How do I couple engines for doubleheading?

I think the railking engines require some cutting and modification to get a lobster claw in pilot. A lot of the premier engines come with a separate dummy lobster claw which just screws in, in place of the scale dummy coupler.

Scale coupler wired to an electro-coupler open.  You may want to try this before you spend some money.  You are checking to see if this fixed coupler will work your curves with out de-rail.



These parts are available and were included with upscale Lionel and MTH locomotives .  Both require the removal of the scale coupler and this  claw added.

Weaver Pennsy L1s coupled to a Weaver Pennsy H10 Consolidation.  Both have EOB drive boards.

The attached file contains the work of an OGR Forum member I do not recall, so I apologize to that craftsman. The file is an excellent example of how to add a front coupler to an MTH steam locomotives.

The sketch above is my thinking about adding a front coupler, but the lift bar violates the KIS Rule!

With my MTH T-1 northern, it came with a scale coupler and the Lionel style coupler that is common on most three rail products. The scale coupler was mounted to the front end, so I installed the larger Lionel style coupler and ran it with an MTH SD-45. Ran both in command mode with the DCS unit and handheld remote.

Lee F.

unless you're on the way to a rail fair i'm wondering what you have in mind for a double headed train lead by a high speed (80" drivers) passenger locomotive coupled to a moderate speed, high horsepower (68" drivers) freight hauler?  on the model operational side, if they're geared to match prototype performance, you might have a bit of a mismatch in speed.

I thought command control eliminated that problem?

Using the lash-up (sorry Rich) function in DCS should synchronize the locomotives if they have PS 2 or 3.

seriously?  a double-head function?  i'm so far behind the tech-curve i should keep my mouth shut.  i'll just leave it at the aesthetic question, then.

cheers...gary

Double heading was done a lot with steam engines, especially if you had to get over a hill, sometimes triple heading.

Florida East Coast railroad even triple heads diesel engines today, three and sometimes four GP-40's for one train, usually close to two miles long.

Lee F.

not really my point...  i could see an SP mike or decapod double heading with a Big Boy, and maybe an SP Mt class helping out a Daylight if it was ever routed over a challenging grade, but i cannot imagine an operational situation where you'd want a Big Boy coupled to a GS class locomotive.

All points above are well noted.  Even though the two Weaver engines shown coupled are not identical the EOB boards allow for, I believe a 10% variance in speed.  They do work well together.  You may even want to use one as a pusher.  I've used a pusher with some of my EOB diesels with good results.

One of the big issues of double heading steam was the requirement of two crews, which may have prompted some of the last huge steam engines like the Bigboy, just to eliminate one full crew. Diesel consist only required one crew, no matter how many units.  A Bigboy may have required a pusher on some grades.

I have doubleheaded a Sunset/3rd Rail Santa Fe 3800-Class 2-10-2 ahead of an Atlas Erie Built diesel numerous times, using TMCC.  Likewise with an MTH Santa Fe 3460-Class 4-6-4 ahead of an MTH E8, using DCS. In both cases the locomotives ran well together.

I see the prototype police are out and about again.

Ever stop to think that someone might just WANT to do that, because they like how it looks?  Not everyone insists on running their layout EXACTLY like a real railroad.

I just want ALL tinplate locos delivered with working couplers front and back ( in the

box, even if scale dummy is mounted) so I can switch with them..opposing sidings, etc.  It should be spring loaded and self centering.

I want to mount a Lionel compatible coupler on the front of an MTH Russian Decapod..

which has a scale dummy mounted.

Amen!

I have doubleheaded my C&O Greenbriar and NKP Berkshire, both with PS2, and they look good together, and pull together flawlessly.  I don't care if it is prototypical in history because it is prototypical on my imaginary railroad.

.....

Dennis