TX

Thank you for all the replies, which prove what a great forum this is. I tried everything with regard to direction of travel, running with/without coaches, running both locos cab first etc. but dasatcopthorne's idea of running the two locomotives uncoupled, a short distance apart revealed that one locomotive ran faster than the other (on the same track) both running steadily at their respective speeds. The speed up/slow down phenomenon only occurs when the two locomotives are coupled together. Conclusion from all of this? It must be the slight discrepancy in running speed of the two locomotives at low throttle values, combined with the forces created by the slope when running downhill, which create a push/pull effect. Thanks again for all replies and helpful suggestions.

DC, with Gaugemaster model Q 4-track controller

I have rather a strange problem which I hope some guru out there can throw light on. The outer loop on my layout is 16’ x 12’, with the longer sides more or less straight, and one side ascending at roughly 1 in 150 and the other descending likewise at 1 in 150. I have two Bachmann Class 20s coupled back-to-back hauling a seven-coach train. At high speed (say scale 80 mph), the train runs normally around the entire loop with some decrease in speed while ascending the slope. When running at a slow speed, however, the two locomotives go through a fast and slow routine in that they slow down then speed up continually, each cycle over a distance of about 15”, but this only happens on the downward slope – on the upward slope they maintain a steady constant speed. If I run each locomotive on its own there is no problem, each one maintains a constant speed. If I reverse the direction of the two locomotives, the same thing happens on the downward slope – a continual cycle of speeding up/slowing down but not quite as noticeable. Is anyone able to explain what is going on? Thanks in advance!

Thanks to all who contributed, and for the useful observations on the original question – it’s amazing what one can learn! I guess I had it the wrong way round in that the ’X’s’ were pre-activation rather than pre-dismantling.

Does anyone have a picture of semaphore signals which are ’out of use’? I seem to remember that they had a cross attached to the arm of the signal, but cannot remember details. Thanks.