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Speed Matching Locomotives In Advanced Consists
Advanced Consists Notes and Tips
In a perfect world, all locomotives will run exactly the same. That is they will all start at the same
throttle setting, accelerate at the same speed, reach the same top speed and then decelerate at the
same rate when stopping. Unfortunately, this is not the real world. No two locomotives have the
same operating characteristics. If placed in a consist, two mismatched locomotives will perform
very poorly – with both fighting each other as they make their way around the layout. The
following techniques will help match locomotives but they take time and a bit of trial and error
for best results.
Quickie Match Technique #1 – Same Model Decoder and Locomotive
This is the easiest to do. Higher quality locomotives will work best. Kato and Atlas have the some
of the best mechanical drives and perform well together. Make sure the decoders are set to the
same speed steps and MSVs. Don't forget that if you use 128 speed steps, almost all decoders
ignore settings for ACCL and DECL values. Older Lifelike and Bachmann have much stiffer
mechanisms and tend to buck if mixed with a Kato or Atlas.
Quickie Match Technique #2 – Use Advanced Consist ACCL and DECL Values
CV23 (ACCEL) and CV24 (DECL) apply only when the locomotive is in an Advanced Consist.
Changing the values in these two variables will modify how the locomotive accelerates and
decelerates in an Advanced Consist. This technique allows the locomotive to be matched to other
consisted locomotives. When the locomotive is set back to its primary address, the normal
ACCEL and DECL in CV-3 and CV-4 are used.
Quickie Match Technique #3 – User Defined Speed Tables
This will provide the most control over individual locomotive operation. This technique will
allow the matching of widely differing locomotives. See the section titled Fine Tuning
Locomotive Performance, for easy methods to change speed tables.
Advanced Consists Are Decoder Dependent. Most modern decoder support Advanced
Consists. Older ones may or may not. Carefully review the decoder's manual to determine if
advanced consisting is supported. A decoder which supports advanced consisting has a primary
address used for regular operation. It also has a secondary address that is the “consist” address.
An advanced consist can contain decoders with different primary addresses but they will all have
the same secondary address.
Decoders Must Be Powered and on the Track During Consist Creation And Deletion. For
the advanced consist to be built, all locomotives must be present on the mainline, they all must be
powered up and they all must “hear” the programming commands. Locomotives might not hear
the create or delete command because of poor wheel pickup or dirty track/wheels or track
unevenness, or because the loco is on a siding with the power off.
Only One Speed Step Setting Is Used For The Advanced Consist. The Advanced Consist
address is used to determine the number of speed steps transmitted. All locomotives in an
advance consist must be operating in the same speed step mode. The advanced consist number
must be setup in the Command Station for the desired number of speed steps.
The Advanced Consist Number Is Stored In The Decoder Until You Change It. The consist
address is permanently stored inside the decoder making an advanced consist “portable” to other
layouts.
Locomotives can not be placed into multiple Advanced Consists. If a locomotive is already in
one consist, adding it to a another consist second will delete it from the previous consist.
Command Station Can “Lose” Consists. This occurs if the battery backup is bad, or the battery
is removed while power is off. You will have to re-enter the consists if this occurs. This can also
occur if you accidentally push and hold the ESC key while turning on power. Doing so, erases all
consists. They will have to be re-entered again
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