PS2 Lash Up Load Sharing Question.

They are never going to be exactly 50/50 in load sharing, because the relative speeds are likely to be slightly different with no load.

One thing you can do is uncouple the engines from each other and run them nose to tail for a loop or two, and see if they stay close to the same distance apart.

If one is slightly faster, maybe put it in the lead. That way the trailing engine is not pushing it around.

Rod

 I was surprised how well the system works in a large train. The engines become sensitive to each other and the train. In large trains, I have some engines in front, sometimes the middle, and pushers in back. If I touch cars inbetween, the engines adjust their speed and pull or push slack out of the train, no matter how lightly I touch the roof of the car. Now I'm not sure what each engine is seeing exactly, but I'm amazed how sensitive they become to loads when in a consist.

 The one problem you must check like Rod mentions, is to sort out what engines can run in what positions by their speed. Don't put your faster engines in the rear of the train as pushers, or you won't like the consequences. Most of mine all run the same. I'm running two rail without traction tires!

I don't understand the reason for NOT wanting the faster engine behind a slightly slower one.  You both mentioned that the faster engine will be pushing the slower engine around.

If you put the faster one in front won't it be "pulling the slower engine around"? 

Seems like it's 6 of one and a half-dozen of the other.

BTW: this is very pertinent to me because I have 2 identical engines that run about 0.5 to 0.75 SMPH different.  I have avoided running the in a lashup because the difference used to be WAY worse, but after installing new tach strips on both the difference is less.

thanks - walt

 Walt, what I described was putting a faster engine in the rear of the train. Meaning behind a cut of cars in that train that could be pushed off the tracks on my 2 rail layout.

Pulling or pushing a slower loco shouldnt make a difference, since they are locked together.  In either case, the faster loco's motors will probably get hotter.

I would think that it would be best to have the faster loco first. Then the slower loco would be pulled while it is pulling the train. If the faster loco is second, then it pulls the train and pushes the slower loco.

Now how does it work when the two are evenly matched for speeed? Does the front loco contribute anything before the rear loco reaches wheel slip?

Yes, just like on a full-size train.  The pull by the front loco on the rear loco's front coupler is transmitted through the rear loco's frame to its rear coupler.

 I should have been clearer. That's how I can pull a hundred O gauge cars. All the engines work together very well under DCS. So much so, that I began converting diff brands of G gauge engines to run under the system too.

The reason I would put the faster engine in front is this:

If the fast one is pushing you end up with pressure on the cars in the middle, the couplers are not pulling the trucks in line with the track, they want to veer out of line. thus they tend to spring out on a corner and derail.

Faster one pulling just means the cars may stringline if the difference is too great.

But, since the trains were designed to pull in the first place, this is less likely than the problem with pushing because the couplers are still pulling the trucks in line with the track.