@gunrunnerjohn posted:Love to hear success stories.
Well, with the voltage problem solved, I tried running 3 smaller PW 2400 series passenger cars along with a WBB 2-car add-on for a total of 5 lighted passenger cars with my a PW 2056 Hudson and with 2023 UP Alcos. Both have been recently serviced. New brushes on the Hudson.
On my layout which, admittedly, has fewer straightaways, they cannot get enough momentum going. Mostly wheel spinning. They're fine, however, pulling 10 freight cars with a lighted caboose. No struggles at all and can pull them at way lower than max voltage. I bet I could add 5 cars without issue.
The loop is about 80' of track with 40' powered by one LW and the other 40' by another LW. I figured that to be more than enough power. With no load, I get the full 18.5V everywhere on the track. No grades, just flat table top with a U-shaped layout that's pretty darn level.
Another data point: On the same loop, I'm not having any issues with DCS and TMCC modern locomotives pulling modern Rail King passenger cars. Seems like the issue is limited to the PW and WBB passenger cars.
Could there be something going on in, say, one car that's drawing too much power? Any other suggestions or tips? Time to get some LEDs?
