A question for everyone.
What causes a reduction in power to the motor while the smoke unit switch is on?
Does the smoke unit really drain that much off the motor to run the heater element and operate when climbing grades?
Layout:
My Christmas layout has 3% grades for an up and over figure 8 loop.
This year while running Jr. Engineer-o's 2010 North Pole Central 4-4-2 o-27 loco. She and I made these observations.
While smoke unit switch is on:
Loco with just the tender runs like a champ.
Loco with 4-5 car freight consist runs fine on flats, bogs down going up the hills. Bogs to the point that the smoke puffs through the funnel and escapes through other areas just above the steam chest. While the effect is cool looking...we find ourselves saying "I think I can..." over and over.
I've varied the throttle on the CW-80 from mimimal creep to a sustained full throttle for a few seconds to get it up the hills. (If it's really bad, I'll gently tug or pull it to the crest of the hill.)
While smoke unit switch is off:
Loco runs like a champ with or without the same consist.
Barely need to move throttle to 3/4 for it to race up the hills.
Thoughts on the issue?
Recall I missed?
I know this is a "starter set" loco and they're percieved a dime a dozen. But to a five year old...it's "her" train and a large part of her Christmas world.
Other factors:
-The layout is wired for DCS and when the TIU is plugged in...I get 10's all the way around.
-I only run DCS equipped trains when the TIU is plugged in.
-Our PoleEx starter set runs just dandy and the PS2 loco's run w/o issue.
-All on the same CW-80 power supply. Though not concurrently.
Thanks,
CH
