How many locos have you lashed up at once?

Hey Mike:

When running on the club modular layout, 4 units (ABBA, all powered) has been my max.

More regular is two units on the modular layout.

Usually only a single power unit on the much smaller home layout.

Charlie

Like Charlie my personal max is 4 powered ABBA Lionel SF F3s. One year the Rochester based FCTT HiRailers built a joint layout with the Syracuse based Central NY HiRailers and ran 5 Lionel L2A Mohawks, a mix of Odyssey and Legacy engines all with unique cab numbers.

I know another FCTT club member pulled a 100 car train at York in the Black hall but am not sure of the engine count, surely more than 4.

Pete

I've done six, but I couldn't run smoke with all of them or it tripped my PH180.

Only two.   I don't have many Steamers with the same gearing/control system.  Only one Legacy engine, and my MTH engines with their inflexible lashup couplers cause the engine in front tender to derail.  No large fleet of diesels.

My best is seven, 4 pulling 3 pushing.   All power,sound, and smoke, 100' long. 1 Z4000

Clem 

When I was at a model rr museum awhile back, Ive done 3 or 4 units before, 2 or 3 in the front, one in the rear a dummy mixed in, all smoke and lights, (the proto 2 boards couldnt keep up) while running off of different legs of the tables and tius. We used old lionel ZWs. They did vet warm arfter awhile. But they were reliable. We would run 130 car coal train up a 2 percent grade along with a helix. Fun times. I also remeber running solo in pisher service when the front 2 or 3 were lashed up. 

I did A-B-B-A PA/PB's with the A's having dual motors then I had 2 GP-9 with a single motor in each. but that maxed my ZW out as it wasn't given me a whole lot of speed. I had it pulling like 7 lighted passenger cars also at the time. 

On youtube, Tommyztrain uses some extreme changes to handle the power, he lashed up 10 (the max) mth sd80/90 macs together. Lights, smoke and everything. Crazy. Still on youtube I believe, "mth max lashup" or something. 

How about 4 VL Bigboys lashed up?  Not a lot of engines but a lot of power draw.  We had to shut down all the smoke units to keep the breakers from tripping.

I know in the first shot engines 3 & 4 have become uncoupled but they are all operating as a legacy train.  

My best is 7 Lionel Legacy SD70ACe's (UP Heritage) on my outer loop of track.  Used an 180W Powerhouse and Legacy Powermaster.

4 Legacy steamers, as that's all I had at the time that could run together.  The VL BB, B6sb, heavy Mikado, and a ten wheeler.  And running more than those 4 would have been silly as it's a small loop so I'd have more locomotive then train with the rear caboose coupled to the front locomotive.

For me the most has been 4 MTH diesels powered by a vintage ZW with quick blow fuses added between the transformer and track. Living along the BNSF on flat land here in Illinois it's rare to see more than 4 so that's what I chose to run. However, it would be fun to add a couple more units in a distributed power formation. 

Sixteen...but I had to go to Walmart and buy more rope.

"LASHUP"  

I did a consist of 3 powered Atlas O GP60M's.   (no rope required)

When I try to do big consists, I actually space them out with the number of required cars in between to get them into separate power districts. I run each district at ten amps. When I first attempted a big consist in O, I only had 2 Lionel 180w bricks. So I connected them so that the each half of one mainline was a different brick. With the engines spaced correctly, as one left a district, another one could enter. So I ran about ten powered engines with smoke on and no issues.

 I got this idea after watching and emailing Tom Z. about his layout and videos. Later on I kept buying more and larger power supplies. I have a couple of Bridgewerks DC packs outside that will provide 25 to 30 amps and higher track voltages. So I'm just limited by the TIU's 10 amp restrictions. That means I needed more TIU channels to get more power capacity for bigger consists.

 Shew. I hate typing. Although I now have more equipment, I haven't gone past a dozen engines that I remember? Recently issues have crept in that have ruined my attempts. From some software bugs, to bad track joints, etc., and the feeling of losing money trying when stuff breaks. I have broken electric couplers that cost me $18 each plus shipping. I have pushed cars right off the tracks. That gets old. If I put about 3 or 4 diesels on the head end and add a helper or two spread out in the train, I can run everything that will fit on each layout. So I stopped trying to run more than that. My outside backyard with G scale isn't big enough to run more than about fifty cars? One triplex can pull that much. I just add some help to it so it doesn't have to. 6 diesels can pull more cars than I own. It's the same with the G scale or the O scale 2 rail diesels. Even though the O don't have traction tires, they gain traction almost exponentially with multiple units. I tried holding the rear coupler of 3 or four of them and struggled to slow them down. It's amazing to me.

OGR Webmaster posted:

Sixteen...but I had to go to Walmart and buy more rope.

"LASHUP"  

LOL Rich.  This is model trains not 1:1 trains.

That time in Buffalo was fun,something like 3am! After all day.

Eight postwar twin motored F3's (16 pullmors), powered by two ZW's. Nice roar and ozone smell.

OGR Webmaster posted:

Sixteen...but I had to go to Walmart and buy more rope.

"LASHUP"  

Harbor Freight is cheaper!

In Conv. I have done three Williams SD90 sync. E units.

I've done twelve powered & eight unpowered MTH locomotives (NS Heritage parade) using DCS with the 'All Trains' functionality. Have a video to prove it, too. Made several runs around a 30'x15' loop. Was a bear to get running, every now and then one of the locos would decide to drop the signal and stop, completely messing up the run and resulting in a power down, at which point every powered locomotive is suspect as to which one decided to not play nice...

