This one of the nebee's again. Question I have now is, Can two HO Engines Running from seperate Power Packs be run together, i.e., like one pushing another, without fear of damage to the engines or this a no no?
....Can two HO Engines Running from seperate Power Packs be run together, i.e., like one pushing another, without fear of damage to the engines or this a no no?
In DC you're not really controlling each locomotive, you're controlling a section or "block" of track. When you put power to the track, all the engines in the block are going to move - all the same direction, if they're wired up correctly. There is no way to isolated and control one engine with one power pack and control another engine with another power pack in DC.
In DCC (digital command control) there is a constant 12-14v AC power on the track. Each engine has it's own decoder and you can control each engine separately, or you can change the settings to have one throttle control two or more engines at the same time.
So...in DC, you can run a train with several engines, but they're all going to respond to the power pack's commands if they're all in the same block - all will go forward, or all will go back. If the engines run at the same speeds (that is, if say all the engines go about 35 scale MPH when getting 6v of power) then they can all run together on a train. (In DCC, you can adjust how the engine responds to the power it gets, so that it is much easier to get several engines to run perfectly together.)
In DC you're not really controlling each locomotive, you're controlling a section or "block" of track. When you put power to the track, all the engines in the block are going to move - all the same direction, if they're wired up correctly. There is no way to isolated and control one engine with one power pack and control another engine with another power pack in DC.
In DCC (digital command control) there is a constant 12-14v AC power on the track. Each engine has it's own decoder and you can control each engine separately, or you can change the settings to have one throttle control two or more engines at the same time.
So...in DC, you can run a train with several engines, but they're all going to respond to the power pack's commands if they're all in the same block - all will go forward, or all will go back. If the engines run at the same speeds (that is, if say all the engines go about 35 scale MPH when getting 6v of power) then they can all run together on a train. (In DCC, you can adjust how the engine responds to the power it gets, so that it is much easier to get several engines to run perfectly together.)
This could be misleading for a newbie: of course it's possible to independently control one loco at the same time as another, using separate power packs - that's the purpose of block control. Generally, this is done when there are enough operators to control each separate loco (or block).
Wayne