Watching this video made me change the way I run my diesels

[twforeman]

Here's an interesting video of some switching in 1989.

After watching the way the engineer was running the Geep I immediately went and added a ton more momentum to mine. I also increased the force for the independent brake.

Watch in the video how he notches the engine up to speed and then throttles back to idle while it coasts along. Now that I have a ton of momentum programmed in I can do the same. I also have to use the brake to actually stop where I want. It's actually more fun to have to run this way. I might have to shoot a little video to show how it feels, but I like it.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

I do set my momentum low on many of my switching locomotives. In fact one of them, a SW1500 came from the factory with the momentum set very realistically low. This makes using the locomotive so much more interesting once you get used to the new settings and prototypical operation.

I watch the 1:1 locomotives in action and their momentum is very apparent. The momentum settings, acceleration and deceleration are benefits of using DCC.

Great video by the way.

Greg

 

[kjd]

I like momentum higher with sound. I have a few engines with sound but only one is the newer style where the sound is not so dependent on throttle position. Every decoder manufacturer has a different name for it but it sets the throttle by BEMF so if the locomotive starts pulling harder the throttle advances regardless of actual speed. Prior, I found sound sort of annoying. Anyway, running that locomotive with momentum and brake is quite fun. It is a sense of accomplishment when you hit the brake at the exact right time to make a joint without moving the car you are coupling to. With non sound engines, I just move the knob at an appropriate speed.

 

[twforeman]

Oh, sound is definitely the reason I made the change. It notches up when it starts moving, then goes to idle while it's coasting. Seems much more realistic.

And I agree that learning to work the brakes is a fun skill.

 

[daves68]

not only that but it was seeing the old box cars . the blue rock and green b/n. something different from the brown and yellow i see today

 

[tootnkumin]

I do set my momentum low on many of my switching locomotives. In fact one of them, a SW1500 came from the factory with the momentum set very realistically low. This makes using the locomotive so much more interesting once you get used to the new settings and prototypical operation.

I watch the 1:1 locomotives in action and their momentum is very apparent. The momentum settings, acceleration and deceleration are benefits of using DCC.

Great video by the way.

Greg

The first thing that I noticed with the 2 QSI Quantum Atlas SD35's I got was how the momentum was pre-programmed. Really had to wind them up. With the NCE cab, it has fast increase/decrease buttons which can be adjusted up to 10 spd steps per push. So to match them with other brands which don't come so set up, it's either make them the same, or disable that feature in the Atlas's.