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Railmaster Double Header


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Is that an Aussie woman's name, Fishy? Esther? Sounds about right. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present Bruce and Esther!"

Actually, I have what could be a scratching-the-head moment coming, probably tomorrow (GMT time) that is similar to this. A 2 decoder

 

smoking loco. Apparently the loco is currently set at 95 but is also fitted with its own separate decoder for smoke, firebox lights & loco lamp currently set to 96. Any way of combining these, do you think? I will certainly want to change the loco ID to a

 

four digit number for visual identification purposes, as is my usual practice.

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Only Esther I can think of was the Hollywood starlet swimming Williams variety. Bruce would have a drawl and a lisp that would make life with Esther unbearable anyway.

 

Can't see any problem with having them both on the same address. One you are

 

using for the motor and the other just for functions so there won't be any conflict. Come to think of it, can't understand why 2 were used in the first place, unless the first one didn't have enough functions to cover everything? If that is the case, there

 

would be a conflict on the same address if the same function is being used in each for different things.

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@Fishmanoz

I think your reasoning for having 2 decoders will be correct, in that there must not be enough functions on one decoder. There is no way around this as I see it, because as you say, you cannot use the same Function number twice even on different

 

decoders with the same ID, so they need to be separate, unless you start again with one decoder that has sufficient functions.

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Right! I've set up 2 B*chmann Standard Class 4MT sound locos as a double-header on my Elite. No problem except that you have to switch between each individual loco's IDs to use each of their functions. I then dissolved that double-header on the Elite and

 

have just tried to set it up on RM. I have followed "Double-heading Locomotives" starting on page 57 of the RM version 1.53 Guide but just can't get them to move as a double-header. Individually I can control their functions, though. Could I have omitted something

 

or done something stupid,which would be very unlike me?

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Graskie said:

Right! I've set up 2 B*chmann Standard Class 4MT sound locos as a double-header on my Elite. No problem except that you have to switch between each individual loco's IDs to use each of their functions. I then dissolved that

double-header on the Elite and have just tried to set it up on RM. I have followed "Double-heading Locomotives" starting on page 57 of the RM version 1.53 Guide but just can't get them to move as a double-header. Individually I can control their functions,

though. Could I have omitted something or done something stupid,which would be very unlike me?
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Hi Graskie

 

I've only done this once but as I recall it was very straightforward (!). You just click on the "Double Header" button on the top row (red button with two locos on it) and in the window showing all your loco's which will now appear click

 

on the far right of the line of the two loco's you want to put together. Then click the green tick. Now when you use either loco's ID they will both move as one. When you want to dissolve the DH go back to that same window and click the same part of the line

 

for each loco and then the green tick. At least, that's how I remember it. R-

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Graskie, you should be on page 62 of the v1.55 guide but the process is the same. Problem may be in setting scale speeds for blue box. If they aren't set the same so they run at the same speed on the same throttle setting, it may not work.
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Graskie said:

Thanks Roger. I did all that but the locos would not move. I'll see what I can do tomorrow.


Hum... perplexing. Just to make sure - when you set up the double-header do you get the green underline under the two

loco symbols within the red button? R-
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How queer? Turned everything on today, followed the same routine and it worked!

 

Fishy. Thanks. Yes, I realise v1.55 exists but it costs me a lot in ink each time I print out a hard copy for immediate reference. I suppose I could have checked v1.55

 

on my PC, though. Any way, as you say, there has been no change in this particular case.

 

RogerB. Thanks again. Yes, I did get the green underline before but.....

 

One loco seems to be running a bit faster than the other. I need to sort that out

 

now.

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How "strange"? (my first attempt at this post was withheld for using the word "qu**r"). Turned everything on today, followed the same routine and it worked!

 

Fishy. Thanks. Yes, I realise v1.55 exists but it costs me a lot in ink each time I print

 

out a hard copy for immediate reference. I suppose I could have checked v1.55 on my PC, though. Any way, as you say, there has been no change in this particular case.

 

RogerB. Thanks again. Yes, I did get the green underline before but.....

 

One

 

loco seems to running slightly faster than the other, so I need to sort that out now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry to come back on this, but I just cannot get the 2 aforementioned locos to run smoothly in unison on my RM program. One seems to be a bit quicker off the mark, run faster and slows down quicker than the other, despite various CV changes. Does anyone

 

know what critical CVs I should be looking at. They are both the same make but could, of course, have different sound chips inside.

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Graskie, brand of decoder shouldn't make a difference as I'm sure you know, but they may have slightly different defaults set and that may be the problem. Start by checking the simple stuff in CVs 2-5 for start volts, accel, decel and Vmax. Although my

 

memory is that at least some of this is overwritten when consisted anyway. And again make sure that scale speed settings are the same value in RM.

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Graskie said:

... One seems to be a bit quicker off the mark, run faster and slows down quicker than the other ...


Please forgive my potential ignorance on this but I thought that Double Headers were joined together?
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Yes, RDS and Fishy, they were coupled as a double-header, but one seemed to be working faster than the other, as shown by the speed of its drive motion compared to the slower motion of the other. I did in fact think that RM synchronised relevant CVs to

 

overcome this. It didn't, so I ran them apart at the same time, still set as double-headed on RM, and one did run faster than the other. I then messed with individual CVs such as Fishy suggested, but actually made matters worse. What I cannot understand is

 

that they are both the same class of loco from the same manufacturer, although they have had possibly different sound decoders fitted. Never mind, I'll get it right, thanks.

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Graskie said:

... I did in fact think that RM synchronised relevant CVs to overcome this. It didn't, ...


That is interesting but I thought that RM just provided a common address so that both Loco's were powered up when this

address was used.
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Graskie said:

Sorry to come back on this, but I just cannot get the 2 aforementioned locos to run smoothly in unison on my RM program. One seems to be a bit quicker off the mark, run faster and slows down quicker than the other, despite various

CV changes. Does anyone know what critical CVs I should be looking at. They are both the same make but could, of course, have different sound chips inside.

I had a similar problem with 2 x collectors edition 0-4-0's being well out of step. One would

be scrabbling whilst the other was chugging.
HRMS couldn't repro the fault as their locos were better matched than mine, so all I could do was run both locos on a parallel track and see what MPH each was doing when running slow and fast, then set these

as my SHUNT and CRUISE speeds for each loco in loco set up. When double headed they were pretty well synched in SHUNT and CRUISE so I was happy enough.
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