Plan on trying this again at some point, but upping the ante to include all the other NS paint schemes I've collected... Waiting on the Altoona & Chattanooga AC44C6M rebuilds and the Eco Geeps to be delivered from MTH before taking the time to do that.

As for the # of locos I've ever run on a single train?

One.

I don't think the RR I model ever ran a double-header train.

I've never even thought of double-heading on my layout.

 Most I have done is three And they were Diesels.

bigdodgetrain had done 4 ES44s from Lionel

The most I have done is 3 -- 2 steam + 1 diesel.   I plan to try more.  Might even try for a lot more with the same club...

Andy

I double head steam units, have mu'ed 4 diesel uinits or have headed 3 Diesel units with a steam loco. All in a command environment.

None of that stuff for me Mike. All of my engines run solo with a couple of exceptions for big passenger units which max out at two. In those cases, the engines are programmed to the same channel, and not linked through the controller. I have no intention of running them separately ever. All of my power districts have a 6 Amp limit, so I wouldn't ever get past four engines in a district running simultaneously.

Allan Loczy posted:

On youtube, Tommyztrain uses some extreme changes to handle the power, he lashed up 10 (the max) mth sd80/90 macs together. Lights, smoke and everything. Crazy. Still on youtube I believe, "mth max lashup" or something. 

The max number of engines is limited when building a consist. If you try to add more, you can't. I think you could run as "all engines".

 I believe that with the smoke on, the limit would be around 5 engines on one TIU channel under DCS.  I think I've run up to seven or eight with the smoke off? I didn't try more.

 Above that, I don't know the limit? If you had enough channels and districts set-up (and space), I'd have to believe that 99 would be the limit of the remote?? or five TIU's X 4 channels each= 20 channels X 5 engines each = 100??

I have heard of clubs using more than 5 TIU's. So I'd still guess it's the remote's all engines setting the limit on how many engines under DCS?

I'll have to go try this one!

Typically, I M-U two diesels for longer trains since scale wheels don't have traction tires. Strangely, scale-wheeled rolling stock seems to roll more easily than three-rail, but when you hit a grade, the weight can still catch up with you. Unfortunately, the weather and our proximity to the ocean is wreaking havoc on our track (thermal expansion/shifting) as far as scale wheels go, so I've restricted my club running to four-axle diesels until I can outfit my six-axle diesels with hi-rail wheel sets.

I even managed to consist a locomotive with it's former self.

On occasion, I do three.

I did four only once.

In the old Northern California chapter of the TCA meets I mounted eight sections of Gargraves strait track on wood sections. We would put lead weights in gondola cars and have contests to see who's engine could pull the most weight. Almost always Train Masters won. I think there were a few side bets going on. 

Personally I only run two powered diesels at once. If I want a longer look I run dummies with them. Don

3 Legacy Big Boys.   2 of the VL BB and one of the original Lionel Legacy BB, all worked great together in my Lashup.

Double headed steam and MU consists of 3 diesels is the most I have done.  I use both DCS and Legacy.  

(5) all powered.   Mouse over image and click on the triangle of access a Photobucket video.

Mike,

     The most I have multi united in a consist has been 3 Legacy diesels in one case I also had a non powered engine. Never did a multi unit consist in DCS as I am a Legacy guy. Here are some videos:

JohnB

                     6 unit (4 CSX GE six axle, 1 CSX SDMAC80 and 1 FEC SD70m-2

                     5 unit ( 4 NS-all EMD six axle and 1 UP ES44AC

                     5 unit ( all EMD GP's in Pan Am and Guilford

Each MU has its own address,i do not use the engine all command. One TIU using fixed 1,fixed 2 ...each channel has its own Z1000 using pacif mode. This setup handles any 2 MU's running at scale speed (max 45 smph) 68 cars total.

These units pretty much stay together although i will break off the lead engines to a siding so people can walk through the doors..(layout is on the floor of our lakehouse.

          Video below is dated..i have since added more units and substituted RailKing for Premier units.

Tommy Z video- 11 powered engines and 166 freight cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5xmuTr0Rtk

I tried to run  RK SD 70 with a RK Imperial GS4 and they did not work well together on grade. The diesel kept pushing the steamer.

When I ran them spaced about two feet apart the diesel would climb the grade much better then the GS4.

I thought they would pace each other but I guess I have to do a little adjustment to the acceleration settings.  

Wow! Great feedback. Good to know there are some folks out there who like to tax their power supplies! LOL

Thanks for sharing, always interesting to see others layouts and what their doing with their trains. Some great looking layouts on some of those videos! That Tommy Z video was pretty good. Would love to see the whole layout, must be huge to be able to accommodate 166 cars! Last time I did that was with Bob Weaver pulling 110 Weaver 3-rail cars with 2 EOB equipped Alco C628's (beta testing EOB on Bob's massive layout!). Although Weaver 3-rail freight cars are a lot like Lionel MPC 9800 series cars, they weigh virtually nothing! Still, 110 cars is pretty long and really impressive!

Again, thanks for sharing!
Mike

My layout, in my basement 28X40, I frequently run 6 on the head end 3 in the middle and 4 on the end and pretty much all my rolling stock, don't need more power LOL! Mine seems lame compared to some of these guys, never counted how many cars but no room for more. & Mike congratulations on your new position, you were a lot of help to me, at LL do you remember our about 1 hour phone conversation? You said do this and do that and it should be fine, been working perfect all this time. THANKS AGAIN

BIG AL 

GregR posted:

Eight postwar twin motored F3's (16 pullmors), powered by two ZW's. Nice roar and ozone smell.

 

That is something i have to see 

Got video?

2 Marx "F units", but only one has a motor. These are run with a conventional transformer.