@Craftech posted:1. If that is from a PS-2 manual the language is the same as in the PS-3 manual I cited. Defaults to ON (not OFF) when you turn the power off. Or am I not understanding something?
2. Also, I will try those scale speed tests. The engine does seem to big down more with the additional cars attached and speed control ON. Enough of a drag that the additional drag pulls the engine car off the rails slightly on a sharp 027 curve popping my circuit breaker.
1. No you are not missing something. Strap Hanger reports he has a PS2 engine that defaults to OFF which surprised me but it is what it is! Since your engine defaults correctly per the manual, this was just an interesting side conversation.
2. There may be two (or more?) "things" going on here.
a. That the engine bogs down with "only" 3 cars is bugging me. Apparently the KW itself has enough power.
Apparently you don't have any other similar PS2/PS3 engines? By similar I mean a twin-engine diesel. With speed-control ON, they should behave similarly in terms of speed vs. voltage. It's often overlooked, but the reason the speed vs. voltage profile should be the same between PS2/PS3 engines is to consist PS2/PS3 engines in conventional mode with speed control ON.
If you do undertake some speed measurement experiments, be sure to measure the track voltage at the far end of the track (rather than at the transformer itself or at the single lockon). The idea here is to rule out any track wiring issues. So if the voltage drops substantially as the consist passes by the far end, that would be a good clue. I appreciate that your other engines seem to operate "OK" (they run fast enough). We can get into HOW the MTH speed control works down at the voltage/current detail but it gets technically boring rather quickly.
b. Separately, I figure the 031 guideline is there for a reason albeit it may work on 027 under some circumstance. That is, trying to qualify 027 operation by saying it works if only pulling less than 3 cars, or only if the traction tires are new, or only below certain speeds, or...well you get the idea. To your point, I'm sure there's also something about the brand/version of track and how it interacts to lateral side-to-side forces with the wheel flanges going around curves; this is far above my pay grade.
So. Presumably the engine operates OK by itself around the 027 layout and the speeds you desire. If the objective is to run the full consist on the existing track, it seems to me the idea would be to reduce the load since it's obviously the load force thru the engine's rear-coupler that pulls the engine off the rails. So after double-checking the trailing cars for smooth rolling of the axles on their pin-point bearings and the like, it seems the next step would be to ballpark how much of a reduction in load would make it work. In one alternative universe, you could remove the center -rail roller pickups and outer-rail axle wipers on one or more lighted cars and run a 2-wire tether between the cars to power the lights.
