How many Loco's?

[COfox]

Pardon another newby question, but I just got back into this hobby, last week as a matter of fact, and have a question. Forgive me if it's been asked already, since I haven't gotten the search function down-pat yet. Anyway, for now I'm only running DC (never heard of DCC until last week!) on one train, but am interested in adding one or two more locomotives to the single train.

How will this work? Do I need to buy loco's from the same mfg? I'm worried that the engines might not be close in RPM (or if I'm even asking the right question) so that one faster loco may push the other(s) and screw things up?

Are there "dummy" locos out there, i.e. - locomotives w/o engines that can be added to the train for looks? If all is good, how many locomotives are recommended to be added to a single train? I hope I'm making clear my concerns!

Wow, that was quite a few questions...sorry!

 

[Ronzzr11]

You could mix and match locos from different makers, I run Bachman and Athearn locos together quite well,but I tend to run mainly Athearn locos on my layout,in sets of three or four.
Athearn do, or did make dummy locos,so you could add these to your train,either running elephant style, or with the rear one running backwards which saves the need to turn locos for a return trip.For visual ideas try railpictures.net
Ron

 

[bigford]

if your talking about N scale there some loco that RUN faster then others
kato is kinda quick. Atlas has loco with slow and fast motors. bachman
well they make trains

 

[COfox]

Oops, sorry! I'm running HO-scale.

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you want the faster of the two out front. That way it pulls the slower one instead of pushing it off the track. As you can tell, I'm no authority!

 

[Rico]

I have a couple locos that run a little faster than the others and I usually run them in the trailing position with the theory that the weight of the train will slow them down to the lead locos speed. Seems to work so far, I really need to speed match the CV's some day tho. (DCC)
Experimenting will tell you what works best for you.

 

[lmackattack]

you can run as many locos as the transformer will allow before its over tasked. Back in the DC days I would often run 3-4 diesels.

I always tried to run the same Mfg of locos with each other as the gearing was closer. simple test is to place the locos on the track hook about 10 cars to each one and seaparate the trains about 3 foot apart. turn the voltage up and see how they run with each other. if one takes off and the other barely moves, they wont run well with each other. If they both run about the same speed and one does not push the other around than your fine. the freight cars will add some drag to them and show you what they will do under load.

Yes they do make dummy units can be found all over the internet (ebay)

how many locos is up to you

Steam era... it was common for 1-2 locos to pull a train. most common was just one loco

Diesel era.. you can have alot more. Most mainline freights have 2 or more locos.
Again it all depends how long of a train you pull. In my experince a 4 axel HO scale diesel can pull 30 cars on the flat and about 15-20 up a slight grade. add as many as you need to pull a train around you layout..

DCC is intresting so look into it if your getting serious about model trains... things have changed!

 

[lmackattack]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you want the faster of the two out front. That way it pulls the slower one instead of pushing it off the track. As you can tell, I'm no authority!

thats what I always did. the faster up front so that there was no slack inbetween locos. this way the slow one not being pushed into the rails around curves or switches. I always felt it had a better chance being dragged around.

But DCC has fixed that little problem for me

 

[diburning]

DCC fixes the speed matching problem. On DC, I'd put the faster loco as the trailer because there would be less stress on the couplers.