I guess I already know how this is gonna be answered...Maybe I'm just looking for some more suggestions. Anyways, the question here is with many railroads these days and days past that have used mid train helpers or even pushers, does anyone run their trains like this on their own layouts? I took my new coal train to the club recently, and was running some SD40 pushers on the end. All the locomotives are "pretty" well speed matched. Not perfect, but they can run together with only alittle bit of added effort. When the train went around the corner it did the accordian effect and derailed. So...How can I run end train helpers and not break the train or derail it? Here are some of my own suggesstions, although they're not the answer I want...
1.Use dummies...Dummies can only be found used anymore on trainbay and in some hobbyshops. Nearly all of them would need to be brought up to modern detail standards and they are hard to find anyways!
2.Speedmatch them all...I have no clue on how to do that, and even so, theres no guarantee it would work that well. Even with one GP40-2 on the point and one on the end, it still had problems and they are they same manufacture!
3.Run longer trains...Most layouts can't handle a 25 car coal train, let alone a longer one. It seems though that more cars equals more slack available. I may try this anyway, as well as more weight in each car and better couplers.
I really want to run some prototypical Chessie coal trains and many of them had a caboose AND some pushers on the rear. Do any of you guys run trains like this and if so, whats the secret!?
-Rich
1.Use dummies...Dummies can only be found used anymore on trainbay and in some hobbyshops. Nearly all of them would need to be brought up to modern detail standards and they are hard to find anyways!
2.Speedmatch them all...I have no clue on how to do that, and even so, theres no guarantee it would work that well. Even with one GP40-2 on the point and one on the end, it still had problems and they are they same manufacture!
3.Run longer trains...Most layouts can't handle a 25 car coal train, let alone a longer one. It seems though that more cars equals more slack available. I may try this anyway, as well as more weight in each car and better couplers.
I really want to run some prototypical Chessie coal trains and many of them had a caboose AND some pushers on the rear. Do any of you guys run trains like this and if so, whats the secret!?
-Rich