of my mainline. So, under normal circiumstances, 101 cars is waaaaay to many. While operating. I'll have a maximum train length of 15 cars. I sure am happy with the throttle response and power pick-up of this set-up, even if they may be a tad over-powered compared to the real thing.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Hey, Gary, overpowered is always preferable to underpowered, in my books. :thumb: It doesn't take long for curves and grades to sap the pulling power of any loco.

Wayne
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
Just as a note, I have made a diesel set by permanently coupling a powered and a dummy diesel together and then installed sound in them, the chip in the powered loco and the speaker in the dummy. I bought extra pick ups for the dummy and then I connected the wires from the one loco to the other, essentially like a real M.U. but without the plugs.
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Hey Madhatter, that's a good idea on using the dummy for extra wheels picking up power. Since my layout is in my garage and is exposed to dust, I know I will have problems with dirty track. The extra set of wheels picking up power is sweet.

I did two more Athearn locos today, a GP-35 and another CF-7. I did an experiment, I ran some single locos and was getting alot of light flickering and even some stalling. But with the MU set-up, there is no light flickering or anythng, just beautifully running locos.

Wayne, I'm with you, too much power is better than not enough.
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Here are some photos. Once I put some black paint on the exposed portions of the connectors, they will hardly be noticed at all. Since my openhouse is coming soon, I want to be certain that I don't have any power problems.
 

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Gary S.

Senior Member
As it is now, I can only mix a "female" loco with a "male" loco. Not very politically correct.:cool:

It just dawned on me that I should have female plugs in all the locos, and then have wires with male plugs on both ends, then any loco could be attached to any other.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
As it is now, I can only mix a "female" loco with a "male" loco. Not very politically correct.:cool:

It just dawned on me that I should have female plugs in all the locos, and then have wires with male plugs on both ends, then any loco could be attached to any other.

When I saw the photos, I thought that that's what you'd done: the first view showing a converted loco, the second view with the wires plugged in, and the final set-up in the third picture. ;):-D

I thought that all locos (and cars, trucks, and countless other "guy" stuff is always referred to as being female, at least by guys). And I have heard some women refer to their car as "he". Perhaps we shouldn't be parking them too close to one another, or we'll end up with a new go-kart in the garage. :p

Wayne
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Wayne, it is all so obvious now, don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Each loco needs a female plug because the locos are indeed female (Thomas the Tank notwithstanding). The connector wires get a male plug on each end. That way, I can remove the "maled" connector wires and run the locos as singles without the unsightly male wire dangling out. This has the added bonus of any loco being MUed with any other loco. I will do this tomorrow.
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Super topic, and yes it's out of date but I have two Atheran Hustlers that I'd like to do this to for the paper mill at the Clarksville model rr club. Photos should be up after the holiday season.

Tyler
 
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