Lash up problems / question

This is just a guess but I suspect the difference in Odyssey systems is the problem. Who is getting out of order? Is it #1 not match #2 and #3?

Bill has it. Most likely the TMCC will not match the Legacy locomotives no matter how close they try to match. The 2 legacy locomotives should have no trouble together. The best thing you could probably try is turning off the cruise in the TMCC locomotive

Zach and Bill.  Thank you. It was my son who was having problems so ill have to get details from him.  We'll give that suggestion a try.

Tom

Also make sure that the momentum levels are set the same. That will cause a mismatch even with two of the same engine.

TMCC and Legacy engines have different speed steps

When making a MU or (lashup) with a mix of TMCC engines and Legacy engine, the TMCC engine must be the lead.  The Legacy engine will step down to TMCC mode.  Given all of that, I'd avoid mixing and matching.  It's really hit and miss if they'll work.

I wanted to lash up two MTH 4-4-0’s that I have.  One is the 999 with PS2 and the other is a 999 with PS3. While you would think there should be no issue with speed difference in fact the PS2 engine needed to run at 9 SMPH to match the PS3 engine running at 10 SMPH.  Before I figured this out the PS2 engine was overheating as it tried to speed up the other. (I ended up replacing the motor to make sure there would be no future problems from the overheating which produced smoke and ash deposits on the engine body near the motor vents.)

The only way to get the speed to match was to change the encoder. The PS2 engine had an encoder with 24 black stripes. 24 * 10/9 = 26.66 or rounding to 27 for the new number of black stripes.  I made up a matching encoder in PowerPoint and printed it out on paper which I then glued to the flywheel.  A test run showed both engines now happily steamed with no change in the gap between them.

Coupling the rear 4-4-0 to the leading coal car also proved difficult.  I ended up using a shaft similar to what comes attached to the cow catcher but is more securely mounted while still allowing it to pivot for curves. I only wish I had a better way to attach it to the coal car then my cobbled sheet metal adapter.

Lastly, the real reason I have two 4-4-0’s is because the PS3 engine has Scale wheels and no traction tires.  It wouldn’t pull much in spite of the engine being pretty heavy.  I bought the PS2 engine with Hi-rail wheels and traction tires to do the lash up and give better pulling performance (yes both engines have the same diameter drive wheels). I also tried Bullfrog Snot traction compound on the 2 rear scale wheels of the PS3.  I used a small flat brush to apply it very evenly in 3 moderate coats with wheels turning slow and drying in-between each coat.  Now it pulls like a champ as good as the one with traction tires.  It is still just as smooth as it runs.