RJR posted:Because you are using the terms channel and power district, I think we have a semantic issue. Channel of course means one channel of a TIU. But how do you define power district?
A DCS loco has no problem going from one channel or power district without a loss of control (use super TIU if crossing from one TIU's area to another). Unfortunately, with conventional, when going from one TIU channel or power source to another, you'll have to switch handles or remote Tracks.
I don't understand your scenario problem. If I'm running a conventional and a DCS loco on different loops/channels/power districts, I have the voltage for the DCS loco's channel set on17-18, and control the voltage on the conventional's route from my remote using the Z4k receiver or variable (depending on where it is.
Hi RJR;
You are right, a Power District is a Track Block; but Track Blocks are a vehicle that allows for the creation of Power Districts. I think a picture of what I'm trying to explain would help immensely so I included one below:
As you can see above (and per my understanding....please correct me if I'm off base on any of this), Track Blocks and Power Districts are physically the same. But Track Blocks give you the ability to spread track power across more than one transformer. In the drawing above, if a long, high amperage passenger train is running on the outer loop and the train is physically across Track Block 1 and Track Block 2, the power demand for that train is shared across Power District A (ZW1) and Power District C (ZW2). That way no one transformer has to bear the brunt of the entire load for that train. That's my understanding (and definition) for using Power Districts.
Using the same picture, say a Command engine is running on the outer loop and a Conventional engine is running on the inner loop (or vice-versa). Because of the way Power Districts are implemented above, there seems to be no way to control either of the engines independently....correct?
That's where I'm getting total confused. How can I wire the above track plan to run Command and Conventional engines on either loop at the same time (but NOT on the same loop), and still take advantage of using Power Districts? As you and I know, long trains (especially fully lit passenger trains with dual motor engines) can demand a lot of amperage; quickly overtaxing the output of a transformer. What ya think?
