Shay, Heisler, Climax

[armorsmith]

Mr Bach Man,

I have the 36T two truck shay (81196), the Heisler (81797), and the 25T Climax (81180).  Can any/all of these loco's be double headed?  Running standard track power with Aristo Craft Train Engineer (not Revolution).

Thanks,

Bob C.

[Loco Bill]

Bob, the Bachman I am not but: If you are using 27 mhz trackside, the only way is to manually couple the two units together and run both from the TE. 

If using the 75 Mhz onboard with a receiver onboard each loco, you can set one loco on channel one and the other on channel 2.   Back loco one and couple on to loco 2.  set both to forward then notch up loco one a little, change channels then notch up loco two, and keep going back and forth till you are up to speed. 

I have done this sucessfully many times, the more you practi=ce the better you get.  folks watching get a big kick out of it!! 

The new Revolution is super easy as it allows you to make up loco consists and controll them individually then with one click operate both (or more) together.

Have fun!!

[armorsmith]

Bill,

Thanks for your reply.  In a round-a-bout way you did answer my question.  Apparently I was not clear in my question.  More specifically, are the three motor blocks used compatible in terms of wheel diameter and gear ratio?  Based on your answer, I read that they are.

Yes, the TE is the trackside.

Bob C.

[Loco Bill]

 Bob,  I am not sure about the gear ratios being the same.  Since you are using the 27mhz trackside the voltage will be the same for all locos in the consist, again try it, and if one unit is slipping and the other is moving slowly or stopped, then don't use that combination.  You will just have to try it and see what works and what dosen't work.  You will not hurt your locos by trying.  I often doubleheaded with a connie and annie when I was using trackside, but I didn't like doing the manual coupling.   I now use both Locolinc and Revolution  and both allow for prototypical operations with seperate control of all locos.  I am happy with both systems, but slightly favor the revolution because of the LCD display it has.

Bill

[armorsmith]

Bill,

Thanks again for your reply.  As long as damage is a minimal possibility, next time I am running at the club layout (unabashed plug - www.ecgrc.com) I will try the different combinations and see what works and what does not.

I am hoping the shay and the climax will lash up, they will look cool with a long log train.

Bob C.

[Karl Reichenbach]

I have doublehead all of these engines in different combinations with no problems.  The Heisler may run just a bit faster than the Shay and the Climax.

karl

[the Bach-man]

Dear Bob,
I, too, have double and triple headed these locos with no problems.
Have fun!
the Bach-man