Does anyone turn speed control systems off and run protypically?

Hi Paul, I would think you could incorporate a Legacy/TMCC Lash up, and separate the engines, so that one is on a siding behind a train going up a grade. While going up, the last engine could couple to the end of the train, then push Tr? And all engines work as one. Example, 3 diesels TR 5, using 2 to pull the train, the third on a siding that can catch the train from the rear....Then press TR5 and all work together....Wow...Hopefully I made my point. Yes, the grades should not exceed 2.5%....Happy Railroading

Answering your question from your post no I never turn off the speed control. I don't have any grades on my layout but I like the speed staying constant where ever I set it. 

I tried double heading steam on my last layout with not much success because I was never able to engineer a front coupler that worked.  I was using conventional control exclusively at the time, so one had to throttle up for the grades.  The problem was coupler swing.

Cruise/speed control was developed for us Hi-railers precisely because it -appears- more

realistic, even though, electromechnically, it is not.

Had our equipment proper gearing - even the better locos tend to be way too speedy -

articulateds that will do 130 mph - really? - most Hi-rail layouts would not need speed control to increase the illusion of realism. (Toy-train layouts, with their 50% grades and microscopic curve radii are on a different planet, and not relevant.)

The cruise is to avoid the rapidly alternating down-on-its-knees-bog and the triple-digit race to the horizon. THAT'S the definition of unrealistic. 

So, in reality, in many situations and with most 3R equipment one -cannot- present the appearance of reality -without- the speed control ON.

But, on the other hand, the old T/A EOB is particularly

troublesome with switchers. Unrealistic slow-motion responses. I have an Atlas RS-1 with EOB, and it is always off, as Atlas has, for 3R, pretty good gearing.

(I don't want an "engineer on board" to override me - I'm driving. Just give me the tools to do a proper job.)

Speed control is, generally, in our environment, actually less realistic while at the same time appearing to be more so. I like it - if it works well, and most now do. 

I have seen layouts operate where there are no "cruise controls" and the locos will creep

and respond very well - but these are almost always HO or 2-rail O-scale, illustrating

the value of a proper gear ratio. We didn't really have to go through all the electronic

convolutions and contortions of Odyssey, PS2/3, EOB, ERR, K-line...all we needed

were smaller gears on the motor and bigger gears on the axle...sad, really.

I only have 1 loco with speed control, so yes, I always run them with it off!  But I do wish they all had it, keeps me from having a loco fly down a grade and off the track in a curve.  There are upgrades in the future for sure.

I have 3 main lines and I run 4 trains. Each line is at a different height but they are all connected. That makes 3 different grades connecting all 3 main lines. Without speed control I would not be able to run all 4 trains at the same time. It just makes it a lot easier and reduces the risk of some bad crashes. So to answer your question, I always have the speed control on. 

I only have one locomotive with Odyssey, but yes, I do turn it off most of the time.

Virtually all of my stuff has speed control, anything I can cram it into gets it.  I love the fact that we can get two or three trains on a single loop at shows and keep all the balls in the air without a huge workload.  I'm also a big fan of low speed performance, and speed control is pretty much mandatory if you want to make it look prototypical at those speeds.

Hi Larry,

I've done TMCC Lashups in the past, worked best with same engines - such as two of the exact same engine - I did it with Lionel PRR Y-3 Mallets with success. I've also done it with MTH Decapods via DCS lashup, also worked well. Speed control was always on with these.

To run prototypically though, speed control would have to be off. Each engineer via a remote would control his engine just like the real McCoy; they'd have to work relatively in unison or the pusher engine will buckle couplers or lead engine will pull too hard and break couplers open.

Speed control makes this all simple and fun to watch, i.e., you pretend that the engines are working independently; but in reality the electronics are synced in each engine to work together, thus you get the effect of prototypical railroading but not the operations.

I think to do prototypical operations in O-gauge with multiple engines (and multiple operators) you would need a massive sized layout ~ half an acre of space +- that require a lead engine(s) and a pusher in order to get a consist up a grade. The operators would need to communicate just like in olden days when steam engine crews did so via whistle blasts. I think it would be a lot of fun.

My BPRC (Battery Powered Remote Controlled) Railking 2-8-0 doesn't have speed control and I find it refreshing.

It's much like running a conventional engine except I don't get any power interruptions, dead spots, etc.  If I see the engine/train slowing down/speeding up when I don't want it to I simply turn the speed control knob to give it more/less "electron-coal"

I haven't run a command control engine in almost a month.

Turn off speed control? No way.  I like it a lot, especially for my legacy locomotives.

Run some engines up and down grades conventionally without speed control (because they don't have it or wasn't invented yet), yup!   I do that too at times.   It takes skill to build up enough momentum to maintain traction up and around to get to the top, then self control to start easing back the throttle as the train builds up speeds starting to come back down and make it around the curves near the bottom.

I can maintain slow to medium speeds throughout by keeping my hand on the throttle and a close eye on the locomotive and where the cars are at.

Can speed control be turned off via DCS for PS2.0 and 3.0 engines? Lionel's engines have a switch to turn off Odyssey, but I don't think it can be done via Legacy remote.

I do not understand why you have difficulty running trains on a 4% grade. The photos show trains routinely running on a 6% grade.

5 & 6 car trains running on a 6% grade of the El with 18 volts on the track and the DCS speed at 20 to 25 SMPH. Complicating the the two 6% grades on the El, they each start uphill on 042 curves. These trains are programmed to stop and start on the grades routinely, and do so without slipping. I wish that my railroad had the acreage to have 4% or lesser grades.

The El trains are my loop runners and they need to run without any attention while I operate steam trains below. DCS with PS 2 make running the El trains smoothly and safely. 

As I said, my grade was on constant curvature. It takes considerably more power to pull or push a train on a curve than on a tangent track. Factor in the curve PLUS grade. Track type probably is a variable as well. I had Ross and Gargraves.